I would like to have been a fly on the wall at two recent corporate meetings:- 

1) At BT where it was decided to identify phone bills by  account numbers that have no resemblence in any form to the telephone number. An example is  EA355498206 — Excuse me? What line is that for? 

2) At HSBC where it was decided to redesign all credit and debit cards either dark blue or black, making them barely distinguishable from each other.  Pass the torch, please. Let me check that 16-digit number while the muggers prepare.

Seven-figure-salaried executives signed off on both of these changes. Corporations have two tiers of democracy. The lower house is made up of customers who can vote with their feet. The upper house comprises shareholders who have hiring and firing power. When customers walk, shareholders suffer. 

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