Standard Bank introduced a focus on the customer by immersing themselves in the market. They visit local-townships, seeking to explore how informal traders utilise pocket payment devices by interacting with shop owners and their customers. They visit affluent suburbs, getting a sense of who the flagship branch customer is and want they want from their banking solution.
Customer curation is the act of gaining a line of sight to customers, of meeting them at the intersection between what you do and what they want. This line of sight is worth far more than having customers orbit around you and dictating to them how they must engage. It’s this that separates helpful projects from dispensible and superfluous ones. Are there stakeholders who want you to succeed so much that they’re keen to work with you to build the change you seek to make?
Everything becomes easier when you flip the hubris of anyone on its head. Your work is not for everyone. It’s only for those people who sign up for the journey.