”AI can help us do more, but it can't tell you what matters. And that's the part where the human being is still really critical.” – Laura Patterson

At nine years old, Laura went door to door in her neighborhood selling chocolate. 

She figured out fast that a pitch wasn't working. Some neighbors wanted chocolate. Some just wanted to support a kid raising money for school. Some wanted a gift for their family. 

Most of them weren't buying the product at all. 

That was her first lesson: people don't buy products, they buy value.

She spent almost 15 years at Motorola and learned the second lesson there. 

You can't just measure activity. You have to measure what matters to the people at the top, and that means how you're creating customer and business value.

She founded VisionEdge Marketing in 1999. Her mission is to get rid of what she calls ”random acts”: activity with no strategic intent behind it. 

A CEO she knows was honored to be asked to sponsor his Chamber of Commerce's big annual event, and couldn't understand why his team wasn't excited. 

She asked him one question: how will this help you hit any of the outcomes you need this year? He didn't have an answer.

Her test for any new idea is simple. 

Will it help you win the customers you want, keep the ones you have, or add value for them? 

If not, reconsider. Random acts don't just cost money. 

They use up leadership capacity, employee energy, and customer trust.

”Customer centricity is not a marketing thing. It is a leadership discipline.”