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Employees, nor executives decide whether culture is good. Customers do. Business basics such as "The customer is always right" are so banal and correct at the

Employees, nor executives decide whether culture is good. Customers do. Business basics such as "The customer is always right" are so banal and correct at the same time. If a company doesn't deliver value to somebody somewhere, all this extra talk does not matter.

nobodyandproud 5y ago
Eh. Old Blizzard vs EA. Both are gaming companies. Both serve similar segments. Only the latter was a toxic work culture.
- raspasov 5y ago
  When a company is so large with so many mostly disconnected products/titles I’m not sure we can even start to talk about “a” homogeneous culture. I’m sure there’s a lot of cultures mixed in there, from at least decent to the most tyrannical and non-productive.
  - nobodyandproud 5y ago
    I’ve never heard good things about EA, at least as a work culture.
birdyrooster 5y ago
Customers don’t have insight into the company culture which is why there are whistleblowers. Customers cannot give accurate assessments about corporate culture.
gls2ro 5y ago
While I agree that in general a company should focus on customer, I strongly disagree with the phrase "the customer is always right". The customer should be listen emphatically, while trying to identify their needs and see if your product fits or not, should have maybe a voice in saying what kind a direction a product should go, should have access to information regarding their own data and how we handle it, but I would not put such responsibility of figuring the "right" to the customer. The customer is sometimes wrong. The customer is sometimes influenced by bad press, publicity or lack of knowledge, or even lack of interest to put the effort to understand or articulate their own needs. Sometimes the customer asks for a feature that they will not use. So we should see the customer emotions, expressions, complaints, praises as an effect which needs to be acknowledged and listen to and try to understand the cause. Here is a simple example: televisions which are promoting useless debates, false claims or subjects which are blown out of proportion, you know what they say: It is what the public wants.
- raspasov 5y ago
  When I say "the customer is always right" I didn't mean they are right about everything in the observable universe. Absolute words such as "always" are used for dramatic effect in most human-centric contexts. That's why the phrase is also generally accepted as banal: it does not convey much meaning without deeper analysis. Customers are not "right" about everything and they will not determine the product direction in every sense. That's the job of the company leadership. "The customer is always right" can also mean that "the market is always right". Ultimately, people will vote with their wallets. They will either buy your product, or they won't.

nobodyandproud 5y ago

Eh. Old Blizzard vs EA. Both are gaming companies. Both serve similar segments. Only the latter was a toxic work culture.

raspasov 5y ago
When a company is so large with so many mostly disconnected products/titles I’m not sure we can even start to talk about “a” homogeneous culture. I’m sure there’s a lot of cultures mixed in there, from at least decent to the most tyrannical and non-productive.
- nobodyandproud 5y ago
  I’ve never heard good things about EA, at least as a work culture.

birdyrooster 5y ago

Customers don’t have insight into the company culture which is why there are whistleblowers. Customers cannot give accurate assessments about corporate culture.

gls2ro 5y ago

While I agree that in general a company should focus on customer, I strongly disagree with the phrase "the customer is always right". The customer should be listen emphatically, while trying to identify their needs and see if your product fits or not, should have maybe a voice in saying what kind a direction a product should go, should have access to information regarding their own data and how we handle it, but I would not put such responsibility of figuring the "right" to the customer. The customer is sometimes wrong. The customer is sometimes influenced by bad press, publicity or lack of knowledge, or even lack of interest to put the effort to understand or articulate their own needs. Sometimes the customer asks for a feature that they will not use. So we should see the customer emotions, expressions, complaints, praises as an effect which needs to be acknowledged and listen to and try to understand the cause. Here is a simple example: televisions which are promoting useless debates, false claims or subjects which are blown out of proportion, you know what they say: It is what the public wants.

raspasov 5y ago
When I say "the customer is always right" I didn't mean they are right about everything in the observable universe. Absolute words such as "always" are used for dramatic effect in most human-centric contexts. That's why the phrase is also generally accepted as banal: it does not convey much meaning without deeper analysis. Customers are not "right" about everything and they will not determine the product direction in every sense. That's the job of the company leadership. "The customer is always right" can also mean that "the market is always right". Ultimately, people will vote with their wallets. They will either buy your product, or they won't.