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.

The Data Endgame

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Episode #248

Released: January 3, 2023

Some organizations collect very little data and some collect a ton of data. But like many other aspects of customer experience, CX pros should be thinking of the end goal when designing programs and integrating their data. A "data diet:" everything in moderation. As part of our continuing series "CX Now: Eight Essential Themes Driving CX Evolution," host Steve Walker welcomes Ashley Hicks for a discussion on how CX pros can organize, integrate, and constructively access their data to make better business decisions.

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The CX Plus EX Recipe

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Episode #268

Released: May 23, 2023

Combining your customer experience and employee experiences can have a tremendous impact on your overall experience efforts. But what does that look like from the data perspective – how do they link and why would it be advantageous? Host Steve Walker welcomes Tanner Smith, senior analyst at Walker, for a discussion on linking CX and EX data and how it benefits the organization's experience programs.

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The CX Leaders Advance Conference

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Episode #270

Released: June 6, 2023

We’ve mentioned the Customer Experience Professionals Association more than once on this podcast. The CXPA offers excellent resources and networking opportunities for CX professionals, and one of those opportunities includes the CX Leaders Advance Conference which was recently held in Orlando, Florida. The event offered CX pros an opportunity to discuss the most “pressing challenges faced by CX leaders.” Guest host Pat Gibbons welcomes back to the podcast Walker experts Sheila March and Dr. Troy Powell who participated in the conference and provides a recap of the events and the most pressing topics on the minds of CX professionals today.

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The CX Juggernaut

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Episode #62

Released: April 2, 2019

Johnson Controls is a huge company, with over 100 brands in over 150 countries, and managing a global customer experience program is no small undertaking. Guest host Pat Gibbons interviews Johnson Control's Matt Inman on how the manufacturing industry maintains a CX program.

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The CX Iceberg

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Episode #262

Released: April 11, 2023

Creating seamless experiences is one of many goals of CX pros. But what should be perceived by the customer as a smooth experience can sometimes create complicated processes for the company – like the hidden part of an iceberg. But if done right, it can benefit both the customer and employees, and we have a guest on the show who heads-up a unique program to make that happen. Host Steve Walker welcomes Andy Netzel, CCXP and the head of the Performance Innovation Lab at KeyBank, for a look at how they work to create seamless experiences for their customers.

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The CX Conundrum of Benchmarking

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Episode #309

Released: March 26, 2024

What are some of the more common challenges you encounter with your CX program? Have you noticed a particular common problem among CX programs when you converse with fellow CX pros? Benchmarking is an often-tackled problem for customer experience professionals and is not as simple as comparing your numbers with another company's scores. This episode is the inaugural show of a new series we’re calling “CX Conundrums,” where we’ll address common CX challenges and possible ways CX leaders can address them. Host Troy Powell dives into this conundrum with two seasoned CX professionals that have a great deal of experience in benchmarking: Sean Clayton who has 20+ years working with a wide range of companies and James Bampos whose background includes CX at various tech firms as well as leadership on a recent benchmarking initiative with the XM Institute.

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The CX Book of Knowledge

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Episode #226

Released: July 26, 2022

Today’s technology allows for peer-driven collaboration on an unprecedented level. People from across the globe can create knowledge resources on Wikipedia, or develop software on GitHub and share it with the world. There are even ways to create art and music collaboratively online. So it only makes sense that a group of CX pros decided that the customer experience profession needed some sort of playbook that “documents CX terms, tactics, and approaches based on the CXPA CX Framework." Host Steve Walker welcomes Heather Gillbanks, CCXP and Director and Customer Experience & Customer Center of Excellence Lead at Cornerstone Building Brands, for a discussion on how she lead the effort to create this resources for CX pros.

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The Consistent Experience

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Episode #224

Released: July 12, 2022

If you’re a CX pro for small or medium size company, you already know the challenges in designing and delivering the best possible experience for your customers. But what about companies that have multiple locations? What about a company like Starbucks which has over 33 thousand locations? How do they deliver such a consistent experience across so many countries and cultures? Host Steve Walker welcomes Jim Hardeman, chief marketing officer and chief product evangelist for CMX, for a discussion on how larger companies create consistent experiences across multiple locations.

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The Community Experience

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Episode #107

Released: March 10, 2020

Online communities are now part of daily in life for many consumers and businesses. Most community interaction happens within larger social media platforms such as Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn. But some companies are finding the value of having their own online community that focuses customer interaction and experience to their product or services, allowing for the customization of a user’s experience within their platform. Host Steve Walker welcomes guests Heather McNair and Dan Reese from Higher Logic to discuss the value of online communities and marketing automation to improve the customer experience.

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The Common Purpose

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Episode #188

Released: October 19, 2021

The advantage of experience management (or "XM") is the holistic view of experience across the company. By leveraging customer and employee data together, companies can take their experience programs to the next level. But what companies are applying this practice and how’s it working out for them? Host Steve Walker welcomes Jennefer Pursifull, VP of marketing and sales, and Sharon Bislich, director for marketing, communication, and engagement – both from Medxcel, a healthcare facilities management company - to discuss how they successfully built their program to empower their employees to create better experiences for their clients.

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The CEO, the Customer, and You

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Episode #21

Released: May 29, 2018

Steve interviews Jim Schleckser, a best-selling author and CEO adviser, on how good CEO's manage their time and attention, how the CX professional can speak the CEO's language, and the importance of CX from the perspective of the c-suite.

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The C-Suite Elite

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Episode #100

Released: January 21, 2020

On the 100th episode of The CX Leader Podcast, host Steve Walker interviews his friend and mentor Dwaine Canova, CEO of Zynity, a company that provides online tools for organizational Leaders. Dwaine discusses his new book, "Elite Executive Teams," and how executive leadership should be the driving force in making customer experience a priority in your company.

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The Business-Savvy CX Leader

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Episode #13

Released: April 3, 2018

An effective CX leader will utilize the thought process needed to understand the key components of a situation and comprehend the consequences of actions. Steve welcomes Noah Grayson, a CX professional and senior vice president at Walker, to discuss the trait of being a business savvy CX leader.

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The Art of the Science

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Episode #138

Released: October 20, 2020

An often-overlooked fact about a customer’s journey is that the experience they have with your company doesn’t always begin with their first interaction with you – customers often become aware of your brand through various immeasurable actions. The creativity of your marketing is often the first impression a potential customer has about your company, so using the science of data to drive the art and creativity of your marketing can be very beneficial. Host Steve Walker welcomes guest Kirsten Williams, chief marketing officer for Episerver, for a discussion on how to drive creativity with data.

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The Academic Experience

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Episode #174

Released: July 13, 2021

According to the U.S. Department of Education, more than 19 million people were enrolled in some level of college education for the fall semester of 2018. And just like any other business, it’s important for academic institutions to pay attention to their customer – or perhaps “student” – experience. But as you can imagine, CX in the higher education realm is a bit different. Host Steve Walker and guest Karla Fisher, chief industry advisor for education at Qualtrics, discuss the unique circumstances that CX pros work under at colleges and universities.

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The “Yes” Mentality

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Episode #185

Released: September 28, 2021

Customer experience includes many aspects of how we interact with our customers. One common aspect is the hospitality we afford to them. Some companies will have more opportunities to demonstrate hospitality than others – like hotels, restaurants, theaters, etc. So how can other companies take cues from these markets by putting a “yes” mentality in their customer interactions? Host Steve Walker welcomes Christine Trippi, an award-winning hospitality leader and the author of “Yes is the Answer: How Positivity, Passion, and Pineapples will transform your leadership and your life,” for a discussion on creating a "yes" mindset in your customer experience efforts.

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That’s a big CX program… and EX too!

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Episode #121

Released: June 16, 2020

Larger companies can sometime pose unique challenges to customer experience programs. CX leaders often have to navigate complicated business structures and, of course, the ever-so-frustrating “silos” that can exist in organizations. And if a company grows through acquisitions, it can be a challenge to integrate the existing customer experience programs. But it’s not impossible to innovate – regardless of the company’s size or age. Host Steve Walker welcomes guest Jen Zamora, Senior Global Director of Customer Experience & Employee Experience at Dow, the multinational materials science company, to discuss how a company the size of Dow manages CX and EX of their size and through corporate change.

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Thanksgiving

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Episode #94

Released: November 26, 2019

It's Thanksgiving here in the United States and we've dedicated an episode to sharing some short stories of customer experiences that made a positive difference in people's lives. Producer Chris Higgins hosts an episode with stories that include industries such as retail, automotive, restaurants, government agencies, and hospitality.

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