Much of the consulting I do these days centers around corporate culture — specifically, helping business owners and leaders actively design their culture. In doing so we often have to help them define their mission, beliefs and values. This process allows the leaders to explain why they exist as a company and how adhering to their defined beliefs and values is designed to influence their behaviors — allowing them to accomplish their mission. Guess what’s the first question most leaders have about this process?

This article is a follow-up to the story I shared last week about a fellow who received the wrong size shoes from an online retailer and how that story had a happy ending. In today’s article I’ll tell you about the Q&A session I attended with executives at that organization and how they design their corporate culture to maximize favorable outcomes.

Here is a customer experience story with a happy ending. But the happy ending didn’t happen by chance. It happened because the company in question has meticulously and purposefully designed its corporate culture to wow its customers, with the side effect of turning many of them into customers for life. If you’re a business owner or leader, this one’s for you. But I really think it can resonate for anyone.