NigelW Posted September 1, 2014 Posted September 1, 2014 My goal is writing this post is to flush out definitions and learn to identify each case more accurately. A boss is someone who is in charge of a worker or organization. A customer is a person or organization that buys goods or services from a store or business. A business is a person's regular occupation, profession, or trade. If I am providing a service in an organization, the value created accrues to that organization's owner. He/She has to spend less time doing what I am doing and more time doing other things... I am being paid by my employer as a result of my service and they are therefore a customer. The main reason these definitions struck me as off is because of a book that I read. "The Leadership Challenge" by Kouzes and Posner runs through examples of successful companies and what they do consistently. Page 255, Table 9.1: "Make certain that everyone in your organization, no matter the task, has a customer. The customer can be internal or external, but each person needs to know whom he or she is serving." I suddenly realized that I have no idea how it is that I am making money at my job. I essentially add value by filtering architectural information. The customer in this case would be the price estimator, one rung above me. My bosses are the general contractors asking for pricing who are external. At a fast food store, the customer would be the supervisor and the boss would be the person ordering. I am suggesting that the current use of boss and customer, in voluntary interactions, is incorrect based on the above uses of the definitions. If I have fallen off my rocker, please let me know! Thanks.
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