The $2.5 billion Amazon "dark patterns" settlement illuminates deep ethical CX questions.

Sludge is more than a nuisance. It's a communication choice made by leadership. Sometimes it isn't intentional. Sometimes it is.

While government agencies aren’t profit-driven, their leaders are still often held to business standards that mirror those in the private sector. That's why CX matters to everyone.

In November 2023, OpenAI's threatened employee walkout after the board's firing of Sam Altman turned into a master class in followership.

Updated December 21, 2024 Customer experience (CX) has had its share of highs and lows in 2024—a roller coaster ride of triumphs that deserve celebration and failures that serve as cautionary tales. These seven nuggets stand out as critical moments, showing what works, what doesn’t, what's promising, and where brands can do better. Wipeout: Chocolate Backlash in Glasgow Willy Wonka is a pop culture touchstone of color and wonder, but a big event heralded as an immersive “Will

The White House's New Time is Money Memo Spotlights Bad CX But Isn't the Regulatory Crackdown Some Hoped For

Hello, friends and colleagues! Almost three years after publishing my Dictionary of U.S. Federal Government Terms, Phrases, and Acronyms,...

Sometimes the biggest inspirations come in the form of blog posts. Earlier this month, Melinda French Gates posted an article on the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation website that made my heart pitter-patter. It was so inspirational that I recommend every government #CX pro moves it to the top of their own reading list: Link . “…after three years of prototyping, digesting 1,800 pages of federal and state regulations, prototyping again, and pilot testing, Michigan rolled out

“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

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

President Biden’s new executive order (EO) on customer experience lit up the social streams like nothing I’ve seen in quite some time. That made me happy. It’s no secret that I’m a fan of the CX work being done in government—all governments. I held one of the U.S. federal government’s first agency-level CX leadership roles way back when… during the Obama administration. Since leaving government, I’ve advised colleagues and clients on the technicalities of U.S. federal govern

When you make customers jump through hoops, negative things are bound to happen. One of those negative things is customers eventually stop jumping. When that happens, it shouldn’t be any big surprise. That is the main point of Cass Sunstein’s book , Sludge: What Stops Us from Getting Things Done and What to Do About It. The book rarely mentions the word “customer.” But make no mistake. The book’s 153 pages are about the many ways in which sludge—those pesky hoops that compani

By Stephanie Thum, CCXP Show of hands. Who’s setting business priorities for 2022? How the world understands customer and employee...

Hi, friends! I'm so excited to share with you my new collaboration with SAGE Publishing, the global academic publisher of books,...

Podcasts, blogs, reports, and books are great for staying sharp on the fundamentals and trends in customer experience management (CX). On...

The White House's updated CX accountability framework adds equity and updates the definition of CX in the U.S. federal government. Here...

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

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

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

Collecting customer feedback has become a mainstay for companies that want to reap the benefits of customer-centricity. There are now more ways and more tools to collect customer feedback than ever before! But one of the biggest mistakes many organizations make is assuming that customers should just know—without the benefit of your communication—what you are doing with their feedback. Feedback can be rich with ideas for: Business development. Managing business and operational