I have a Finnish client. This week, she sat on a plane from Finland to the UK. And for two nights stayed in one of our Old Post Office Holiday Cottages in Northumberland.
Zoom is fine. But a face-to-face meeting meant we both sat in chairs, in the same room, at the same time. Exploring her product. Discussing the global change it will make.
We considered the product from where the client sits. I considered the business from where I was sitting, as Associate Brand Director and Writer. And suddenly, I realised something about the actual chair I was sat on. Right there in Garden Cottage. One of our holiday homes.
It was a bit shit.
It was wobbly. Unstable. Uncomfortable and disconcerting.
So there I was. A chap adamant for years that anyone advising other business leaders is infinitely more capable if they’ve run businesses of their own (I’ve run 9). But at the same time, I hadn’t even taken the time to sit in one my own chairs. In one of my own cottages.
A few turns of an Allen key later, and all was well. A timely reminder though, that actually ‘being my own customer’ is not optional for me. Or indeed any business leader. It’s (Allen) key.