SaaS Blogs

There’s a well-known debate amongst corporate leaders out there that goes like this:

Leader A:  “Our company focuses on the customer, because our customer is our most important asset.”

Leader B: “Our company strives for a productive and enjoyable working environment, because our employees are our most important asset.”

Both sides are able to offer convincing arguments and many a related discussion results in stalemate, sending both participants back to their respective companies free to run them how they best see fit while agreeing to disagree.  Perhaps there is no right answer on this one, but this article serves to illustrate my take on it.

First, let me address those that fall into the same school as Leader A above.  Sure, your customers and clients are quite important to your business, after all, money has to leave someone’s pockets to fall into yours (How’s that for a bottom-line statement?).  It’s true though, that, when your customers are spending your business is succeeding.  In good times, your customer service initiatives are paying off and customers are spreading the word about their experiences with your product and support channels.  Happy customers lead to growth, it’s true, good customer relations is pure fuel for business growth and that is critically important at times.  But let me ask you:  What happens during severe economic downswing?  Times when growth is not your priority, but survival is?  All the brand-loyalty in the world isn’t going to make customers spend money they don’t have.  And there’s the Achilles heel of the ‘customers are our most important asset’ argument… when customers aren’t spending - or worse, can’t spend - money, they have the ability to betray you in a way that can destroy your business if you put too much weight on customer relations.  I’m not saying customer relationships and loyalty are not important… but most important?  If a company’s long term strategy involves only growth and makes no provision for a solid base during times of survival… well, sure, I can see customer relations being the most important catalyst for business.  I can also see that company going out of business.

Now, here’s my approach to the ‘our employees are our most important assets’ philosophy.  I tend to agree, actually.  But to me, the key is in the phrasing.  I emphasize the plurality of the term ‘employees’ in my argument.  The true power of your business, the power that won’t fade assuming you provide a consistently solid and enjoyable working environment, lies with your employees.  But just what is it about your employees that serves your business the most? 

Is it their looks?  Ha.  Their social ability?  It helps at times.  Their educational background?  Closer.  Their training?  Getting warmer.

Ok, I’ll tell you.  The single most important asset to your company is in the heads of your employees as they walk the halls, type away at their computers, and converse in the kitchen.  It’s their knowledge.  Without the collective knowlege of the people you hire, your business loses definition, let alone productivity and ultimately success.  From the knowledge to perform daily tasks to the knowledge of complex business operations…simply put, your employees’ knowledge is the fabric of your business.  It remains so during times of growth, success, downturn, and yes, even failure.

This is where my philosophy differs slightly from that of Leader B above.  We’re in agreement that employees are the most important support structure to a business - but I’ve extracted out a quality from the employees that is not included in Leader B’s argument.  Leader B would say “Keep them happy and they’ll be productive”.  It’s a sound argument if quantifiable output is your only business metric.  Companies go about this in different ways, from environmental stimuli (think Pixar) to wildly over-indulgent employee benefits (think Google).  The way I see it, these tactics build solid employees.  But I say, don’t stop there!  Build solid, confident, happy employees and then harness the power that comes from that.  Transfer the power of your employees to the strength of your company.  It’s the difference between ‘our employees are important to our business’ and ‘our employees are our business’.  If you aim for the latter, then as long as you have employees, you have business, resilient through outside influences and attacks. 

The way to build a solid, unified, company is to build solid employees and then equate their power with the power of the company as a whole; and the way to harness their power is by capturing and showcasing their knowledge.

It may seem obvious to some.  However, in Part 2, I’ll outline why I think many companies miss the boat when it comes to the true value of their employees and why building an unsinkable ship, one that can weather the storms of economic downturn, is almost possible with the power of properly managed knowledge.  And, I’ll explain what many leaders can learn from an 80’s television series.