Habits 6 to 10 of the Rockefeller Habits complete the system by connecting daily work to customers, values, strategy, and clear measures. Habits 1 to 5 (see S13) build an aligned team with a strong rhythm. Habits 6 to 10 make sure that team is listening to customers, living its values, understanding the strategy, measuring progress, and sharing it openly. These habits come from Verne Harnish’s Mastering the Rockefeller Habits and his Scaling Up framework. The explanations below are our own.
Like the first five, these habits work in any business, from a bakery to a bank branch.
This post draws on ideas from Verne Harnish’s Scaling Up framework. The explanations and examples here are WeKinnect’s own words.
Most businesses look at money every week or month. Fewer look at customer feedback that often. This habit says customer input deserves the same attention.
Day to day: Collect feedback in simple ways: ask at checkout, call a few customers each week, read reviews, and note complaints. Share what you hear in your weekly meeting. Assign someone to own customer feedback and look for patterns.
Values are not just written down. People see them in hiring, praise, and decisions.
Day to day: Share a value story in meetings. Name the value when you praise someone. Use values when hiring (see S4 and S5). At WeKinnect, our core value is Service before Self, and we look for it every day.
Every team member can say, in simple words, who you serve, what you promise, and what makes you different.
Day to day: Repeat your simple strategy sentence often (see S9). Ask team members to explain it in their own words. Use it to guide everyday choices.
Each person has one or two numbers that show whether their work went well. They do not have to guess.
Day to day: Help each role pick a clear number. A server might track tables served without errors. A bank teller might track transactions completed accurately. A technician might track jobs finished on the first visit. These numbers connect to the team’s bigger KPIs (see S11).
Goals, priorities, and progress are posted where people can see them. Nothing important is hidden.
Day to day: Post your one-page plan, quarterly priorities, and key numbers on a wall or shared screen. Update them weekly. When people can see the score, they feel part of the team and make better choices on their own.
Think of the ten habits as a circle. Habits 1 to 5 create a team that is aligned and talking well. Habits 6 to 10 connect that team to the outside world (customers), to its heart (values), to its direction (strategy), and to clear results (numbers and visible plans). Missing one habit weakens the others. Over time, as each habit gets stronger, execution starts to feel natural.
Score yourself on habits 6 to 10 using the same simple scale from S13: not yet, sometimes, usually. Choose one weak habit to strengthen this quarter. Many teams find Habit 6, gathering customer feedback, a quick win because it is easy to start and very revealing.
Habits 6 to 10 turn the business outward. Listening to customers, living values, and sharing information openly are all ways of serving others. Service before Self means the system exists not to make leaders look good, but to help the team serve customers better every day.
Customer feedback, living core values, a strategy everyone can explain, a clear daily or weekly measure for each person, and plans and progress that everyone can see.
Many teams start with Habit 6, gathering customer feedback regularly, because it is simple and gives quick insight.
It varies. Most businesses work on one or two habits per quarter, so building all ten is a steady, multi-year effort.
Written By
Darlene Gagnon is the founder of WeKinnect Global Branding Agency. Guided by the core value of Service before Self, she works with entrepreneurs and family-owned legacy businesses. She focuses especially on restaurants, arts, and travel and tourism. Darlene writes on Branding, Positioning, Marketing Strategy, Public Relations, Storytelling, and Entrepreneurship. WeKinnect serves entrepreneurs and family-owned legacy businesses across restaurants, arts, travel and tourism, banking, home services, nonprofits, and the pet industry, and Darlene brings that same spirit of service to every piece she writes.
