Visioning beyond the customer is the responsibility of every person interested in a competitive advantage.

What do Bill Marriott, Ray Kroc, and Al Hopkins have in common?

No, they are not all people of wealth and fame. In fact, Hopkins is a small-town accountant and part-time preacher. They all are (or were) innovative disruptors who discovered new ways to better serve customers and trigger service transformations. They saw the way a given service was being delivered and found a new way to turn it completely on its ear.

In 1937, Willard (Bill, Sr.) Marriott started the first catering service to airlines for meals on board after he noticed people at Hoover Field (now the site of the Pentagon) were going by his small Hot Shoppes restaurant and buying takeout food before boarding flights.

Ray Kroc saw the growth of the nationwide highway system and the paucity of reliable roadside eateries and invented McDonald’s—not just as a quick-service restaurant but as a concept of a recognizable chain of hamburger factories that produced consistent burgers prepared quickly, accurately, and served in a clean, wholesome setting.

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