<p>We can gain such <strong>great perspective and leadership lessons from looking back at how previous generations handled the sweeping changes and crises of their day</strong>. I’ve been in London, England three times in the last few months working with an international executive team based there. As a classical art and history buff I add some extra time before and after each visit to browse a few of London’s wonderful galleries and museums each trip. </p>
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<p>On the first of my three recent trips I checked out the <a href="http://www.vam.ac.uk/">V&A (Victoria and Albert Museum)</a>. I fell in love with the place and went back about half a dozen times over the next few months. If you haven’t been and want to check it out they have a good web site. But <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Victoria_and_Albert_Museum">Wikipedia’s entry</a> is much more extensive and gives a great overview of the massive facility. It’s the world’s largest museum of decorative arts and design with a permanent collection of 4.5 million objects in 145 galleries over 12.5 acres. I stepped a foot into each galley, but only really studied a tiny fraction of what’s there. That leaves lots more to look forward to on future trips!</p>
<p>The V&A Theatre and Performance gallery holds the UK’s national collection of material on live performance from Shakespeare’s time to today. While browsing there, I came across a short reference to <strong>"The Old Price Riots"</strong> in the early 1800s that <strong>provided some very clear customer feedback</strong> on the New Covent Garden theater! I was intrigued and had to do more research when I got home.</p>
<p>"The OP Riots" occurred when ticket prices were raised slightly for the New Covent Garden after rebuilding from a fire that destroyed the old building. <strong>Customers also objected to the new architecture</strong> and — in the religious and nationalist prejudice of the times — to the hiring of an Italian opera singer married to a Frenchman. Covent Garden was hemorrhaging money as <strong>protestors arrived late to pay for half-price tickets and then staged mass protests inside the theater</strong>. They wore OP hats, had OP songs and dance, raised OP placards, and circulated satirical OP handbills! </p>
<p>Incredibly, <strong>stage performances carried on during the riots</strong> — and continued for <strong>sixty-seven days</strong>!! The protestors won in the end. The old prices were restored. They even had an OP banquet with Covent Garden management to celebrate! </p>
<p>Rioting customers put a <strong>whole different slant on "the voice of the customer</strong>." Sixty-seven days of riotous feedback is pretty hard to ignore! <strong>Today’s customers (internal or external) are much less vocal — to you</strong>. Today’s customers <strong>protest poor service levels by bad mouthing you to dozens — or with social media, websites, and protest songs that can go viral</strong> <strong>– to thousands or even millions of your customers</strong>. The best service providers <strong>tap into that dissatisfaction before it gets out of control</strong>. <strong>How well are you listening to your customers?</strong></p>
<p><strong><em>Further Reading:</em></strong></p>
<p>You can read an outline (with illustrations) of <a href="http://hotgates.stanford.edu/CrowdsWhiteSite/galleries/theatreriots/page2.htm">The OP Riots</a> on Stanford University’s web site.</p>
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