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What OpenAI’s Leadership Crisis Taught the World About Followership
In November 2023, OpenAI's threatened employee walkout after the board's firing of Sam Altman turned into a master class in followership.

Stephanie Thum, Ph.D., CCXP
Feb 122 min read


3 New Industry Reports Track What Matters to the Candidate Experience and How Companies Are Measuring Up
Job candidates, like customers, are human beings who shape their perceptions of an organization based on their experiences.

Stephanie Thum, Ph.D., CCXP
Aug 8, 20244 min read


Digital Transformation Leadership: Making the Case for Followership. (Yes, followership!)
“Followership is not a term of weakness, but the condition that permits leadership to exist and gives it strength.” -Ira Chaleff, The Courageous Follower There’s no shortage of advice out there on digital transformation leadership. Digital transformation followership , on the other hand… not so much. But here’s the thing. Companies and their leaders can’t flourish in today’s business environment without follower support. Leaders need followers to buy in, evangelize, and suppo

Stephanie Thum, Ph.D., CCXP
Feb 1, 20224 min read


Customer fury, narcissism, and digital vigilantism: 5 studies on the stormy side of CX
Most of us would prefer to love our customers, but the feeling isn’t always mutual. Customers can be unruly. They can hate your brand, openly or privately. They can ignite social media firestorms with a single click on a smartphone. The risk only grows in complexity when employees can get burned out and lose faith in your brand. Understanding why is a solid step toward getting in front of the problems. Here are five recent peer-reviewed scholarly studies on the stormy side of

Stephanie Thum, Ph.D., CCXP
Jan 3, 20222 min read


Tips, Tools, and Tech for Better CX in 2022: Ten Leaders Weigh In
By Stephanie Thum, CCXP Show of hands. Who’s setting business priorities for 2022? How the world understands customer and employee...

Stephanie Thum, Ph.D., CCXP
Nov 22, 20213 min read


Sludge Audits: Calculating the Costs of Painful, Time-Consuming Employee & Customer Experiences
Too many rules and too much sludge can lead to a host of negative employee and customer experiences. Sludge audits can help attach a dollar cost to the customer and employee pain. Some years ago, I worked with a superstar sales executive. She frequently traveled the United States meeting with clients. One day over lunch she mentioned she had never submitted a travel expense reimbursement form to the company we worked for. I was surprised. We all know how expensive travel can

Stephanie Thum, Ph.D., CCXP
Aug 9, 20214 min read


Roundup: Five new industry reports track customer and employee experience trends that matter most
How are customers and employees really doing right now? What are they saying about their experiences? How are business leaders flexing their approaches, metrics, and measurements to stay on the pulse of experiences? Plenty of companies are out there asking these questions right now, people are responding, and the results are coming out fast in the way of reports filled with interesting nuggets, statistics, and ideas worthy of going into your knowledge arsenal. Here are five t

Stephanie Thum, Ph.D., CCXP
Aug 7, 20213 min read


Mitel Minute: How can leaders inspire innovation on virtual and hybrid teams?
How does innovation change on virtual and hybrid teams? What should leaders do to foster innovation with their teams? Here are my ideas....

Stephanie Thum, Ph.D., CCXP
Jul 21, 20211 min read


Mitel Minute: Why is it important to build great employee communication systems?
Great customer experiences are deliberately designed. The same is true for your employee communication systems. But! The question on this...

Stephanie Thum, Ph.D., CCXP
Jul 14, 20211 min read


Virtual & Hybrid Team Leadership: Join the Conversation on Twitter July 22, Preview The Chat Now!
It's time to compare notes, friends! What: A Tweetchat hosted by Mitel Co-Hosts: Billie Hartless and Andy Grant of Mitel, and me When:...

Stephanie Thum, Ph.D., CCXP
Jul 13, 20212 min read


Mitel Minute: Supercharge Sales, Create Growth by Teaming with Customers
So much has changed about customer experience, but some things will never go out of style, like saying thank you to customers and...

Stephanie Thum, Ph.D., CCXP
Jul 7, 20211 min read


Mitel Minute: How can leaders foster innovation with a hybrid workforce?
We have learned a lot about virtual teams over the past few years. Now we need to understand hybrid teams. Hybrid teams are fluid. Some...

Stephanie Thum, Ph.D., CCXP
Jun 30, 20211 min read


The Costs and Consequences of Data Breaches on Customer, Employee, and Stakeholder Relationships
Data breaches, hacks, and leaks have become so ridiculously common that sometimes you can't help but wonder, "Should customers just expect to have their data stolen as part of their experience with a company?" If you’ve replaced your credit card over the past few years due to a breach or two or three, then it is possible you have wondered the same thing. No industry has been immune to data breaches. Tens of millions of customers have had their personal bank account numbers, c

Stephanie Thum, Ph.D., CCXP
Jun 25, 20214 min read


Mitel Minute: Can having too many communication tools impact customers' and employees' experiences?
Is it ever possible to have too many communication tools at work? There are a lot of ways to think about this, and opinions can vary. For...

Stephanie Thum, Ph.D., CCXP
Jun 23, 20211 min read


Harmful Red Tape & the Menace to Customer, Employee, and Supplier Experience
When Wendy Beban and her team got the chance to slash some red tape for the citizens and employees of Auckland, New Zealand, they charged at the problem like champs. Back then, if you wanted to report something as simple as a broken public park bench to the city, you had to call a government contact center, send a message to a generic government e-mail address, or go see someone at a government office, in person. That interaction then set off a 55-step manual business process

Stephanie Thum, Ph.D., CCXP
Jan 26, 20214 min read
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