There has been a lot of discussion and media coverage about Andrew Mason leaving (or being fired from) Groupon. I didn’t think much of it until I saw a post over the weekend about The 13 Best Resignation Letters of All Time. His letter caught my attention for several reasons.
If you haven’t seen the letter, here it is in its entirety, as published with the above story.
I love how he owned up to some things, but what I really love is that last paragraph (bolding is mine), which reads:
If there’s one lesson this humble traveler wants to share with you: have the courage to start with the customer. My biggest regrets come from times when I let a lack of data overshadow my gut feeling about what’s best for our customers. This leadership change gives you a chance to break bad habits and create lasting customer satisfaction – don’t miss this opportunity!
Wow! He sums up in so many words what we, as customer experience professionals, try to convey every day: It is important to the success of the business to focus on the customer and on the customer experience.
I don’t know much about the inner workings and culture of Groupon, but I do know that the business has been in trouble for a while. And just last week, Groupon lost a quarter of its market value after releasing their Q4 earnings. Making the customer (and employee) experience a priority leads to better numbers than that. I don’t think I need to give you any examples; you should know them by now.
I suppose someone learned a huge lesson here. And I’m glad he decided to impart it on his employees as he was leaving. I hope the new CEO, when selected, carries that torch. This is a lesson to be learned by a lot of CEOs.
There is only one boss. The customer. And he can fire everybody in the company from the chairman on down, simply by spending his money somewhere else. – Sam Walton