Putting the customer first

Surely the most effective way to promote a strategic “change plan” is through plain speaking?

What a pity then that James Smith, Thomson Reuters’ new chief operating officer, introduces the topic with an insipid collection of platitudes and meaningless snippets from the book of management-speak [James Smith aims for change plan by 1 January].

A new drive for sales growth, he asserts, will be backed by an organisation that “puts the customer at the heart of every decision.” My word, what a radical notion!

A small team (a committee, presumably) will “facilitate dialogue on how best to shape internal efforts and direct resources to support customer-facing businesses”. Hardly a revolutionary concept, it must be said.

He then rambles on about “further structured dialogues guiding the evolution of our thinking” and a promise of “open conversation involving multiple voices from across the business”.

This stuff can’t have been written by a Reuters journalist – or any other kind of journalist.

Come on James, you can do better than this, even in the mealy-mouthed context of public relations.

You might start, for example, by acknowledging that TR for years has been losing the battle for desk-top space, messaging and analytics; has a headcount that is out of control; and has failed to properly exploit product brands that once dominated the financial markets.

As penance, take the time to read Robert Harris’s new thriller The Fear Index, set in the world of hedge funds and algorithmic trading. Every scene set in the trading room plugs Bloomberg. Thomson Reuters doesn’t get a mention. ■