Premium: Becoming a ‘Listening Organisation’ is always a lot harder than it sounds

LATEST ON BIZNEWS RADIO: Neal Froneman – Hersov is right; SA Govt can take leaf out of Sibanye book, urgently address Good, Bad and Ugly. (For Spotify, click here).For decades, business books have been advising companies to listen carefully to their customers. Although that sounds like Motherhood and Apple Pie, doing so is much harder than it sounds. Primarily because of the difficulty of cutting through good news filters between customer-facing staff and executives who have the power to change anything..___STEADY_PAYWALL___.For my practical lesson in this reality, I learnt the hard way. Shortly after my first appointment into an executive role, I religiously allocated one week a month to structured "listening" meetings with those working where the tekkie hit the tar. Few had ever engaged with "head office" so took the opportunity to load me up with many useful suggestions..My bright-eyed-and-bushy-tailed self could hardly wait to share this with the divisional head. Unfortunately, the fellow listened for all of two minutes before delivering a tongue-lashing of Alex Ferguson proportions: Who the F- did I think I was trying to tell him how to run his business – and how dare I talk to his staff? In the corporate world, no good deed, it seems, goes unpunished… .BizNews has always been a different proposition. And we've been listening very closely to the active discussions on the Premium Interactive Channel (click here, from your mobile, to join). Especially the suggestions around the BizNews Business Briefing. More on that next week. Good news, I believe..More for you to read today: .Stocks Edge Higher After Suffering Worst Day Since June 2020. Release of U.S. inflation data Tuesday spurred volatile moves across asset classes. No need for a state bank, just learn from the Afrikaners. Mugabe Ratshikuni says the ANC should look to the Volkskongress that birthed Volkskas and Afrikaner capital more generally. Netflix Estimates Ad-Supported Tier Will Reach 40 Million Viewers by Late 2023. Streaming giant shared projections for 'unique viewers' across a dozen launch markets with ad buyers.iPhone 14 and 14 Pro Review: Go Pro or Go Home. Between the new 'dynamic island' multitasking bar and more camera flexibility, Apple's higher-end iPhones make more sense than ever before. ."South Africa is at a turning point" – RW JohnsonIn this impassioned speech from the fourth BizNews conference RW Johnson explores the turbulent history of post 1994 South Africa and some of the decisions taken by the ANC government at the time which led to the tragic predicament the country now finds itself in..NB FOR YOUR WALL STREET JOURNAL ACCESS….As a Premium subscriber you are entitled to full membership of wsj.com (normal price $29 a month). Be sure to action your access through the Premium link on the BizNews website. Because of The Wall Street Journal's credential requirements, be sure to create a password which has at least 8 characters and includes at least one letter and one number – NB it MAY NOT contain any special characters (ie #, !, @ etc). To maintain access to WSJ.com, you MUST enter our partner's website via Biznews Premium at least once a month. A final PS, if you had previously signed up for WSJ you'll need to clear the cookies from your device. Our helpdesk can assist –support@biznews.com.

Premium: Becoming a ‘Listening Organisation’ is always a lot harder than it sounds

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