How customer centricity changed my life before I could walk

I don’t think I was formally taught the importance of being customer focused. I think it's actually in my blood or at least it was instilled in my psyche from a very early age. I am pretty sure this is because this mindset is the central theme of how my family came to Canada. Now I was not a witness to the story I am about to tell you, but I certainly feel like I was because my dad and mom told me the story many times in my early years.

Back in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, my dad had a small used car lot with a repair bay. One day, shortly after I was born, my dad sold a used car to a Canadian.

About 6 months later, the man came back to the lot and indicated that he was having some trouble with the car. The mechanic, who was my uncle, took a look, identified the problem and repaired the vehicle. My dad called the Canadian back later that day to tell him the car was ready and the man indicated that he was very pleased with the fast turnaround. When he arrived to pick up the car, the man went to pay and my dad refused to take his money. The man insisted, saying that since it had been several months since he purchased the car, it was reasonable to expect something to have gone wrong. My dad insisted that he would not take payment, stating confidently that it was an important principle of his to stand behind his product.

The man then told my dad that Canada could use more businessmen like him and pulled out a business card. He worked in the office of the High Commissioner for Canada in Tanzania. He told my dad that Canada was encouraging immigration and that, if he ever wanted to move to Canada and needed some assistance, my dad should reach out to him. And that was when the thought about leaving Tanzania first crossed my dad’s mind.

At the time, Tanzania was peaceful and, while my parents weren’t rich, the business did not do too badly. What’s more, my mom had a good job as a secretary at the local university. There was no reason to consider leaving.

Within a couple of years, though, things started to change in East Africa. In Tanzania, the socialist government of Julius Nyerere was making moves to nationalize schools and housing and change the education system to disadvantage children of Asian descent. The idea of leaving the country came to the forefront.

My dad contacted his customer at the High Commissioner’s office and, as promised, he offered his help, in the form of an endorsement letter. We left Tanzania for the UK, where my parents had siblings. After a brief stop there, and an attempt to immigrate, we discovered settlement in the UK was not going to be possible.

So we made our way to Canada. We arrived in Vancouver, where my mom’s sister had just started a job as a librarian. Some early settlers from our community in East Africa had an apartment building downtown where they set up a shelter as a transition place. With a few thousand dollars to their names, my mom and dad started a new journey for their family in Canada. A journey that was kicked off by a show of customer centricity in a small garage in Dar es Salaam.

I have heard this story all of my life and, for as long as I can remember, I have been drawn to its principle of always thinking about the end customer. I first witnessed examples of it in practice when I hung around and worked at my dad’s gas stations. The principle has guided my studies, my employment choices, my career and my leadership practices for over 40 years.

Is there a principle you adhere to that you can trace to an experience in your childhood, adolescence or young adulthood? I would love to hear from you. Comment below or reach me at shakeelbharmal@icloud.com.

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