Good at Their Job. Killing Your Culture.

May 19, 2026 | By: John DiJulius

Two Employees Every Leader Is Afraid to Confront — and the Framework That Changes Everything A Leadership Study That Put a Number on Something I’ve Known for Decades A recent piece in CEOWORLD Magazine on courageous leadership included a finding I want every leader to sit with. Eighty-six percent of employees believe courageous leadership is... Read Full Article

Spirit Airlines Is Gone. I’ve Been Saying This Would Happen for Years.

May 11, 2026 | By: John DiJulius

The Brutal Lesson Every Business Leader Needs to Learn From the Airline That Bet Everything on Cheap — and Lost I’m Not Going to Pretend I’m Surprised Spirit Airlines ceased all operations on May 2, 2026. Seventeen thousand employees lost their jobs overnight. Thousands of passengers were stranded mid-trip with no customer service to call,... Read Full Article

The Lazy Way Out: Why Your Customer Experience Inconsistency Is a Leadership Problem, Not a People Problem

May 04, 2026 | By: John DiJulius

What Marc Benioff’s Callout of His Fellow CEOs Reveals About Building a Turnkey System for Consistency Marc Benioff Said Something This Week That Every Leader Needs to Hear On April 7th, Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff went on record with a take that made headlines across the business world. Speaking about the wave of tech layoffs... Read Full Article

“I Hate AI Chatbots.” — And Why That’s the Best News Your Team Has Heard All Year

April 27, 2026 | By: John DiJulius

How to Inspire Buy-In from Employees Who Think Great Service Doesn’t Matter Anymore Three Words That Dominated Headlines This Week “I hate chatbots.” That was the headline on CNBC’s April 1st story that went viral this past week. And honestly? I wasn’t surprised by a single word of it. I’ve been saying some version of... Read Full Article

“Back to Starbucks” Is Working. Here’s the Leadership Lesson Behind It.

April 20, 2026 | By: John DiJulius

How One Brand’s Comeback Reveals the Answer to Modeling the Behaviors You Want to See I’ll Be Honest With You About Starbucks I have a complicated relationship with the Starbucks story right now. On one hand, I’ve spent 25 years holding them up as one of the greatest customer experience organizations ever built. I helped... Read Full Article

Tariffs Are Scaring Your Customers Into Shopping on Price. Here’s How You Win Anyway.

April 13, 2026 | By: John DiJulius

Your Customers Are Scared. What Are You Going to Do About It? I’ve been in the customer experience business for over 25 years. I’ve consulted through recessions, a global pandemic, and more rounds of “unprecedented uncertainty” than I can count. But what’s happening right now, in April 2026, is one of the most important moments… Read Full Article

The Buc-ee’s Paradox: How America’s Cult Convenience Store Earned an “F” While Everyone Still Loves It

April 06, 2026 | By: John DiJulius

When expansion moves faster than your service culture, the cracks always show up in the customer relationship — not the clean restrooms. A look at what Buc-ee’s BBB “F” rating really means, and the five steps every scaling brand must take before it’s too late. ▪ THE NEWS — MARCH 2026 The Better Business Bureau… Read Full Article

What Are the Top Service Trends CEOs Can’t Ignore?

March 30, 2026 | By: John DiJulius

Why the Companies Rushing to Replace People with AI Are Already Reversing Course The Research That Confirms What I’ve Been Saying for Years I’ll be honest — I wasn’t surprised when I read this. But I was glad the data finally caught up. According to new research from Gartner released in February 2026, half of… Read Full Article

Building True Customer Loyalty: The Power of Small Gestures

February 02, 2026 | By: John DiJulius

How world-class companies create lasting customer loyalty through intentional details, not expensive reward programs—featuring proven strategies from Ritz-Carlton, Starbucks, and hospitality leaders. Your competitor just launched a flashy new loyalty program. Points, tiers, exclusive perks. Your leadership team is nervous. Should you match it? Go bigger? Offer deeper discounts? Here’s what most leaders miss: The… Read Full Article

The Advantage No One Can Copy: Making Service Your Ultimate Differentiator

January 20, 2026 | By: John DiJulius

How to build a customer experience strategy that creates competitive advantage through systems competitors can’t duplicate—featuring proven frameworks from companies like Starbucks, KeyBank, and Domino’s. You’ve seen it happen. A competitor launches a new app feature on Monday. By Friday, three others have rolled out something similar. Someone drops their prices, and suddenly everyone’s in… Read Full Article