Hell No. Your boss is not your customer.
A customer is someone to whom you provide a service or a product. There are internal and external customers. And then there’s the paying customer, the one who writes a check to your business, and then the business writes one for you.
Successful organizations demand a line of sight from where any individual sits through and beyond the business, ultimately to accounts payable in THE customer’s organization. When a paying customer doesn’t get what they need, they don’t give a damn about your culture or org chart or who screwed up or your communication structure. That’s your problem, not theirs. Enough with the silos already. Your customers don’t care.
Keep this simple. Focus on your customers.
Your goal is to help them succeed. They have the same responsibility with their customers. If there’s a screwup along the way, everyone is on the hook. The customer expects nothing less. How do I know this? I’m a customer a lot of the time. So are you. Easy to understand.
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