Saturday Interview:  Dev Patnaik – Companies From Mars, Customers From Venus By Elizabeth Olson (New York Times, 23 Jan 2009). Here’s a teaser:

Q. When you wrote the book, before the current auto industry crisis, you said the Big Three were “living in a bubble.” One reason you mention is that Detroit auto workers and executives drive only American-made cars and see everyone else around them doing the same. Why does that matter?

A. It matters because companies make better decisions and make decisions more quickly when they are in alignment with the folks who actually buy their products. In Detroit, employees get discounted cars, executives receive a new car once or even several times a year. They never take it to a car wash and they park in an executive parking lot. Some don’t even drive the car themselves. If you have no firsthand, real-world experience with your own products or people who use your products, it’s very hard to make good decisions about what people want to buy.

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