Business
What can JCPenney, Southwest Airlines and Green Mountain Power teach us about knowing (or not knowing) your customer?This episode will look at how companies are evolving in this customer-centric world. How can a fierce dedication to the customer change the fabric of a company? And how can companies fail when they lose sight of their customers?Sometimes the customer isn’t who you think. JCPenney is an iconic retailer who failed to understand its customers’ needs and became “America’s favorite cautionary tale.” In the first part of the show, we’ll look at why the retailer failed in a bid to reinvent itself.Sometimes it takes an outsider to step back and understand what the customer wants. That’s what happened when lawyer Herb Kelleher started Southwest Airlines. He didn’t have any airline experience, but he created a human resources culture that made employees happy -- and made customers happy in the process.Finally, we’ll profile Mary Powell, the CEO of Green Mountain Power, who makes interaction with customers a central part of her job. She’ll describe her approach to customer centricity and innovation: "One of my biggest fears is being out of touch with what people want and what really matters to people."Guests featured in this episode:Mark Cohen, director of retail studies at Columbia UniversityJody Hoffer Gittell, professor of management at Brandeis UniversityMary Powell, president and CEO of Green Mountain PowerResources:Mark Cohen’s Forbes article about management problems at JCPenneyJody Hoffer Gittell’s book, “The Southwest Airlines Way”Forbes article on Mary Powell and Green Mountain Power’s customer obsessionILLUMINATORS is brought to you by Uplight, the leading provider of end-to-end customer-centric technology solutions dedicated solely to serving the energy ecosystem. Subscribe on Apple, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, or anywhere else you get your podcasts.