Originally Posted by
KRSW
I truly think these guys are so out of touch, much like KMart CEO Eddie Lampert who, by his own admission, hasn't set foot in a store in over a decade and instead handles this by listening to various managers and consultants. We see how well that approach works.
I often wished that CEOs would take some time out of their schedule, ignore all of their advisors & department heads, and go try to use their product/service as a regular, Joe Public. Call the 800#, wait 45 minutes, only to get a rude rep who is useless. Or try to use their website only to find it not working. Even better -- I wish they'd force these guys to do this when they're at an airport in-between flights and making a reservation for the evening.
Arnie admits he's not a 'techie' so I'd even settle for Marriott International's Head of IT or Web Services. If I ever met that person they would get a huge lecture from me after sussing out their lack of competence and/or lack of urgency and self-awareness of how bad their product is. I'm sure they would throw Accenture under the bus for the IT train wreck integration of loyalty systems, but I'd argue that person gave poor direction and/or was incompetent in not seeing the poor advice and strategy Accenture gave Marriott. If Marriott hasn't fired Accenture by now, then there is no hope.