Ep:#71 John Sills on the Human Experience

Progress. Surely a sign of progress is that you make things cheaper, faster, and more efficient, while keeping the level of quality at least the same. If not better. But I think we can all agree things don’t seem to be heading in that direction when it comes to life as a customer. Would you say that the customer experience over the last 20 years has gotten better? I think we all agree the answer is no. But is that acceptable? If things aren’t working for customers, and not working for colleagues, perhaps it’s important to find another way? And that’s exactly what John Sills, Managing Partner at the customer-led growth company, The Foundation, talks to us about today. 25 years ago, he started his career on a market stall in Essex, and since then has worked in and with companies around the world to make things better for customers. He’s been in front-line teams delivering the experience, innovation teams designing the propositions, and global HQ teams creating the strategy. He's been a bank manager during the financial crisis (not fun), launched a mobile app to millions of people (very fun), and regularly visits strangers’ houses to ask very personal questions (incredible fun). He now works with companies across industries and around the world, and before joining The Foundation spent twelve years at HSBC, latterly as Head of Customer Innovation. And he’s just published a book on the topic - The Human Experience. We talk about the importance of human-centric behaviours to create more efficient companies. The power of an outside-in perspective. And in short, how to make life better for customers. Which then creates a better business - on all fronts. This is a super fun, funny, human, and incredibly important conversation. So grab that favourite beverage, or throw on those running shoes, and here is John. And please don’t forget to let us know what you think of this episode, leave a review and subscribe. And if you would like to be reminded of future podcasts and other inspiring stories from TIE, join our newsletter here. http://bit.ly/TIENewsletter