Who are you serving?

I’ve been reading Seth Godin’s latest book, This is Marketing, it’s good, you should get it.

One of the main questions he asks in the book is, ‘Who are you serving?’. Note, that he doesn’t ask, who are your customers, who is your target market, or who do you want to reach, rather he chooses words that convey a different meaning.*

Serving is about helping, selflessly, serving is about getting someone else to go where they desire to be, not where you want them to go. Serving is about getting to know someone, so that you can serve them properly.

We, whether you are a CEO or janitor, could do well to spend much more time on this question.

Get skin in the game, who are you serving.

Pierre

*Have you noticed how language is changing in business? Howard Schultz is calling himself the Chief Evangelist Officer, Harvard review talks about Minimum Virtuous Products, and Seth wants you to serve. Interesting...