Anderson: It's part of a core point of view, that for me, comes out of spending so many years in the stores. [Anderson started out in sales at Best Buy.] If you take the top five [executives], the top does not know what's going on. If you have them go out to solve a problem, you're in deep trouble right from the beginning. They don't have access to all the organizational knowledge that's sitting there, and even worse, in most cases, they're not even aware that they don't have the knowledge.
FC: In the end, how crucial is your focus on people to the success of the customer-centricity strategy?
Anderson: My central premise is that when you're trying to look at competitive edges, you're looking for what's your unique point of view that not everybody else is doing. If it's something everybody else is doing, you won't be able to break apart unless you've already got such a commanding skill set that it's virtually impossible for somebody else to [copy]. One of the advantages and disadvantages of the industry we're in is that if you have one of those compelling differences, it's usually highly transitory. Samsung is in [the Time Warner building at Columbus Circle]; Sony's [retail space is] in the building across from Trump Tower. I'm sure if Sony was doing it today they'd be in this building instead of where they are because this is right at the hub. The latecomer has got the advantage. If you're really looking for sustained competitive advantage, it better be something that's a lot. At the core, rather than looking for things like strategic edges you can build in, I'm looking for a cultural edge that regenerates, that allows you to be always dissatisfied and always reinventing. In our industry, with the amount of innovation that's going on, I don't think there's another choice.
FC: That has a nice ring to it, "a cultural edge that regenerates."
Anderson: Thank you. Let's hope it works.
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