Top 20 CX Leaders To Follow & Learn From
Customer experience professionals have to balance everything from adapting to new technologies to developing serving strategies in time of crisis. You shouldn’t feel as if you have to take this all on alone. Tap into the resources around you and borrow ideas from leaders in the CX field.
The following list highlights the best customer experience leaders and mentors. A good CX leader can help you learn, adapt, network, and gain customer insights in a rapidly changing market.
Top 20 CX Leaders
These CX leaders are forging new customer experience strategies and laying out a roadmap for their followers. Customer experience professionals can enjoy and learn from them through their books, podcasts, and on social media. The wisdom they dispense will introduce you to successful CX ideas and concepts.
1. Adam Toporek
Adam is a customer service expert, author, speaker, and the president of CTS Service Solutions. He is an entrepreneur who has an extensive background in retail, wholesale, and small business success. His areas of expertise include customer service principles, CX management, expert interviews, and customer experience training. His blog, YouTube channel, book, and podcast are great ways to learn from him and empower your own CX initiatives.
2. Blake Morgan
Blake Morgan’s book, The Customer of the Future, was named one of the top 20 books C-level executives are reading to deal with the COVID-19 crisis according to Business Insider. She is a guest lecturer at the University of California as well as a regular contributor to Forbes and the Harvard Business Review. Her podcasts and books are a celebrated success in the customer service market.
3. Annette Franz
Annette is the founder and SEO of CX Journey Inc. She works with companies to help make sure that employees, customers, and all the business factions attain a customer-centric culture. Her book, blog, workshops, and social media all put her into the top group of elite CX strategy specialists.
If you make decisions, define strategies, develop products/services, etc., and don’t include the customer in that work, you will fail. Customers have choices. They'll go elsewhere. #customerexperience. #cx https://t.co/945SQmvXih #worldbookday #WorldBookDay2021 #cx pic.twitter.com/btxIHG45a9
— Annette Franz, CCXP (@annettefranz) March 4, 2021
4. Shep Hyken
Shep Hyken is an author, CX influencer, and a show host on Amazon Prime for the TV series “Be Amazing Or Go Home!”. His books, blog, app, DVDs, and workshops aim to help leaders implement top tier customer experience management strategies. He is one of the most well-known and celebrated speakers on the CX circuit and offers insights into customer expectations and the customer journey.
5. Jeanne Bliss
Jeanne Bliss is a popular CX leader who teaches about employee experience and engagement. She is the founder and CEO of Customer Bliss—a consultation and education firm for customer-centric companies. She is an accomplished speaker with over 1500 presentations and has trained more than 20,000 customer experience professionals. Her blog, books, podcast, and workshops unpack how to create deep and memorable relationships with customers.
Jeanne shares 4 leadership tactics to become stronger through market adversity.
6. Bill Quiseng
Bill Quiseng is an award-winning speaker, blogger, and writer with over thirty years of luxury resort/club management experience. He helps businesses understand the customer journey as it relates to the overall customer experience and general relationship building practises. He was named one of Arc Pointe Call Center Solutions’ “Most Influential Customer Service Bloggers” as well as one of the “Top 10 Tweeters Talking About the Customer Experience” according to Fonolo.
7. Colin Shaw
Colin Shaw is a market specialist when it comes to customer experience and consulting. His company offers books, podcasts, training, coaching, and workshops to teach about using customer data to its fullest potential. He created an institution that can mentor any CX professional to become a leader capable of enhancing the customer journey for the benefit of the customer and the brand.
Why “best practice” stifles creativity via The Intuitive Customer Podcast.
8. Ian Golding
Ian Golding is a blogger, professional speaker, and experienced CX trainer. He is noted as one of the first CX leaders used as a resource and trainer that is authorized in the process of CCXP accreditation. His book, Customer What?: The honest and practical guide to customer experience, is a smart, funny, and insightful look into the professional world of CX and a must-read on your way to the CCXP exam.
CX industry insights provided by one of Golding’s many public presentations.
9. James Dodkins
James is a CX leader and a talented keynote speaker and influencer. Disney, Nike, and Lego have made him a top go-to specialist for customer experience consultation, resources, and training. His focus on customer-centricity is key to his teaching. You can follow his blog, workshops, Amazon Prime show, and webinar to learn from his impressive resume. He also offers a musical customer experience keynote presentation that promises to be as memorable as it is insightful.
10. Nate Brown
If you are looking to learn from someone with lots of experience as a CX leader, Nate Brown is the guy. He is co-founder of CX Accelerator, a specialist in customer journey mapping along with a survey process for CX metrics and employee engagement. His blogs and speaking events are fun, fresh, and informative for any stakeholders who are looking to up their customer experience game.
11. Katie Stabler
Katie is a knowledgeable CX influencer who is both the founder and director of Cultivate Experience by Design. She is one of the few specialists in the area of leading CX programs with complex structures and regulated environments. She is a must follow when it comes to teaching CX managers that their use of customer experience can make or break their profitability. Her books, blog, and speaking engagements are well received and can give customer experience work an influx of new energy.
12. Jay Nathan
Jay Nathan is a great resource for customer experience professionals who want to learn about customer retention and growth methodology, especially with the goal of managing and scaling tech businesses. He has over 10 years in the CX field and is the owner of Customer Imperative—a consulting firm dedicated to helping B2B SaaS software companies with sales, marketing, customer success, client services, support, and product management.
13. Adrian Swinscoe
If customer experience professionals are looking to improve their work style, Adrian Swinscoe is a CX leader worth following. He is a keynote speaker, podcaster, blogger, author, and a customer experience consultant. He is the author of two books, How to Wow and Punk CX, which are both very much worth a read. He’s a regular contributor to Forbes, where he writes about all things CX.
14. Shane Goldberg
Shane Goldberg is a top CX influencer who helps marketers improve customer experience by targeting new areas of growth. He is the founder of CustCore and is a highly regarded CX consultant and mentor. His specialties include business improvement, sales operations, and brand management. CustCore offers a range of consulting services, workshops, courses, CX assessments, and general resources.
15. Matt Watkinson
If your business is looking to learn about better customer experience, Matt Watkinson is the one to study. He is the CEO and one of the founders of Methodical. He is a talented speaker, author, and visiting fellow at Cass Business School. His books are top sellers, and his company offers workshops and consulting to get business on an effective CX path.
16. Greg Ortbach
Greg brings 20 years of work experience that highlights his stellar leadership skills. He is all about managing relationships, creating and sustaining strategic partnerships and revenue growth. His social media following is significant, especially on Twitter, and his posts are often trending.
I sure enjoyed the #CustServ Power Hour, AKA #TheFastestHourOnTwitter.
— Greg Ortbach (@GregOrtbach) March 3, 2021
On behalf of @MarshaCollier @ImMarkBernhardt and @complexified, thank you so much for sharing your Tuesday, passion, & expertise with us.
See you the same time next week?
17. Jo Boswell
Jo Boswell created Sentio-B after more than 25 years working with British Airways. Now she is coaching CX leaders who will be running the businesses of tomorrow. She works with managers, boards, and other senior leaders to drive customer experience transformations. Her consulting, speaking events, and coaching are well regarded in the CX industry for being both bold and actionable.
18. Stacy Sherman
Stacy Sherman is all about engaging with employees and making them leaders. She is a CX influencer whose focus is on connecting with real people to inspire exciting customer experiences through motivated and involved workers. She is a well-known speaker, blogger, podcaster, writer, and customer experience coach. She is highly involved with George Washington and Seton Hall University and also promotes a community called “Women Leaders Making a Difference”.
19. James Perryman
James became a CX leader with 20 years of work experience. He focuses on employee engagement and customer experience by demonstrating how workers can bring purpose, advocacy and strength to both employees and customers. This is done by turning regular day experiences into exceptional ones. James founded Momentus Ltd. that is focused on coaching, teaching, mentoring and training to help brands stand out from other similar ones on the market.
How do you recognise, reward and thank your people?
— Momentus (@MomentusLimited) March 5, 2021
☕ Coffee with the CEO?
⌚ Start later, or finish earlier?
🎈 Celebrate work anniversary?
👩💻 Extra personal development time?#EmployeeAppreciationDay #thankyou #recognise pic.twitter.com/Qa4qu8OkEM
20. Kaye Chapman
Kaye Chapman is all about people. She is a customer experience specialist who works with companies and their chief customer officer to design and build top of the line, people-first customer experience policies. She is a big part of the CX Accelerator Slack world and is both a community organizer and facilitator as well. She contributes to various channels helping others learn to be CX leaders from her great wealth of knowledge.
So cool to have made this list again this year! Congrats to everyone here and thanks to @CallCenterICMI and everyone who nominated me! https://t.co/rBYlUHNqAz
— Kaye Chapman (@kayejchapman) January 27, 2021
Conclusion
There are lots of customer experience resources to get expert advice from leaders such as those featured above.
One is The CX Lead blog and The CX Lead newsletter. Join for expert support, tips, talks and information on the CX world.
Related Read: What Is Customer Experience Design And How Can You Approach It?
Worth Checking Out: What Is A Chief Experience Officer And Why Should You Hire One?