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.

Immersing in the Customer’s Experience

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Episode #81

Released: August 27, 2019

Building customer empathy is an important aspect to your customer experience program and trying to teach that to your organization is not easy. Steve welcomes Serena Riley, the customer experience senior Manager at LLamasoft, to describe how she used immersive experiences to help employees understand the customer’s point of view within a phase of their journey.

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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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Checking-in with the CXPA

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Episode #83

Released: September 10, 2019

Like most professions, CX pros enjoy the benefits and support of an organization that provides resources and ways to network with other professionals. Steve welcomes the new CEO of the Customer Experience Professionals Association - or CXPA - Greg Melia for a discussion on the organization's benefits and future.

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A Prescription for Subscription

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Episode #84

Released: September 17, 2019

B2B companies are beginning to move into more subscription-based services, another influence from the B2C space. Steve welcome Musa Hanhan, senior director of customer experience at Genesys, to discuss how subscription-based models impact the customer experience for B2B companies.

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The Out-of-box Experience

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Episode #85

Released: September 24, 2019

Customer experience isn't limited to simply how your employees interact with your clients - it plays a critical role in how products are developed and maintained. Steve welcome Arjan Vilkhu, senior manager of customer insights at Hill-Rom, a global medical technology company, to discuss how their CX program informs how their customers’ experience using their products can be improved.

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The Non-customer-facing Employee

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Episode #86

Released: October 1, 2019

It’s easy explaining how front-line employees directly influence the customer’s experience. But it’s more difficult for non-customer-facing to see how their contributions impact CX. Steve welcomes Maureen Cook, customer experience specialist at Ciena, to discuss the ways they show ALL their employees how they affect customer experience.

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Do Your Homework

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Episode #87

Released: October 8, 2019

Companies often hire implementation specialists to help get their customer listening technology up and running, but don’t do the necessary preparation required to make the process happen smoothly. Guest host Pat Gibbons welcome Walker technology consultants Liz Wallshield and Charlie Rumsey to talk about some of the step companies should take to make the implementation process happen smoothly and on schedule.

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Globalization and CX

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Episode #88

Released: October 15, 2019

With more companies moving to globalizing their business, it can be easy to overlook the implications of not considering cultural differences required for CX programs in different countries. Steve welcomes back Bob Azman, a CX professional with over 40 years of experience and founder and CXO of Innovative CX Solutions, to discuss why companies should consider the customer experience in the context of other countries and cultures.

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The State of CX Management

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Episode #89

Released: October 22, 2019

The Qualtrics XM Institute released their report “The State of Customer Experience Management, 2019” which assesses how companies are doing with their CX efforts. Guest host Pat Gibbons welcome Isabelle Zdatny from the XM Institute to discuss their findings and some of the key takeaways from the report.

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CX Horror Stories II

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Episode #90

Released: October 29, 2019

Hosts Steve Walker and Pat Gibbons present another frightful episode of CX Horror Stories - tales of customer experience gone bad. This year's scary offerings include healthcare, travel, and automotive repair.

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Wear Comfortable Shoes

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Episode #92

Released: November 12, 2019

Immersive experiences can be a powerful tool to demonstrate the customer experience, but for patients at a hospital, it can be impactful - and emotional - for the leadership of an organization. Guest host Pat Gibbons welcomes guest Karen Cernock from Indiana University Health to discuss how an immersive experience for their board developed into a program throughout the organization.

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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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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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Experience Management 101, Part 1

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Episode #95

Released: December 3, 2019

Experience Management, or “XM”, is a newer term in the area of customer experience and CX professionals will certainly be hearing more about how XM will impact their programs. Steve welcomes Aimee Lucas from the Qualtrics XM Institute to provide an overview of experience management and how it impacts CX professionals’ efforts within their companies.

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Experience Management 101, Part 2

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Episode #96

Released: December 10, 2019

In the second part of a two-part series on the basics of experience management, or "XM," Steve welcomes back Aimee Lucas from the Qualtrics XM Institute to discuss the six competencies CX leaders need to have to maximize their experience management efforts: lead, realize, activate, enlighten, respond, and disrupt.

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AI, YOLO, and Trends into 2020

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Episode #97

Released: December 17, 2019

As 2019 comes to an end, Steve welcomes Walker colleagues Sonya McAllister, Brad Harmon, and Troy Powell back to the podcast for a discussion on what they felt was significant for CX in 2019 and predictions on trends in customer experience into 2020.

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It's easy for companies to look at data and make assumptions about their customers’ needs, but truly placing the customer central to your business means considering them in all business decisions. Host Steve Walker welcomes back to the podcast the founder and CEO of CX Journey Annette Franz to discuss her new book "Customer Understanding: Three Ways to Put the 'Customer' in Customer Experience (and at the Heart of Your Business).”

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Spinning-off without getting dizzy

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Episode #99

Released: January 14, 2020

Corporate changes such as spinning off a part of a company or rebranding can have dramatic effects on customer experience, so tooling your CX program for the disruption is critical. Pat Gibbons guests hosts with guests Rafael Chavez and Kory Weisman from Clarios, formerly known as Johnson Controls Power Solutions, to discuss how they navigated their CX programs during big changes within their company.

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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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