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On November 8, 2023, I participated in a debate on Linkedin Live, hosted by Lihong Hicken, the founder and CEO of TheySaid, which is a software company that helps customers discover risks to customer churn by asking the right question to the right person at the right time. TheySaid leverages a concept called customer perceived value (CPV), which gets to the bottom of what each stakeholder of a customer organization perceives as value.
The topic of the debate was “Is NPS a vanity Metric?” What Lihong did was assemble two teams of go-to-market leaders to take either side of the question and make the case for why NPS is or is not a vanity metric.
This is a full recording of that debate.
I want to share with you why I am posting this recording on the Rebel Intrapreneur podcast.
It’s not really about the debate or about NPS or whether NPS is or is not a vanity metric.
The idea I want you to take away from this debate, as a rebel intrapreneur, is the systems thinking aspect of this debate.
As a rebel intrapreneur, you will implement new things in organizations where you work. And you know as much as anyone that implementing new things is hard, no matter how smart or prepared you OR your organization is. What makes things even more difficult is implementing something:
Without a clear purpose, reason, goal, or very strong WHY.
When you question the very system or process you are implementing, change it, skip steps entirely. When you do this, you are no longer implementing the system, but something else entirely. No wonder it didn’t work.
As you listen to this debate, you will hear things like; NPS does or does not affect revenue growth, retention, engagement, or custom satisfaction. NPS does not prompt companies to make strategic changes to improve the overall business.
Is NPS designed to address all of that? Are we drifting from the original purpose of that system?
I think so.
Rebel Intrapreneurs have an important skill: keeping teams on track and focused on the mission. Rebel intrapreneurs are like a meditation coach, helping people bring back their focus when they drift. And everyone drifts.
So for me, the big lesson of this debate was not whether NPS is a vanity metric or not. The big lesson for me was, are companies using NPS as designed or are they drifting, and then complaining it doesn’t work, “for them.”
This is not about NPS. You can take NPS and replace it with anything and ask the same question. That is how a rebel intrapreneur should operate. It is certainly how I try to operate in my work, which I don’t always live up to. But I strive.
I hope you listen to the full debate and ask yourself, “How can I keep my teams on track with the purpose of “X system” that we are implementing in our organization?”
About the event:
Lihong Hicken’s company, TheySaid.
Lihong Hicken On Linkedin.
Debate participants:
Bill Cushard
Today’s episode is brought to you by Figma. Two important tools of the Rebel Intrapreneur are the business model canvas and the value proposition canvas. Figma has templates for both, so you can design your innovation projects fast. I used the value proposition canvas template to design the listener profile and value map for this show. Try Figma for free.
More about Bill:
Rebel Intrapreneur podcast website
Bill’s book: The Art of Agile Marketing: A Practical Roadmap for Implementing Kanban and Scrum in Jira and Confluence
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075 Bill Cushard joins TheySaid debate, “Is NPS a vanity metric?”