Annette Franz
Annette Franz
Annette Franz is founder and Chief Experience Officer of CX Journey Inc. She is an internationally recognized customer experience thought leader, coach, consultant, and speaker. She has 25+ years of experience in helping companies understand their employees and customers in order to identify what makes for a great experience and what drives retention, satisfaction, and engagement. She's sharing this knowledge and experience in her first book, Customer Understanding: Three Ways to Put the "Customer" in Customer Experience (and at the Heart of Your Business).
18 Things Leaders Need to Stop Saying in 2026…
As we kick off 2026, leaders are still tripping over the same problem: They keep saying things that sound right about culture, employee experience (EX),…
Disagree and Commit: The Discipline Behind Culture, EX, and CX Alignment
Alignment is one of the most overused and misunderstood words in business today. Too often, it’s interpreted as agreement, as if true alignment only...
From Profit-First to Experience-First: The Culture Shift That Changes Everything
In my work with executives and boards, I often hear the same story: “We care about customers and employees, but we have to hit...
Why Leaders Miss 96% of Workplace Problems – and How to Fix It
In 1989, Sidney Yoshida introduced a concept that still hits hard today: the Iceberg of Ignorance. According to his research at a Japanese car...
Don’t Wait for Burnout: Track Stress in Your Business Early
Stress in the workplace is inevitable. Burnout is not. Yet far too many companies don’t take stress seriously until it shows up in the form...
The CX Metric You Can’t Afford to Ignore
In an era of instant gratification and eroding patience, your product or service isn’t judged by what it can do; it’s judged by how fast…
Accountability: The Non-Negotiable in Culture Transformation
Culture transformation efforts often begin with bold aspirations: new values, lofty purpose statements, and visions of how the organization will “show up” differently. But...
The Streetlight Effect: Why Leaders Keep Fixing the Wrong Problems
Many years ago, I wrote about the concept of the The Streetlight Effect. It refers to a story or concept along the lines of: A...
10 Harsh Truths About Culture Every Leader Must Face
Culture isn’t what’s written on your walls or printed in your employee handbook. It’s the unwritten rules, the behaviors you tolerate, and the silent...
Canary In The Coal Mine: Early Warning Signs From The Inside
“Canary in a coal mine” is an idiom that refers to an early warning signal, a subtle but critical indicator that something is wrong...
The Candidate Experience is Broken – Time to Fix It
Let’s be honest: the candidate experience today is a mess. Applying for a job is a frustrating, dehumanizing exercise that leaves talented people walking...
The Customer Lifecycle Starts Before the First Click
Meet the Man in the Chair. He’s not your customer. He may not even know you exist. But he has a need, a problem...
You Can’t AI Your Culture, Nor Should You Try
There’s a rush right now to “AI everything.” Customer service. Marketing. Operations. Even strategy. (Without thinking about why. Without thinking about outcomes. All of...
Stay or Go? Why 2025 Demands Both Stay and Exit Interviews
Back in 2012, I argued that exit interviews alone were a missed opportunity. At the time, the conversation around retention was simple: ask people...
Competing Priorities Are Killing Your EX and CX: Stop the Excuses
I’ve seen and heard it countless times over the years: a People and Culture leader or a CX professional comes to the executive table...
Breaking Up Is Still Hard to Do (But Shouldn’t Be)
Back in 2012, I wrote about how companies make it unnecessarily difficult for customers to cancel subscriptions and memberships. Fast-forward more than a decade,...
How to Refresh Your Brand Without Losing Customer Trust
(Enjoy reading my 1,000th blog post!) A brand refresh is not about swapping out logos, updating colors, or chasing design trends. At its core, a...
The Multiplier Effect of EX: How Internal Investments Drive Results
Many leaders agree that customer experience (CX) is a growth driver. (They do, right?!) But fewer recognize that the secret to CX success doesn’t...
AI Is Only as Good as the Culture It Operates Within
Culture determines how AI shows up in your customer experience – intelligent, intentional, and human, or disconnected and damaging. The choice is yours. AI is...
Psychological Safety: The Strategic Advantage Hiding in Plain Sight
There’s a lot of noise around psychological safety in today’s business discussions. Some dismiss it as HR fluff or simply as a buzzword. Others...