The DNA of an Organization

The DNA of customer experience

In biology, a molecule called deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA), contains the biological instructions that make each species unique. DNA, along with the instructions it contains, is passed from adult organisms to their offspring during reproduction.

The DNA is fascinating as a metaphor for what the true ourselves are

There is a 2008 book, The DNA of Customer Experience: How Emotions Drive Value   by Colin Shaw. Following the success of this book, Colin founded a company, Beyond Philosophy, now a leading Customer Experience consultancy.

Customer Experience is a subset of User Experience, (like Usability design). But in 2008, these distinctions were not clear and the book was a hit and changed the life and career of its author.

He preached in his slides about 2011 Global Customer Experience Management Survey that over 50% from all life experiences are emotions and these emotions drive primarily our behavior. In business as in our personal life, if we deal with customer experiences without considering emotions, we are not doing our job

In other words, we are not professional.

What is a professional?

In 2006, two years before Colin Shaw published his book, I met  Dr. Lee Shulman, the President of The Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching. These are my notes from this meeting.

 A professional is someone who does not simply know about something. A professional does something with what she knows. She is  judged  by what she produces as a result of that knowledge. This means understanding the individuals who will both need and afford the product. The most widely used word is “market”. The market is an impersonal abstraction. A market is made of people, who are not an amorphous mass that swallows hamburgers and Barbie dolls.

Carl Jung,  is a professional, because his psychological theory worked in practice. As I wrote elsewhere

We think we know ourselves, but we don't. We replace - in most of us - our individual life (which is the only real life) with what our society wants us to be and we are deprived of moral decisions.

The biggest challenge is how to differentiate ourselves from the society doctrine. But when we do this, we become the slaves of our own fictions, Because we think we know ourselves, but we don't.

He said this in 1950, The Meyer Briggs test originates from Carl Jung teachings. We take the tests and discover what careers will bring us biggest satisfaction. We are surprised how well the test works. Because we do not know ourselves, we think we do.

If you never had a Meyer Briggs test, take one now

The DNA of a company

Are we capable to produce an equivalent corporate Meyer-Briggs-like test to determine the DNA of company?

Lets assume such a test exists. It will be simply a series of questions, requiring answers of either Yes or No. 

I say nothing new. There are thousands of book and articles on how to sell that assume that customers are 100% rational. There are other thousands of books and articles that list formulas on how to make someone who initially does not want  what we sell, ends up buying it.

Success is not made from formulas. Success is based on insights and empathy.  That why these manipulative techniques don't work any more.

There is classical book that endures the years called: How to win Friends and Influence People. You can read a summary on line. It is all about insights and common sense when dealing with people.

Such new business book waits to be written. It is not about such cliche questions as "what keeps executives awake at night". It is about the genuine desire in us, human beings,  to feel important. It is not only about C-level executive feel, but what the most  rank and file talented people feel. The younger people may read Umair Haque The Betterness Manifesto   

"You’re worth something. Stop giving your talent away to organizations that misallocate it, underutilize it, and possibly even abuse it. If you’re doing something meaningless, quit. "

The DNA of a company is the sum of the feelings of many people in the organization, in addition to the HBDI testing (Hermann Brain Dominance Instrument).  As Meyer Briggs tests shows, we can discover what the company does best and what it can do much better without asking even one direct question

Blogger David Shed in his What Is Your Company DNA? writes:

Would an organization of all analytical and organized leaders effectively focus on customers over the long term?

Would an organization of all creative or all inter-personal types effectively execute on all the new ideas and contacts that they come up with?

At the risk of gross over-simplification, the answer is: No!

This mix of thinking style, personality and preferences determines the DNA of the company. This DNA then determines the company’s approach to the market and the company culture.

 DNA Values

This summary comes from DNA Behaviour 

The DNA Behavior International Company Values are core to every aspect of our business and the relationships with our clients. We are committed to:

Great relationships, know your customer, business performance, personal development

1. Investing in and Building Great Relationships

2. Living as Individuals and as a Company With Meaning and Purpose

3. Providing Education, Wisdom and Insight

4. Reliable and Trustworthy Execution

5. Fairness and Transparency

6. Delivering Innovative Solution

This is the coolest I read so far. Will continue in part 2