Time & Perspective Quote by Ross Perot

Ross Perot built fortunes by doing something deceptively simple: sitting with customers and listening. As a salesman at IBM and later the founder of Electronic Data Systems, he won business not with flashy pitches but by uncovering what clients actually needed, then tailoring solutions to fit. The advice to spend a lot of time talking to customers face to face is a call to return to that discipline, especially as companies grow and leaders drift toward dashboards and distance.

Face to face matters because it delivers nuance. Metrics tell you what is happening; conversations reveal why. In a room or on a video call, you see the hesitation before a yes, hear the frustration behind a feature request, and notice the workaround that never shows up in a survey. That texture fuels better decisions than any aggregate score. It also builds trust: customers who feel heard become partners, not just purchasers, offering candid feedback that no third-party report can buy.

Perot points to a widespread blind spot. Many organizations think they listen because they run NPS surveys, track churn, or scan social media. Those tools are useful, but they are not listening. Listening is allocating executive time, asking open-ended questions, and being willing to change the roadmap when reality contradicts the plan. It is uncomfortable, because it exposes gaps and challenges internal narratives. That discomfort is the point. It is cheaper to be humbled in a conference room than in the market.

As companies scale, customer contact often becomes a front-line function while strategy retreats to the boardroom. The result is elegant outputs that solve the wrong problems. Close that gap. Block time each week with customers, sit in on support calls, visit their workplace, and follow up on what you heard. The compounding return is clarity, loyalty, and products that fit. Perot knew that the shortest path to growth runs through a conversation.