Who is your customer? Hint: The customer isn’t always the one directly paying you. If you are in customer service then your customer is likely whoever is calling you with problems. Usually these people are also your organization’s clients – the ones that pay you. Easy enough. But, what if you work in human resources? Your customer is not the client that pays the company. The customer is internal. Or, what if your client is a public sector employee serving a wider community and the work you do is actually for that wider community? Or, what if you work for the federal government? Sometimes large bureaucracies mistakenly think they are the customer and whoever is receiving their services is there to serve them (yes, it’s confusing. And no, I don’t know why that is). The point is this: When we clearly define who our customer is, we can better work with that individual. Also, when we clearly define our customer we can start looking at the world through their lens. This will change how we go about our work. Only when we have clearly defined our customer can we truly serve.