A resource for customer experience (CX) and experience management (XM) professionals.
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Full Episode Listing

A complete list of episodes from The CX Leader Podcast.

Bringing Down the Silos

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Episode #144

Released: December 1, 2020

We talk about his often on the show and it can be a problem for companies of many sizes: the difficulty in breaking through the walls of corporate silos when trying to execute effective customer experience programs. So, how do we bring down those silos and get everyone on-board with your corporate CX effort? Steve welcomes guests Steve Cox, VP of digital lifecycle journeys, and Thimaya Subaiya, senior vice president of CX solutions, from Cisco to talk about overcoming barriers within the company to make customer experience programs effective.

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Bouncing Off Guardrails

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Episode #71

Released: June 11, 2019

Continuing the series focusing on best practices, Steve welcomes Nick Frunzi, chief customer officer at Esri, a world leader in GIS mapping and spatial analytics software, to discuss the importance of empowering cross-functional teams with your company’s customer experience efforts.

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In this bonus episode, Pat Gibbons describes his experiences at the Qualtrics X4 event in Salt Lake City, Utah, on May 1-3. With thousands of experience management professionals in attendance, Pat had an opportunity to discuss the top challenges facing XM professionals within their own organizations. Hosted at the Walker exhibit booth, professionals were asked to participate in an unique exercise that demonstrated the concerns experience management leaders are facing.

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Birds of a Feather

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Episode #93

Released: November 19, 2019

Like any other profession, CX professionals need to stay up-to-date on best practices, find new ideas for programs, and learn how customer experience works in other companies. Many resources exist to help - including this podcast - but sometimes you need to meet with like-minded professionals face-to-face. Guest host Pat Gibbons welcomes guests Branden Schossler and Gary Batroff to discuss how they help start local networking groups to help colleagues develop professionally.

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Being Innovative

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Episode #11

Released: March 20, 2018

Disrupting the status quo can sometimes lead to innovative solutions when it comes to CX, and Steve discusses this trait with Walker senior vice president and customer experience professional Sean Clayton.

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Being a Catalyst for CX Change

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Episode #12

Released: March 27, 2018

As CX professionals, we are looking to make a difference, engage our organizations and drive meaningful change on behalf of the customer. The problem is being that catalyst for change in organizations can be difficult. Steve welcomes guest Allison Grayson, a certified CX professional and vice president at Walker, to discuss strategies to help drive meaningful change in your CX program.

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Becoming Customer(s)-Centric

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Episode #82

Released: September 3, 2019

It's not easy moving toward a customer-centric mindset, and Steve's guest is concerned that companies too often forget the customer heterogeneity - the differences between their customers. Peter Fader, professor of marketing at The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania and co-author of “The Customer Centricity Playbook,” discusses common mistakes and misperception in becoming “customer centric.”

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Becoming Customer Obsessed

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Episode #302

Released: February 6, 2024

Chances are, if you're a regular listener to this show, you at the very least have a healthy respect for customer experience and the value it brings to your organization. But there are a few brands out there that have a following like none other brands like Apple, Costco, Trader Joe's, Chick-fil-A, and, one of our host's personal favorites: Chewy, the online pet supply retailer. These companies are obsessed with customer experience, but what does that mean? And how can you get your company to adopt that mindset? Host Pat Gibbons welcome Marbue Brown, founder of The Customer Obsession Advantage and author of “Blueprint for Customer Obsession,” for a discussion on his new book and why companies need to engage personally, deliver exceptionally, and connect emotionally to their customers.

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Becoming an Experiential Brand

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Episode #205

Released: February 22, 2022

Live events can also be great way to gather insights into your customers while providing an exceptional experience. More companies are designing events to provide almost over-the-top experiences to help engage with their customers. So how do you design a great event AND gather the insights you need to improve your customer experience? Host Steve Walker welcomes Jonathan Yaffe from AnyRoad to discuss how some companies have become an experiential brand.

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Back to the Basics

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Episode #171

Released: June 22, 2021

CX professionals tend to get excited about some of the new concepts, practices, and technologies that are available to help companies provide the best possible experience for their customers. But it’s easy to get “swept away” by the excitement of how CX is growing and sometimes forget some of the basics of the profession. Host Steve Walker welcome Luke Williams, a distinguished principle XM catalyst at the Qualtrics XM Institute, for a discussion on the basics and how the growing field of experience management - or "XM" - fits into the mix.

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Back to School

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Episode #190

Released: November 2, 2021

Countless guests on this podcast have described how their careers were steered into the space of customer experience. It has been a common theme that they never went to college exclusively to study CX because there were no such degree programs. Recently there has been a greater effort to remedy that problem, proving once again that it’s never been a better time to be a customer experience pro. Guest host Troy Powell welcomes Dr. Tom DeWitt, faculty at Michigan State University and director of CXM@MSU who is also spearheading the creation of a degree program in CX management.

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B2B vs. B2C

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Episode #55

Released: February 8, 2019

Steve welcomes back Walker expert and vice president of advisory services Brad Harmon to discuss the differences in approach to customer experience between B2B and B2C businesses.

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Award-Winning CX

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Episode #285

Released: September 19, 2023

You’ve heard us promote the US Customer Experience Awards several times on this program. If you’re not familiar with them, we recommend you check them out at usacxa.com. In this episode, host Steve Walker had the privilege of welcoming a CX leader that helped earn their company the Overall Winner of the 2023 Customer Experience Awards, in addition to winning gold and silver awards in several other categories. Steve welcomes Riccardo Porta, the Global Director for CX at Dow, the materials and science company, for a discussion on their program and a look into the Advanced Manufacturing CX Consortium (AMCX).

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Automating (some of) your CX

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Episode #103

Released: February 11, 2020

Customer experience professionals sometimes hit that wall of having to handle a high volume of tasks and customer interactions but there isn’t the peoplepower or resources to keep up. Strategically add a little automation to your processes and you could have a powerful CX tool that allows the customer to personalize their experience and relieve strained resources. Guest host Pat Gibbons welcome Ejieme Eromosele, Vice President of Customer Success at Snaps, to discuss the advantages of using automation and A.I. in your customer experience.

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Are you ready for a party?

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Episode #130

Released: August 24, 2020

Each year on the first Tuesday in October, the Customer Experience Professionals Associate - or CXPA - encourages professionals and companies to take some time to recognize the importance of this practice and celebrate the ways they strengthen the customer experience within their own company. Host Steve Walker welcomes guests Gabe Smith and Derik Iverson of CXPA to discuss how companies can celebrate their accomplishments and customers on "CX Day."

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Anticipate and Elevate

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Episode #251

Released: January 24, 2023

It's no secret that most companies have different groups of customers with differing needs. And we, as CX leaders, naturally need to able to adapt our programs to account for those differences. Depending on your company, differences between your customer segments might be small. But for businesses where each segment’s needs are vastly different, more complex experience strategies might be necessary. So how does a CX pro design and execute for different customer segments? Host Steve Walker welcomes Leigh Redington, general manager at the Potawatomi Carter Casino and Hotel in Wabeno, Wisconsin, for a discussion on designing experiences for various customer segments.

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AI: The CX Power Tool

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Episode #303

Released: February 13, 2024

Ever see the old classic Alfred Hitchcock movie, “The Birds”? There’s a famous scene when a flock of crows attack a group of fleeing school children, swarming without mercy and terrifying everyone in their path. It sometimes feels like that with A.I. - people pecking and swarming at you to try and integrate it into your business in any way possible. And many CX pros are feeling pressure to find ways of incorporating artificial intelligence into their programs. So how can we approach this technology in a way to have it meaningfully contribute to our CX efforts? Host Pat Gibbons welcomes back Mike Miserendino, founder and president of GravityDrive, an experience design consultancy group, for a discussion on how customer experience professionals can take an objective approach in effectively incorporating A.I. into their CX programs.

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