As companies adopt AI to increase efficiency, they often implement technology before fully understanding their business processes. That blind spot creates tension between IT and customer-facing teams, weakens service quality, and limits profitable growth.

In this episode of Doing CX Right®, Stacy Sherman examines this issue through a customer experience lens, sharing her expert perspective on why operational clarity must come before automation. She talks with Eric Skeens, CEO of Three Tree Tech, about how one company increased revenue by $1M using AI strategically, without adding headcount and while keeping service personal.

You'll learn how to identify the right moments for AI integration and protect customer data while leveraging it for growth. Get actionable strategies for companies with limited budgets, plus crucial insights on bridging the gap between IT and CX teams. Learn more at DoingCXRight.com.

Book time with Stacy through this link.

What's the best leadership advice you've ever received or given?

For her 200th episode of Doing CX Right, host Stacy Sherman shares a curated collection of the most memorable and actionable leadership wisdom from the show's renowned guests. Consider this a masterclass in leading with influence, featuring insight you can apply immediately to boost both your business growth and your personal development.

You'll hear powerful lessons from leaders like Seth Godin, Daniel Pink, Jeanne Bliss, Fred Reichheld, Shep Hyken, Daniel Goleman, Mark Schaefer, and many others. Their brief insights here reveal the advice that shaped their success and their approach to supporting every person on their team.

Inside this special episode, you'll gain

• The crucial mindset shift that catalyzed their biggest career growth.

• The essential principles they pass on to rising talent.

• The game-changing perspective they wish they had adopted sooner.

• The practical steps they use daily to create a supportive team environment.

There are countless more actionable strategies shared beyond this show! While this episode is packed with wisdom, the full stories and in-depth advice are in the past 199 shows. Listen and take notes, as you'll find incredible wisdom you can apply today. Also, subscribe on your favorite channel to get notified of NEW episodes that will give you even MORE strategies to elevate your business and personal career too!

This episode is also available to watch on YouTube

Listed in the order they appear so you can follow the voices as you listen.

Seth Godin • Shep Hyken • Daniel Pink • Wally Feresten • Jay Baer • Fred Reichheld • Rob Markey • Bob Burg • Greg McKeown • Eileen Brenner • Sam Brenner • David Avrin • Mark Sanborn • Brittany Hodak • Joe Calloway • David Singer • Jeannie Walters • Colin Shaw • Kerry Bodine • Jeanne Bliss • Lisa Ford • Mark Schaefer • Joe Pine • Bill Price • Katie Webb • Brian Elliott • Scott McKain • Jackie Yeaney • Josh Bersin • Tiffani Bova • Wendy Smith • Stephen Shedletzky • Sylvie di Giusto • Bill Staikos • Neal Schaffer • Daniel Goleman • Patrick McCullough • Dennis Snow • Neil Hoyne • Simon T. Bailey • Mauro Porcini • Laurie Guest • Cindy Gallop • Zach Picon • Nir Eyal • Sean Albertson • Neal Topf • David Allen • Blake Morgan • Marcey Rader • Michael B. White • Max Ball • David Wachs • Sean Hawkins • Jacqui Brassey • Michael Brenner • Sharon Weinstein • Miya Gray • Joel Block • Mark Stern • Catherine Sugarbroad • Dave Seaton • Jon Picoult • Greg Kihlström • Eric Skeens • Ryan Estis • Ian Golding • Jeff Toister • Matt Dixon • Annette Franz • Stan Phelps • Jim Tincher • Joey Coleman • Dan Gingiss • Miika Mäkitalo • Greg Melia

Resources & Next Steps

• Get Insider Strategies: Subscribe to Doing CX Right newsletter for proven, actionable insights you can't get anywhere else.
• Book a Call: Schedule personalized time with Stacy Sherman.

(Episode Previously Recorded LIVE & IN-PERSON)

What's it like to be your customer? What if that customer can't hear?

When support systems are built only on spoken instructions and sound prompts, they fail customers immediately. This systemic barrier exists across the entire customer journey, preventing critical tasks like changing a flight itinerary or correcting a fraudulent charge. This failure generates costly, repeated struggles for help, driving up operational costs and causing the loss of a valuable customer segment.

Accessible customer experience is a required business standard, not a siloed department. You have far more customers with different abilities than you realize, and you are missing their business because the existing experience creates a massive, unnecessary barrier. As Craig Radford notes, current systems make "being deaf a full-time job."

Stacy Sherman talks to both Vannessa LeBoss and Craig Radford (who is deaf) of 360 Direct Access about converting accessibility across the entire experience into a measurable business advantage.

From listening to this episode, you will learn how to:

• Decrease call time by 42%: Implement direct, video-based ASL support to lower operational expenses and time.

• Capture a $3 trillion market: Build loyalty by creating truly equitable experiences for the deaf community.

• Prevent errors: Use AI for sign language recognition to accurately capture critical data and stop costly mistakes.

• Fix process flaws: Recognize that ASL is a visual language entirely distinct from English, preventing customers from being trapped in automated menu loops.

• Manage risk: Ensure compliance with accessibility requirements (ADA, etc.).

Listen now and change how you think and DO CX RIGHT.

Learn more at DoingCXRight.com and subscribe to the newsletter for more actionable strategies.

Book time with Stacy here.

Many leaders still believe emotions don't belong in business.

That limiting belief creates workplaces where employees stay quiet when problems appear, avoid taking ownership for customer outcomes, and follow directions even when they see flaws that will affect customers.

Fear is data. It signals when people feel unprepared, unsupported, or uncertain about priorities. When leaders ignore those signals, communication erodes, decision quality declines, and customers experience preventable mistakes and service failures.

In this episode of Doing CX Right®, Stacy Sherman talks with Kristen Kavanaugh, a former U.S. Marine Corps officer and Tesla culture executive, about how courageous leadership turns fear into insight and action. Kristen shares what she learned from leading Marines in high-stakes missions and from developing leaders inside Tesla's fast-moving production environment. She explains how confronting fear directly, whether in military operations or corporate transformation, builds discipline, transparency, and faster, more confident decisions that protect both employees and customers.

From listening to this episode, you will learn how to:

• Identify behaviors that show fear is influencing team performance
• Use emotional data to uncover leadership and operational risks before they reach customers
• Practice courageous leadership that encourages honesty and customer accountability
• Replace avoidance with structured communication that drives faster resolution
• Apply proven methods from Tesla and the military to enhance results under pressure

Listen now to hear why emotions are not a side effect of business; they are the business and shapes every decision, every interaction, and every outcome.

As Stacy Sherman says:

"Emotions are the experience, and matters FAR more than you think.™"

Learn more at DoingCXRight.com.

Book time with Stacy through this link.

Have you ever pressed one of those green or red smiley buttons in an airport, a store, or even a restroom and wondered if anyone actually looks at the results?

In this episode of Doing CX Right®, Stacy Sherman talks with Miika Mäkitalo, CEO of HappyOrNot, the company behind those little feedback buttons found in airports and retail locations around the world. Together, they explore what millions of quick taps reveal about how customers really feel and what most companies miss after collecting the data.

What if the frustration at a self-checkout, an empty shelf, or a dirty bathroom was worth millions in lost loyalty?
What if the real problem isn't feedback fatigue, but leadership inaction?
And what happens when teams are rewarded for listening instead of guessing?

It's a conversation that might change the way you think about every small moment a customer decides whether to come back, refer or not!

Learn more at DoingCXRight.com and subscribe to the newsletter for more actionable strategies.

Schedule time with Stacy here.

As companies grow and rely more on technology, they often lose the close connection they once had with customers. This "scaling paradox" creates a distance between business leaders and genuine customer feedback, while frontline teams, who interact with customers daily, are often overlooked. That disconnect makes it harder for your business to stay competitive.

In this episode of Doing CX Right®, Stacy Sherman talks to Michael Nguyen, who leads Customer Intelligence at Enterpret and has held key roles at Asana and Figma, about how to turn customer complaints into opportunities for loyalty and profitable growth.

You'll learn how modern feedback systems and AI reveal patterns in what customers think and feel, which enables leaders to make smarter, faster business decisions. Michael shares examples from companies he works with, like Canva, that show how "closing the loop" by listening, responding, and learning from every customer drives measurable impact.

Listen now to discover proven ways to transform customer pain into your most powerful driver of innovation and success.

Learn more at DoingCXRight.com and subscribe to the newsletter for more actionable strategies.

Book time with Stacy here.

Rerun Episode: Back by Popular Demand.

Understanding your customers better means measuring the metrics that reveal who they are, what they value, and why they stay. In this episode of Doing CX Right, Stacy Sherman revisits her conversation with Neil Hoyne, Google's Chief Strategist and author of Converted, who shares data-backed strategies for turning customer insights into lasting loyalty.

Hoyne explains why companies shouldn't expect commitment after a single purchase—you wouldn't propose on the first date—and how using data to identify high-value customers and personalize their experiences leads to stronger relationships and measurable, long-term growth.

Learn more at DoingCXRight.com and subscribe to Newsletter for more actionable strategies.

Book time with Stacy Shermamn here.

Imagine having a thriving organization where your employees are as satisfied as your customers - sounds perfect, doesn't it? In this episode, Doing CX Right host Stacy Sherman and Tiffani Bova, Global Customer Growth and Innovation Evangelist at Salesforce discuss the secret formula of high-performing organizations and the employee-customer experience balance. You'll learn about the "Experience Mindset," the role of tech in customer experience, the unintended consquences of employee experience and advice to professionals who are starting to build and advancing their leadership skills.

Learn more about gaining a competitive edge through an experience mindset at DoingCXRight.com/podcast

Book time with Stacy here.