The best leaders are their own "first customer."
When Rich Melman of Lettuce Entertain You created a restaurant, Wow Bao, around a single product—a bao—no one else saw its potential.
When Steve Jobs at Apple connected his observations about the iPod’s shuffle feature and proposed an innovative product without a screen, people pushed back.
When Charlie Trotter placed the most expensive table in his Michelin-starred restaurant next to the dishwashing station, even the city of Chicago tried to shut him down.
Ed Catmull of Pixar shares a story about Toy Story. While creating the film, his team resisted Disney executives’ advice to fill the movie with songs based on the studio’s success with musicals.
“We put our faith in a simple idea: If we made something we wanted to see, others would want to see it too,” Catmull explains.
In each of these cases, the leaders were the “first customer”—they created what they wanted to experience and, in doing so, built something others would love as well. No surveys, focus groups, or reliance on data sets—just a deep, emotional understanding of the experience they wished to bring to life.
Why Companies Led by “First Customers” Have a Competitive Advantage:
When one is emotionally invested, a data sample can be more powerful than any broad customer segment or statistically significant data set.
Leaders who create what they love bring an intuitive understanding to the table, allowing them to prioritize the essential strategies and elements that make their product or service unique.
Leaders who have lived the problem they’re solving—or who feel deeply connected to the opportunity they’re building—approach business from a perspective that professional managers often miss.
They care about the details, see connections across functions, and most importantly, stay focused on the “why” behind their work. Instead of getting lost in the mechanics of how to do something, they remain centered on why it matters.
Great leaders choose the outliers. In contrast, groups tend to average out ideas to what “everyone knows.”
In any creative process, doubt will creep in—people will raise concerns, question choices, or suggest additional considerations. Too many opinions create a watered-down version of a vision that tries to appeal to the “average” customer, who doesn’t actually exist.
Business ideas that aim to be everything to everyone ultimately reach no one in particular.
True leadership clears the path, protecting bold ideas and realizing them.
Leaders who act as the “first customer” bring authenticity and passion that data-driven processes can’t replicate. Their emotional connection to the product allows them to create experiences that resonate on a deeper level, giving their companies an edge that others struggle to achieve.
Successful companies aren’t led by committees—they are guided by visionary leaders who understand that if they build what they love, others will love it too.
SOURCE: Originally posted on LinkedIn.