I’m making my way through Wired to Care, the latest answer to that burning business question:  how do we make stuff that people want?   I’d be done by now, but I’m actually reading this book with my eyes because it’s not out in audio format yet, and I don’t have a text to speech reader of any kind.  (Dying for this, by the way.   Especially if it can sound more like William Hurt than Rosie the robot maid from the Jetsons.  But I digress.)

So this is my half book review.   Short answer:  worth reading.   In full disclosure, I’m biased.   Author Dev Patnaik graduated from my program at Stanford, and knowing him certainly colors my reading, positively.   He’s a smart guy always ready with a wise contribution to any discussion.

Wired to Care is a readable proposal for how to institutionalize connecting with your customers.   At the highest level, that’s where value creation happens.   The rest of business is a bunch of scrambling around to deliver products and services at a profit – necessary busywork that can distract us from the über goal.   Orienting an entire organization around customer empathy gives purpose and focus in each employee’s day to day work – focus that is meaningful to creating customers who love you.

If you’re audio/visually oriented, there’s a nice presentation of the big idea here, but I urge you to buy the book because, well, I want Dev to recommend you buy mine… when it comes out!

– John Edson