My Big Stupid Outside-In Failure

stowers
3 min readApr 19, 2022

I wasn’t always an expert in Customer Experience and Outside-In

In fact, when I became an Industrial Engineer I didn’t have the first clue about how to deliver Successful Customer Outcomes.

I’m going to share a personal story with you about one of my early failures…

It’s a little embarrassing to share, but I think it will inspire you.

It was a quest of five years looking for a standardized Home Loan process and system for a world-leading bank. My team and I visited 30+ countries, reviewed more than 40 IT suppliers, and talked with other top banks and mutual lenders. We sat down with the best business professors, authors and researchers and attended dozens of events on our quest…

And just as in Monty Python and the Holy Grail we returned home empty-handed. You can imagine the investment of time, energy, and budget to realize there isn’t such a thing as an Ideal Home Loan process and system (despite what the big consultancies and IT vendors had told us).

Our senior executive team in the bank was incredulous. In fact, deep down I doubted my own capabilities, I was exhausted and had failed with one of the biggest projects in the bank’s history. Or so I thought…

That is when the truth hit me square between the eyes. We were thinking of our business in the wrong way. My enlightenment was complete when…

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stowers

Global Rover, Customer Advocate, Silvered and Wise. Join my Weird, Wild and Wacky World Loves to help individuals and organizations get well