Free The Apple Experience: Secrets to Building Insanely Great Customer Loyalty by Carmine Gallo

want to give you feedback that continues to keep the customer experience as memorable as it should be every time.
       CHECKOUT
    1.
Invest in a copy of
FYI
by Lominger Korn/Ferry.
It’s a development guide for learners, managers, mentors, and feedback givers. Study competency 29, Integrity and Trust.
    2.
Read
Speed of Trust
by Stephen M. R. Covey.
It will give you another opportunity to explore the thirteen habits of trustworthy leaders and apply the habits to yourself and your team.
    3.
Make your approach more receptive and open.
Avoid using the pronoun
I
when addressing issues that need change. Stay away from labeling experiences or issues as “problems.” Listen first. Changing habits take effort and focus, but it’s never too late to evolve the way you do things.
     

CHAPTER 5
     

Foster a Feedback Loop
     
    See feedback as a gift.
     
    —Apple tenth anniversary poster
     
    S teve Jobs didn’t rely on focus groups, because he believed that people did not know what they wanted until you showed them. In some cases this was very true. Would you have agreed to pay ninety-nine cents a song in 2003 when you could otherwise download songs on the Internet for free? But Jobs realized what most people did not—music fans would pay for a better, seamless, and legal customer experience. In January 2010, would you have told Jobs that you wanted to carry around yet another device in addition to a mobile phone and a laptop computer? Jobs realized that people really wanted an ultra-portable device that would make it easier to do e-mail, browse the Internet, and enjoy photographs, video, and books. Nobody asked for the iPad, but they couldn’t buy enough of them. When it came to big innovations, Jobs did indeed rely on his intuition and imagination. But it is incorrect to assume that Apple never listens to its customer. The exact opposite is true. Apple listens to its customers all the time and more important, activelysolicits feedback from both its internal customers (employees) and external customers.
    Feedback requires fearlessness and trust. That’s why fearlessness and trust come before feedback as far as the principles discussed in this book. A fearful employee will be unwilling to be open and honest in offering feedback about the company, its policies, or a manager. A fearful manager who hasn’t instilled trust will be defensive and unwilling to listen to constructive input.
    Fearless employees will disagree with you, but they will offer valuable feedback when the opportunity presents itself. I read a story about Emma Sky, a British pacifist who was dedicated to getting the United States out of Iraq. In 2007 she became a key aide to General Ray Ordierno, the former commanding general of the U.S. forces in Iraq. The tiny British woman and the general (Ordierno is 6 feet, 5 inches) made an odd-looking pair, but she played an outsized role—she actively disagreed with Ordierno. She was assigned the role purposely to disagree with him! Ordierno is “fearless.”
    “Leaders who solicit opinions from people who disagree with them are smart enough to realize that they do not have all the answers,” 1 says leadership consultant John Baldoni. “Such leaders also must make it safe for others to disagree: otherwise the exercise is moot.” Baldoni recommends that companies hire employees who exhibit “character.” In Baldoni’s definition, character is a willingness to do what’s right for the team and the courage to stand up for ideas. Apple certainly looks for character. Steve Jobs admonished his employees not to do what they think “Steve would do” but to do what’s right for the team. Apple managers also look for people who can stand up for their ideas, who could go toe-to-toe with Steve Jobs because they must be brave enough to voice their opinions. The Apple experience doesn’t work without feedback. Steve Jobs believed so much in feedback—internal and external—he would periodically pick up the