‘It’s not the age of the Internet. It’s the age of customer control.’

- Tom Peters, speaking at a seminar I chaired* a while ago, quoting American Express’s Anne Busquet.

(Note: I’ve heard Richard Branson and Patricia Seybold come out with exactly the same words. Don’t know which of them said it first, but it’s obviously TRUE).

Through the late 1990s there was a shift in power that coincided with the Internet reaching a tipping point and breaking out to become a mass medium. The widespread assumption at the time was that the Net was what was causing the disruption of the balance between suppliers and customers. It wasn't. It was just a symptom and accelerator of a shift of power to customers that was already going on.

*All that means is I introduced him to the audience and he did the rest.