Q: Talk a bit more about the two books that you recommend at beginning of your book, Customers.com and Futurize Your Enterprise. What did you like so much about those two books? Would you still recommend them?

A: When it came out in 1998, both Jackie Huba and I loved “Customers.com” because it presented a vision for ecommerce that was customer-centric, not design- or brand-centric. Unfortunately, too many marketing directors believe that a website is more about maintaining an image than providing real utility or function. The book was, and still is, a brilliant treatise on delivering an Internet experience that’s driven by a customer’s experience.

We both loved “Futurize Your Enterprise” because author David Siegel evangelized how the Internet was going to change the world. Even though the book was published in 1999, the chapter on “The Truth Economy” still resonates today.