What business are you really in?

A question so simple, it's easy to forget.

Personal update: I'm finally back to writing after being largely offline the last few months completing a major research project on digital transformation leadership. More on that soon.

It's easy to lose sight of the customer, and what they need, when caught up in the hustle of the day-to-day.

You almost certainly have an immediate, default answer to this question. It’s probably closely related to your primary product.

Think again. Your product is just a way of delivering value to people by helping them make progress. What larger need is your product filling? Keep asking until you find the meta frame, inside which are nested the product categories and specific products in your portfolio. An example of this might be an insurance company, which might decide that it’s really in the peace of mind business, and start adjusting how it works accordingly.

Action step: ask a colleague today, "what are people looking for when they come us? What business are we really in?"