Creating A Magical Experience! How You Go From Finance To Consumer-Centered Innovation!

I get asked frequently, “Shawn, how did you get into innovation & consumer experience?” My journey is probably not much different to many of us that work in the industry. You are doing one thing one day, and than the next day you want to do something different. I had spent the first part of my career as a musician and I was living in Orlando. My wife and I are huge Disney fans, so I took a leap and applied for a finance position (because that is a logical jump) and I got it.

Over the next six years, I had an incredible journey. I worked with extraordinary cast members, learned a great deal, and even worked with the Disney Cruise Line. Let me be clear! Disney has a culture of innovation. You begin to find yourself thinking differently – looking at things from a new perspective and ultimately, crafting business decisions differently. In the final part of my journey at Disney, I had the honor to become a Walt Disney Imagineer – an experience that transformed me.

WOW! What a journey it was! It was an incredible time in my life. I got to do CONSUMER CENTERED INNOVATION Disney style. I learned two things that changed the course of my life.

First, I learned I hated finance!

Second, I learned there is no price tag on creating an experience for your guest, customer, or consumer!

In the two minute video below I share some my thoughts around embracing innovation and creating a premium consumer experience:

[wpvideo SyLtLKFa]

As I stated above and shared in the video, there is no price to creating a premium experience for your consumer – whether it be your end-user, a stakeholder, or the person sitting next to you. This idea has become such a passion of mine over the past five years, and I am determined that we can disrupt industries that do not do this well.

Just recently I read an article by, Steve Towers, titled, “The five crucial things successful CX companies do every day.” Here are those five things:

Top teams understand CX success and get out of the way of their people to let them get on with it.
Customer needs are understood and developed to create the organizational alignment towards successful customer outcomes.
Being customer-centric isn’t about projects – it is a state of mind.
Successful CX transcends measures and implements a rigorous feedback/feed forward framework.
CX is both the strategy and the operational objective to overcome needless complexity.

Although I do not know if I agree that these are the top five, I do agree you must start somewhere. That somewhere is with your consumer at not only in the center of what you do but on the whole journey! Involve them like never before!

Today, I leave you with this thought: What are you doing for your consumer? Are you focused on them in everything you do? It is not always easy, and sometimes it can be challenging. Take 30 minutes this week and do the following things:

INSIGHTS: Research three (3) companies that are consumer-centered and are known for their experiences (Nordstrom, Disney, Amazon, Marriott, Delta).
INITIATE: Write down what it is that sticks out to you about those experiences.
IDEATE: Think out of the box! Create potential ideas, solutions, or products you could do using those experiences within your business.

Have Fun!