The new rules to dominating your industry.
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
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
The Answer Hiding Behind the “Quiet Cracking” Crisis What I’m Seeing in Organizations Right Now I’ve been working with organizations across the country for decades, and what I’m seeing right now is something I’ve never quite encountered at this scale. It’s called “quiet cracking,” and it may already be happening inside your organization — even… Read Full Article
What the fall of one of America’s most beloved retail brands teaches every CEO about culture, identity, and the one thing no restructuring plan can fix. There used to be a joke that only insiders understood. Customers didn’t say they were going to “Target.” They said they were going to “Tarzhay” — the faux-French pronunciation… Read Full Article
Why 82% of Employees Feel Lonely at Work, Even When Engagement Scores Look Good. I’ve spent the last three decades working side by side with some of the world’s most admired organizations — Starbucks, The Ritz-Carlton, Chick-fil-A, KeyBank, Lexus — helping them build cultures where both employees and customers genuinely thrive. And in that time,… Read Full Article
The AI customer service backlash isn’t about the technology. It’s about what companies are using it for. Here’s the headline that should terrify every C-suite executive in America: according to a January 2026 Kinsta/Propeller Insights survey of over 1,000 U.S. consumers, 93.4% prefer talking to a human over AI for customer service. Nearly 50% would… Read Full Article
How subscription price increases exposed the companies that forgot what a promise means. On February 2, 2026, anime streaming service Crunchyroll raised prices across all tiers for North American subscribers. The Fan Tier jumped from $7.99 to $8.99. The Mega Fan Tier went from $9.99 to $11.99. And the Ultimate Fan Tier climbed from $14.99… Read Full Article
What Every CEO Can Learn from Southwest Airlines Right Now. On January 27, 2026, Southwest Airlines boarded its last open-seating flight. Passengers who had flown Southwest for decades lined up one final time without knowing which seat they would sit in. By the next morning, the airline that had been defined for 53 years by… Read Full Article
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
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
