“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

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

How Do I Align Employee Personal Development with Company Goals?

March 20, 2026 | By: John DiJulius

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 Target’s Brand Collapse Teaches Every CEO About Culture, Identity, and the Frontline

March 16, 2026 | By: John DiJulius

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

Your Engagement Surveys Are Lying to You. Here’s What You Should Measure Instead.

March 10, 2026 | By: John DiJulius

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

Your Signature Experience Is Not a Perk. It’s the Product

February 17, 2026 | By: John DiJulius

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

The 10 Commandments: Your Complete Operating System for World-Class Customer Experience

February 10, 2026 | By: John DiJulius

How leading brands like Starbucks, Chick-fil-A, and Nestlé use this proven methodology to eliminate inconsistency, reduce customer churn, and build cultures competitors can’t copy. You’ve read the books. Attended the conferences. Highlighted the best practices. Your team is nodding along in agreement. But six months later, nothing has actually changed. Your customer experience is still… 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

Why You Want to Train Your Employees to Surprise & Delight Your Customers

January 19, 2026 | By: John DiJulius

Opportunity to Differentiate According to a Gallup Survey, 49% of Americans say customer service has gotten worse in the last year. Only 6% say it has improved. *CSRevolution Podcast Episode 236: How Can I Make Customer Experience A True Competitive Advantage In 2026? This Week’s Customer Experience Microlearning Watch and share this amazing 1-minute service… Read Full Article

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