I learned a fundamental truth this weekend – which happens to align with what I knew already, but forgot. You are never too high in the food chain to not be your own customer. I learned this years ago from IBM, when Steve Mills spent some quality time on the Software Group Website.  Let’s just say, there were plenty of troops saluting by Monday morning, and the troops embarked on a two year campaign to clean up its online act.

I had the same experience this weekend when I decided to spend some quality time in our best practice case studies library.  Look and feel was good, top level behaviors were fine – but when I started to really drive it I had a Steve Mills’ moment.  If I were a customer, I’d be less than impressed. Let’s just say that there was plenty of saluting this weekend and there’s a new best practices case study library available to our clients Monday morning.

Which brings me to what my dad always told me. “The higher up the flag pole you go, the more your ass hangs out.”  If you are at the top of the flagpole, you represent the reputation of your organization – and change always happens from the top down.  Wherever you are on the flagpole, you need to be your most critical and important customer. If you aren’t, they will be . . . and that will ultimately affect your bottom line.