The Value Creators Podcast Episode #44 – Understanding Customer Capitalism: A Conversation With Hunter Hastings (Innovation Meets Leadership Podcast Repost)

In this episode of the Value Creators Podcast, Hunter Hastings, an economist and corporate marketing professional, is interviewed by Natalie Born, host of the Innovation Meets Leadership Podcast. 

Imagine a future where your organization works backward from a detailed vision of how customers will interact with your products and services. This is a concept Hunter Hastings passionately discussed on the podcast. He advocates for a mental shift in organizations to focus on the flow of information from the customer, leading to effective marketplace tests and implementations. 

Hastings reflects on the historical shift from customer-centric entrepreneurship to bureaucracy and financialization, emphasizing the need for organizational innovation to remove barriers. The conversation explores the importance of empathy, understanding customer needs, and the potential for flatter organizational structures to accelerate innovation. 

Resources: 

Connect with Hunter Hastings on LinkedIn

Connect with Natalie Born on LinkedIn

Valuecreators.com

Hunter Hasting’s blog

Innovation Meets Leadership Podcast

Show Notes:

0:00 | Intro
02:03 | Hunter Hastings Professional Background
04:50 | Procter and Gamble’s Customer-Centric Approach
08:58 | Removing Barriers to Innovation: Mental Model
11:47 | Fundaments of Innovation: Self-Management
15:20 | Morning Star’s Self-Management Model
18:01 | Imagining the Future for Implementation
20:39 | Vision and Customer-Centric Innovation
22:45 | Example: The Blackberry and Customer Frustration
24:57 | Tension Between Customer Knowledge and Innovation
26:44 | Empathy and Interaction in Entrepreneurship
28:52 | Wrap-Up 

Knowledge Capsule

Hunter Hastings’ Professional Journey:

• Hunter’s had a diverse career in corporate marketing, including roles like Chief Marketing Officer and CEO.
• Progressed through consulting and client companies, always emphasizing the customer’s role.
• CEO role in Silicon Valley, where he observed the need for technology companies to maintain customer focus.

Customer-Centric Innovation:

• Procter & Gamble’s unique approach to putting the customer at the center.
• Hunter’s shift from an entrepreneurial focus on customers to management-driven bureaucracy and financialization.

Removing Barriers to Innovation:

• Identifying Barriers:
  • The flow model: customer information should flow freely within the organization.
  • Common barriers include reporting processes, resource allocation, and hierarchical management structures.
• Team Dynamics:
  • Cross-functional and dynamic teams are crucial for innovation.
  • Teams should focus on collaboration and equal participation without 

Self-Management Model:

• The concept of self-management as the future of organizational structures.
• Examples like Morning Star, a successful self-managed company.
• The importance of mutual commitments and dynamic, goal-oriented teams.

Implementing Ideas and Innovation

• Reverse Engineering the Future: Visualizing the future state of customer interaction and working backward to achieve it and understanding the need for detailed planning and assembling components systematically.
• Vision and Empathy: Developing a clear vision for future customer engagement. Engineers and innovators should empathize with customers to foresee potential challenges and frustrations.

Speed of Learning and Knowledge:

• Speed is crucial for innovation, not just for its own sake but for faster learning and adaptation.
• The importance of dynamic, collaborative teams in achieving rapid innovation.

Customer Interaction and Feedback:

• Continuous interaction with customers to refine and improve ideas.
• The need for open communication and collaboration within and outside the organization.

Understanding Customer Needs:

• Customers often know what they want to improve but may not be aware of the possibilities that technology can offer. 
• They might not realize they could desire innovations like touch screens or keyless phones until they see them.

Role of Entrepreneurship:

• Entrepreneurship involves turning a customer’s desire for something better into tangible solutions. It’s about envisioning and creating products that customers didn’t even know they could want.

Theory of Systems:

• Interaction is critical, both among individuals and between individuals and their environment (technology space). Understanding these interactions helps in gaining insights and recognizing patterns that guide innovation.

Empathy in Design:

• Empathy involves understanding the frustrations and needs of customers. 
• Observing customer workarounds with current products can inspire future innovations. This deep level of empathy is crucial for effective design.

The Entrepreneurial Skill of Imagination:

• Entrepreneurs possess the unique ability to imagine a future that doesn’t yet exist. This imaginative skill is fundamental to creating groundbreaking products and services.

Revival of Customer Capitalism:

• In the past, the customer’s importance was overshadowed by managerial priorities, but now, putting the customer at the center is driving exciting new developments.