What You Must Deliver to Win Customers Today

Deal is not just another payroll platform. It's one your team might actually enjoy. HR, IT, and payroll together finally. Built in house, built for peace of mind. Visit deel.com/hbr. Lattice is the first comprehensive HR platform where people and AI succeed together. Stop settling for HR tools that hold your company back. Build a future where technology doesn't replace people but actually elevates them. Ready to see the power of people plus AI? Visit lattice.com/noregrets. That's lattice.com/noregrets. I'm Allison Beard. And I'm Adi Ignatius, and this is the HBR IdeaCast. Adi, what was your New Year's resolution for 2026? We kind of do more predictions than resolutions. I have lots of predictions. But I guess my ongoing resolution for the year is to launch a book project. Oh, that sounds exciting. I can't wait to read it. Mine was a little bit simpler. It was trying for a dry January, which I mostly stuck to, though I had a sneaky glass of Prosecco, like, two weeks in. But the point is that a lot of people are setting aspirational goals right now, not just in January, but all year long, like you. Because increasingly, that's what we want to spend our money on, not products or services or even enjoyable experiences, but on bettering ourselves, whether that's losing weight or learning a new language or figuring out how to do something like writing a book. Yeah. And when you say publicly you're gonna write a book, that does put some pressure on yourself to actually achieve that goal. So wittingly or unwittingly, I have walked into that trap. Yeah. I used that strategy too. I told anyone who was listening that I was trying not to have wine in January. But our guest today thinks there's a huge business opportunity in helping people not do it themselves through willpower or techniques like the one you just talked about, but through structures that help them transform. So he's talking about everything from health and wellness businesses to non profit educational institutions to financial services firms. He wants leaders to start thinking more holistically about what they can do for customers to help them achieve meaningful goals, Not just selling them, what they make or supply, but supporting them along the way. And here's the kicker, only getting paid if they're successful. So that sounds interesting. It also sounds really expensive, and it sounds really risky. Yes. But he says that when you get it right, it can be a huge boost to long term performance. He has lots of case studies, and he's going to explain exactly what it takes to succeed with this kind of transformation offering. B. Joseph Pine the second is cofounder of Strategic Horizons and author of the book, The Transformation Economy, Guiding Customers to Achieve Their Aspirations. Here's our conversation. In your previous work, you've talked about the shift from products and services to experience. And why is what you call the transformation economy the …