Unlocking the Customer Value Chain: How Decoupling Drives Consumer Disruption

by Thales S. Teixeira

One important strand of psychological research has shown that when people in various capacities exhibit more aggressive behavior, they tend to perceive the world differently than they would in a less aggressive state. When we are driving in heavy traffic, become irritated, and behave aggressively, we lose focus on our “customer”: the safety of our passengers and ourselves.1 Similarly, aggressive behavior in the workplace reduces our focus on our actual customers and their needs. From the 2016 Volkswagen diesel engine emissions cheating scandals to the 2017 scandal centering around Wells Fargo’s practice of opening fake accounts for oblivious customers and Uber’s controversial efforts to combat archrival Lyft and camouflage its operations from the eyes of transportation regulators, a take-no-prisoners attitude on the part of executives has led to an erosion or outright violation of customer-centricity, which in turn hurts businesses and society.