Joseph Michelli
VUCA and YOU – How to Lead in Ambiguous Times
Final Installment in the Series This ends my four-part series on managing the challenges of living in and leading through VUCA (Volatility, Uncertainty, Complexity, and Ambiguity). If you missed any posts in this series, they begin here. This installme...
VUCA and YOU – How to Thrive in Complex Times
Third in a Series This four-part series addresses strategies for managing the challenges of living in and leading through VUCA (Volatility, Uncertainty, Complexity, and Ambiguity). If you missed the first installment (which puts VUCA in a historical co...
VUCA and YOU – How to Lead in Uncertain Times
Second in a Series This four-part series addresses strategies for managing the challenges of living in and leading through VUCA (Volatility, Uncertainty, Complexity, and Ambiguity). If you missed the first installment (which puts VUCA in a historical c...
What is VUCA & How do YOU Thrive in Volatile Times?
VUCA Defined In their 1985 book “Leaders -The Strategies for Taking Charge,” economists Warren Bennis and Burt Nanus coined the term VUCA (Volatility, Uncertainty, Complexity, and Ambiguity). In the 1990s, VUCA was used as a US War College framework to...
How to Profit from Employee and Customer Love – Staying on the Path Less...
If you are reading this week’s post in the US, Canada, Mexico, the United Kingdom, France, or Australia, you are likely celebrating Valentine’s day (for those in other parts of the world, Valentine’s Day is a celebration of love). Thus, I’m providing ...
Bitter to Loyal: How to Move Customers from Detractors Into Advocates
Let’s imagine an irate customer calls your business and is being transferred to you. Now, fast-forward to the end of your call and imagine that this once disgruntled customer says, “Thank you, I am a customer-for-life and will tell all my friends.” OK...
You Need to Deliver Extraordinary Customer Experiences – Now More Than Ever
In an article for Computer Weekly titled Efficiency to Empathy: Customer Experience in Cost-of-Living Crisis, Madeline Bennet encourages urgent action to improve customer experiences. Madeline writes: A recent survey of 2,000 shoppers from customer eng...
Appreciating Customers Every Day – The Importance of Authentic Thanks
Thanks for spending time with me this year through my posts and books. I’m also grateful to people around the world who continue to entrust me to help them elevate team member and customer experiences. This time of year typically provides a time for re...
Don’t Just Solve Problems! How to Actually Reconcile Relationships With Compassion
Here’s a question for you, one that I hope you’ll consider thoughtfully and answer honestly. Does your business complete transactions or create relationships? I suspect you will want to answer the question with “we create relationships,” since relatio...
What Would your Customers Actually Say? Mustering Courage to Observe the Truth
The founder and former CEO of Amazon, Jeff Bezos said, “brands are what people say about you when you are not around.” Over the years, I modified that quote to suggest that “customer experiences are little more than what people say or post about you.”…
Make Customer Breakdowns into Breakthroughs – How to Embrace Service Shortcomings
Let’s assume you are using a customer relationship management (CRM) system. Other than demographic data and notes gathered as the customer moves through the sales funnel, what information are you capturing from sale to repurchase? Hopefully, you are re...
How to Crush Signature Moments – The Art of Subtly Delighting Customers
Can you keep a secret? Ok, here goes. Not all moments in a customer journey are created equal. All right, maybe that’s not a secret, but many business leaders haven’t thought about the moments that matter most to their customers. Worse yet, they haven...
Are You in the Delight Business? How to Mix Pleasure into Every Customer Experience
I design experiences. It’s a wonderful gig – especially given the remarkable brands that entrust me to help them engage their team members and customers. It’s also an amazing time to be a designer since tools like augmented, virtual, and mixed reality ...
Stick the Landing – How to Use the Peak End Theory to Amaze Customers
In gymnastics, it’s referred to as “sticking the landing.” I’ll call it “creating memorable endings.” In the prior two installments of this three part-series on Moment’s-that-Matter (MTMs), I’ve focused on beginnings and transitions. This newsletter sp...
Target Delight Instead of Satisfaction | How to Drive Delight the Mercedes-Benz Way
This is the final post in the series, “How to Drive Delight the Mercedes-Benz Way.” In my book, Driven to Delight: Delivering World-Class Customer Experience the Mercedes-Benz Way, I detail how Mercedes-Benz leaders transforme...
Fueling Process and Technological Change | How to Drive Delight the Mercedes-Benz Way
This is the fourth in the five-part series, “How to Drive Delight the Mercedes-Benz Way.” In my book, Driven to Delight: Delivering World-Class Customer Experience the Mercedes-Benz Way, I detail how Mercedes-Benz leaders trans...
Examining and Elevating Every Touchpoint | How to Drive Delight the Mercedes-Benz Way
This is the second in the five-post series, “How to Drive Delight the Mercedes-Benz Way.” In my book, Driven to Delight: Delivering World-Class Customer Experience the Mercedes-Benz Way, I detail how Mercedes-Benz leaders trans...
From Promises to Commitments | How to Drive Delight the Mercedes-Benz Way
For context and based on requests, I’m in the process of presenting key concepts from my ten McGraw-Hill customer experience and leadership books. This is the first in the five-post series, “How to Drive Delight the Mercedes-Benz Way.” I...
Reach for Common Ground | How to Deliver World-Class Customer Experiences – Leading the...
This is the third in a 5-post series, How to Deliver World-Class Customer Experiences – Leading the Starbucks Way, as we continue through the business concepts in my book Leading the Starbucks Way: 5 Principles to Connect with Your Customers,...
Savor and Elevate | How to Deliver World-Class Customer Experiences – Leading the Starbucks...
For context and based on requests, I’m in the process of presenting key concepts from my ten McGraw-Hill customer experience and leadership books. This is the first in a five-post series, “How to Deliver World-Class Customer Experiences – Lea...