The Key to Business Success Is Making Your Customers Your Top Priority

A stakeholder is "an individual or organization that holds an interest, directly or indirectly, in a company and can either influence or be influenced by the organization's actions, goals, and policies."

When you put yourself as a stakeholder and abandon your customer, you kill long-term business. Want to know why customer service is so terrible? It's because business owners place customers at the bottom of the stakeholder chain. Public companies are the worst— they put shareholders first, Wall Street second, and managers third. Customers get pushed to the very bottom.
"The customer pays our salary, so we need to make them happy." My stakeholders aren't selfish desires for nice cars and mansions, but rather my customers, because I know they hold the power. I'm loyal to my customers—they're my bosses, and they control everything I want.