Building Leadership Capabilities in the Employee Experience Era

December 15, 2025 | By: Dave Murray

How today’s top organizational challenge becomes your greatest competitive advantage According to recent research from Blanchard Companies, the #1 business challenge organizations face today is building leadership capabilities, surpassing concerns such as supporting agility (36%), boosting performance (31%), improving retention (23%), and managing the workforce impact of AI (21%). This confirms a truth many organizations… Read Full Article

Redefining Customer Experience in Healthcare, Plus Much More…

October 20, 2025 | By: John DiJulius and Dave Murray (Co-Author)

Is Customer Experience Broken? According to a recent report from WSJ Intelligence and Code and Theory: 93% of C-suite executives surveyed say their organization’s customer experience (CX) is “broken.” At the same time, 94% say that CX strategy contributes directly to business success. Reasons Why CX is Broken for so Many Brands The report shared the significant reasons… Read Full Article

As Traditional Reading Declines, What are the Drawbacks? Plus Much More…

October 13, 2025 | By: John DiJulius

Chewy’s Legendary Above & Beyond Story Congratulations to the CXEA Class of 2025 We are thrilled to congratulate the following executives who just graduated from our Customer eXperience Executive Academy: Ty Smalstig, Director of Member Assistance at PSECU, Alicia Anderson, Human Resource and Talent Acquisition Business Partner Manager at PSECU, Steven Olson and Captain Teddy… Read Full Article

The New Starbucks Customer Experience Blueprint and More…

September 26, 2025 | By: John DiJulius

Great Employee Engagement Survey Question I love the following question to measure employee morale: On a scale of 1-10 (10 being the best), how do you feel on Friday at 6 pm? On a scale of 1-10 (10 being the best), how do you feel on Sunday at 6 pm? Obviously, it is unrealistic to… Read Full Article

What Does the TV Show, Severance, Say About the State of Corporate Leadership

September 19, 2025 | By: John DiJulius

The show Severance won 10 Emmys at the 2025 Emmy Awards. The concept of the wildly popular show Severance is builtaround a dystopian workplace experiment in which employees undergo a surgical procedure called “severance,” which splits their consciousness into two separate identities: “Innie,” the version of themselves that exists only at work and has no… Read Full Article

Customer Engagement is a Contact Sport and Much More…

September 12, 2025 | By: John DiJulius

Spirit Airlines Files for Bankruptcy, Again It doesn’t matter how cheaply you sell your services and products; customers will not buy from you if your customer service is lousy. Spirit Airlines, the most hated brand in the US,  has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection for the second time in less than a year. This… Read Full Article

Rolling Out New Customer Experience Training in a Hybrid Work World

August 29, 2025 | By: Dave Murray

Rolling out new Customer Service content to an entire organization has never been simple—and today’s hybrid workplaces make it even more complex. With employees splitting time between remote work and the office, the challenge is no longer “What do we share?” but also “How do we reach everyone effectively?” One organization, PSECU (Pennsylvania State Employees… Read Full Article

As a Result of Bringing Back the Human Connection Starbucks Closing 90 Mobile-Only Stores

August 01, 2025 | By: John DiJulius

A central part of Starbucks’ turnaround strategy—led by CEO Brian Niccol—is a renewed emphasis on human connection between employees and customers, shifting away from a tech-heavy approach. More than five years after introducing mobile-order-only pickup stores, the company is phasing out the concept, citing a lack of the inviting atmosphere it aims to cultivate. Starbucks… Read Full Article

First Federal Community Bank Focuses on Employees, One Chapter at a Time!

July 25, 2025 | By: Dave Murray

First Federal Community Bank, based in Dover, OH, is focused on delivering a world-class client experience and a great employee experience to its team members.  First Federal has conducted the World Class Leadership workshops and World Class Internal Culture workshops to establish leadership and internal communication standards.   They have taken that focus a step further… Read Full Article

How Delta Airlines Has Made Price Irrelevant

May 19, 2025 | By: John DiJulius

While most airlines chased customers with low fares, Delta has taken a different approach—banking on the idea that travelers would pay more for a better experience. That bold strategy has paid off: Delta is now the highest-earning airline in the U.S. and the most profitable, with a rare customer loyalty level in the industry. “We… Read Full Article