Your First Customer Experience Book Read of 2026 Should Be Hold
Updated: Aug 11
Are you competing on service excellence or customer avoidance?
Author Amas Tenumah throws that question on the table in his new book, Hold.
And it’s the question every brand should be asking, especially as big companies like HP, Toyota Motor Credit, Adobe, JustAnswer, Vonage, Amazon, and Sirius XM have learned the hard way that customers just aren't having the customer service fakery of late.
What I like about this book, what I've always liked about Amas's writing style, is its clarity and bite. No theory dumps. Just sharp wisdom from someone who knows the customer’s frustration and the customer service leader’s firefight.
In the book, Amas lays out the trench-level change work: spotting opportunity in chaos, choosing metrics that executives and customers care about, and speaking the language of credibility with execs. If you're working in the trenches, the first thing you need to learn is how to speak their language.
Amas' nod to the “Trojan Horse” method of change hit home for me. I’ve used it multiple times, advocated for it with my consulting clients, and know from my own experience that it works.
Amas is right when he says: It isn’t about customer service. It’s revenue protection.
The book delivers a quick read and a lasting punch for anyone done pretending customer experience is a department instead of a discipline. Find it on Waiting for Service, Amas Tenumah's website.
