Be a customer: If you want to know how a customer feels in your stores, you must be a customer. As a leader, it is important to maintain a realistic picture of what it feels like to be a customer.

Stay curious: Whatever industry you are in, stay ahead of the curve by being an intentional observer. Putting yourself in situations where you get to see or read about your direct competitors as well as other companies, will give you a fresh perspective. 

Innovate: Innovation is only a short distance away from copying someone else’s great idea. Stay fresh in your thinking and accept the fact that the ownership of an idea is very low priority as opposed to the intrinsic value of that idea.

Take risk: Playing safe is a recipe for ensuring that others will eventually leave you behind. Celebrate the lessons learnt by trying different things to enhance customer experience, even if it fails. When you fail, work hard to learn from it so as to not repeat it.

Address instantly: Always respond to a concern from either your customers or employees. If customer dissatisfaction or some other grievance has made its way to you, it is based on some version of truth. Fully understand the issue at hand, follow up with a short-term solution along with a resolution to solve it for good.