This week I went to the yearly boat exhibition “Allt för sjön” in Stockholm. Among hundreds of amazing beauties, I stopped by at the Ericsson-1 that was competing in the previous edition of Volvo Ocean Race 2005-2006. Long, slim and made for pure speed performance. Her sister, Ericsson-4, is currently in the overall lead in the ongoing edition of Volvo Ocean Race, at the moment heading for Rio de Janeiro.

Just as in the Volvo Ocean Race, Ericsson is clearly in the lead and seen as the world’s top telecom vendor but faces tough challenges ahead…especially from their fast-growing Chinese competitor Huwei. Ericsson says that one of the most important activities in this battle is to boost its image and reputation in terms of end-consumer understanding.

Ericsson, as well as everyone else in business, is experiencing the impact of the consumer revolution. The idea that the consumer is in charge has been around for a long time. We have all heard the mantra “our customers are our most important asset”. Every company had that in its annual report. However, many times it seemed that no one actually behaved that way. It’s to easy, if you are a well-paid business executive, to say, “Of course our customers are in charge. Now, how are we going to get them to do what we want?”

The younger generation of consumers, like my two teenagers and their pals, find the whole thing so self-evident they don’t even talk about it – they just behave it. Their message to the business is, “Look, if you really want to get my attention – you have got to change your behaviour. Show us a different mindset, don’t talk about it”. With support of the giant global knowledge library named “internet” they rather put their trust in what their “global internet friends” finds good or bad.

I hope, that out of this consumer centric revolution, a new and more durable thinking would evolve. Something like the golden rule – Do to other people, what you want they to do to you. Now we are talking customer satisfaction! We do believe that all sustainable business growth, starts with truly happy customers – or do we?

I also hope, as a genuine Swede, the Ericsson racer is the first boat to cross the line in Sandhamn this summer.