Market

In that evening, I happened to dine with a group of people from all corners of the world.

The host was SP - an obviously well-to-do business woman, who had the special capability of entertaining all her guests throughout the night by, as people often say, talked the talk.

“We got to listen to what the others say – customers, legal advisers, and experts such as you guys.” The company president said.

I suddenly thought of Steve Jobs.

“And it’s absolutely necessary!” She continued. “We all know the story of Motorola Razr, don’t you? After the initial success of their first model, the engineers put all their effort to enhance the function and add new gadgets into the next model –they just didn’t listen to what the customers said! And the rest is history. The new model was a disaster, its market share dropped by more than half, and Motorola almost got bankrupted.”

I was speechless. For a moment I was not sure if there exists a fine line between insightful leader and an arrogant dictator without judging their outcome from hindsight.