Culture also extends to external perceptions and customer behavior. For instance, 87% of customers’ positive sentiment about Starbucks has to do with the way they treat their employees[iii]. That’s pretty powerful, and a win-win if you ask me. Not only has the company committed to supporting the employee experience, but it is netting tangible results because of it.

The Center of Experience includes an organizational culture assessment that is based on a longstanding framework, the Competing Values Framework, which itself is backed by decades of research and validation[iv]. The COX has added to this original framework by looking at additional elements we know are vital to any organization that will be successful in an environment of continual change and disruption. …

A blueprint for the customer and employee experience-led enterprise

We find ourselves at an inflection point in the relationship between brands and their audiences, where customers and employees are demanding better and more valuable experiences.

Companies must keep up with this demand in order to remain competitive. This includes competition for both customers as well as employees. More importantly, while many organizations have traditionally focused on external-facing initiatives first, it is the ones which start internally that have the greatest potential to provide long-term positive benefits. I believe so strongly in this that I devoted my last two books to this topic, centering The Agile Brand and The Agile Consumer around the premise that experience and relationships will separate successful organizations from the unsuccessful.

Employee Experience (EX) and Customer Experience (CX) have the power to individually influence an organization for the better. Benefits from EX include improved productivity, engagement, and turn-over rates, among other changes. But combined, they have the power to truly transform. When these three elements are combined successfully, we refer to the phenomenon as brand experience. …

I’ve never done this before, but I will say I’ve had a record year for the number of books I’ve consumed. As my gift to you, I wanted to share the very best of what I read. I was tempted to expand this list a little more to include them all (or most), but here’s the best of the best instead.

Many of you will recognize at least most of these names, though hopefully there’s something in here for even the most avid readers. Instead of a lengthy description or review (which can easily be found on many other sites, I thought I’d just provide a 1–2 sentence description of what felt important to me about it. …

This post is based on ideas from my latest book. To learn more or purchase the book, you can read more.

Let’s continue our 3-part exploration of the next generation of consumers and the makings of our agile future.

We are years away from the Terminator-style scenario where cyborgs, or human-machine hybrids, are roaming the earth. But that doesn’t mean that we’re that far away from the majority of humanity relying heavily on machines to do more than display information and serve as always-on search engines for us.

After all, computers have the advantage of being able to analyze and process huge amounts of data without getting fatigued. This means that machines can do more than take orders from us while dependent on our intelligence, creativity, and insights. It means that they can think creatively, learn for themselves, and augment human knowledge and insight in ways we previously thought possible only in science fiction. …

This post is based on ideas from my latest book. To learn more or purchase the book, you can read more.

Let’s continue our 3-part exploration of the next generation of consumers and the makings of our agile future.

You are probably at least moderately familiar with the term “augmented reality”. While some give the industry a hard time for being overhyped, research firm IDC predicts a steady growth in investments, with $17.8 billion in 2018 (up from $9.1 billion in 2017), with that type of growth to continue at least over the next four years. …

This post is based on ideas from my latest book. To learn more or purchase the book, you can read more.

Let’s let’s begin a 3-part exploration of the next generation of consumers and the makings of our agile future.

The agile future requires three fundamental principles to flourish. Let’s explore each in more depth, as well as their impact on the agile consumer.

Brands that truly understand their place in their customers’ lives (and what they can help them solve) will thrive in a world where consumers’ needs and intents are made clearer and more transparent. …

This post is based on ideas from my latest book. To learn more or purchase the book, you can read more.

In my earlier book, The Agile Brand, I talked about how brands can create deeper connections with consumers by “letting go” of some control of their brands and involving their customers to help shape some of their decisions, products, and even how they position themselves, while staying true to their values. These deeper connections come from understanding that modern consumers have derived value from experience, not the sheer act of consumption.

We have a very large set of consumers around the world who have the potential to be creative, who are becoming less afraid of ambiguities, and who have the luxury of being able to devote time, money and energy into improving their lives. …

This post is based on ideas from my latest book, The Agile Consumer. To learn more or purchase the book, you can read more on my website.

As I was creating my latest book, The Agile Consumer, I’ve defined four rules that apply to the agile consumer. Understanding these will help you navigate and succeed in this agile world. Let’s explore each in more depth.

Rule #1: They are at the center of endless choices

Gone are the days of brands having the luxury of being one of two to three products sitting on a shelf. Consumers now have near endless choice FOR any type of product or service they want, and many are increasingly customizable to the format, payment style, and delivery method, and delivery timing that is most desirable to them. …