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The world keeps scaling. The customer is still human.

A customer does not trust at scale. Trust forms through moments of clarity, fairness, progress, and human judgment. I help leaders see those moments before the outcome appears in the numbers.

Make the next decision with the person in view.

Some questions belong on a stage. Others need time with the people responsible for the choice. Tell me what your audience or organization is facing.

See how I can help

About me.

I have spent my career helping organizations grow without losing sight of the people they serve.

Dennis Wakabayashi speaking at ABRAS in São Paulo

What one person learns should change what the next person thinks.

I am a customer experience strategist, author, and global keynote speaker. For 35 years, I have helped organizations understand the people inside the systems they build.

I have led customer experience strategy for brands including FedEx, McDonald’s, AT&T, and Intuit. In my books, keynotes, films, and conversations, I share what I have learned. The purpose has remained the same: help organizations grow without losing sight of the people who depend on them.

I created and founded ATLAS³, a business intelligence system that connects customer language, employee conditions, public evidence, and business performance to organizational decisions.
35 yearsAcross customer experience, technology, marketing, and organizational change
400+Public videos, lessons, interviews, and field reports
140+CX in the Wild conversations with practitioners and leaders around the world
3 booksShrink to Human, Long Live CX, and Laying Golden Eggs

I started by listening to customers and employees.

Practice

Understand what people are experiencing.

I began in digital experience, marketing, service, and organizational change. Again and again, I found the same distance between what an organization measured and what its customers and employees were already living.

Public work

Share what I learn.

I began sharing those lessons through books, keynotes, films, interviews, and CX in the Wild. Across countries and industries, the technology changed. The human questions did not.

Intelligence

See belief before behavior.

I compare customer language, public evidence, employee conditions, and AI answers so leaders can understand what people are coming to believe before the outcome appears in the dashboard.

Institution

Let one person’s learning help the next.

The Global Experience Ecosystem connects research, education, recognition, community, creative work, guidance, lived experience, and media. What one person learns should change what the next person thinks.

I share what I learn so other people can put it to use.

Global keynote speaker

I speak with business, government, and professional audiences about customer belief, trust, AI, service, and the decisions that shape daily life.

Author and educator

My books and Academy courses give practitioners language for what they already know and a path for developing their judgment.

Founding chairman

I created the Global CX Alliance so practitioners can learn from one another, prove their work, and take their credibility beyond one company or market.

One person learns. The next person begins further ahead.

The Global Experience Ecosystem connects intelligence, learning, recognition, community, creative work, guidance, lived experience, and media. Each part can stand on its own. Together, they allow what one person discovers to strengthen what another person can do.

Books.

I write so another person can take the thought further than I did.

The books began with different questions.

Laying Golden Eggs began with the value of lived knowledge. Long Live CX examined what customer experience needs in order to grow as a profession. Shrink to Human asks what happens to people when the systems around them keep scaling.

Shrink to Human book cover

Shrink to Human

See the customer, the employee, and the leader inside systems built for scale.

View on Amazon
Long Live CX book cover

Long Live CX

Strengthen customer experience as a profession people can explain, practice, and sustain.

View on Amazon
Laying Golden Eggs book cover

Laying Golden Eggs

Turn what you have learned into something another person can use.

View on Amazon

The ideas continue in the Academy.

The Academy study guides and professional handbooks take the ideas into specific disciplines. The Portuguese edition makes Long Live CX available to another community of practitioners.

The Journey Operator Study Guide cover

The Journey Operator Study Guide

Own the time between teams, so no customer has to start over.

View on Amazon
The Evidence Strategist Study Guide cover

The Evidence Strategist Study Guide

Find the person inside the data and bring their words to the decision.

View on Amazon
The Trust Economist cover

The Trust Economist

See how customer belief affects revenue.

View on Amazon
The Trust Economist Handbook cover

The Trust Economist Handbook

Belief economics and long-run customer value.

View on Amazon

Channels.

Films, podcasts, and public conversations for people who want to use the ideas in their own work.

The customer still decides as a human.

I use film, audio, and public conversation to share what customers, employees, and leaders are teaching me about the systems people depend on every day.

Begin with the three-minute introduction to Agentic CX, or browse the full channel for lessons, keynotes, and conversations.

Watch on YouTube
CX in the Wild identity

Listen to CX in the Wild.

I speak with customer experience leaders from different countries and industries about the decisions, challenges, and lessons behind their work.

Choose how you would like to reach me.

Each option reaches me or my team directly.

Need a keynote, advisory conversation, consulting engagement, or an answer from ATLAS³?

The Work with me page will shape the questions around what you need and explain what I will do with your answers.

Work with me

Appearances.

Keynotes, interviews, and public conversations across countries, industries, and years of work.

Lisbon, Portugal

PortugalCX Summit Lisbon · Nova School

The beginning of the Global CX Alliance, the CX Summit stage, and the public introduction of Shrink to Human.

Public work across seven markets

BrazilABRAS’25 · Food Retail Future

Keynote: “O produto é a experiência.” Customer experience as the product for Brazil’s food retail industry.

PortugalLisbon CX Summit

Keynote on leadership, AI, and trust in the future of customer experience.

United StatesCustomer Connect Expo · Las Vegas

Keynote on AI, omnichannel strategy, and CX leadership; Advisory Board Member.

Vietnam2nd ASEAN Pulp and Paper Summit · Ho Chi Minh City

Keynote on the ASEAN macroeconomic outlook and the future of manufacturing.

South AfricaCEM Africa · Cape Town and Johannesburg

Featured speaker on CX transformation, leadership, innovation, and customer engagement.

United StatesISG Xperience Summit · New York

Startup Challenge speaker and contributor to the summit’s innovation discussions.

United Arab EmiratesExpo City Dubai · Blueprint Sustainability Podcast

Conversation about sustainability, cities, and public trust.

Leadership, judging, and public practice

GermanyCX NXT EU · Berlin

Keynote Speaker, Chairman, Opening Chair, and Workshop Leader.

United Arab EmiratesPronovea Customer Excellence MENA Summit · Dubai

Keynote on empathy, innovation, and customer experience across cultures.

United StatesUSCXA 24

Judge, Host, and Chair of Judges.

South AfricaCEM Africa CX Awards

Judge and Chair of Judges.

United StatesCustomer Contact Week · Las Vegas

On-site media appearances and live recordings.

Dubai, Cape Town, and San Antonio

United Arab EmiratesCX NXT Summit · Dubai

Keynote Speaker and Chairman on empathy, global connection, and AI-era customer experience.

South AfricaCEM Africa Summit · Cape Town

Chairman, Host, Workshop Co-Presenter, and Day Chairman.

United StatesCustomer Contact Week · San Antonio

Workshop Leader on customer experience strategy and engagement.

Stages and recorded conversations

South AfricaCEM Africa Summit · Cape Town

Opening Keynote Speaker and Day 2 Chairman.

United StatesCES Digital Customer Experience Summit · Las Vegas

Host and emcee for discussions on digital customer experience and innovation.

United StatesReuters Customer Service and Experience · New York

Panel Speaker and Chairman for Reuters CX Events USA.

United StatesReuters Customer Service and Experience · San Diego

Session speaker on customer service and experience transformation.

United Arab EmiratesExpo 2020 Dubai

Public appearance within the Expo customer experience program.

GlobalThe CX Goalkeeper

Podcast conversation about leadership, customer experience, and the international practice.

GlobalCX Passport · Episode 68

Conversation about customer experience and international engagement.

United StatesAll Things Considered CX · iQor Digitally Irresistible · Products That Count

Recorded conversations on customer experience leadership, digital transformation, and product.

Customer experience across markets

TurkeyWorld Marketing Summit

Keynote on customer experience and marketing leadership.

NigeriaWest African CX Summit

Keynote on CX leadership and customer-centered transformation.

Latin AmericaLATAM CX Conference

Keynote on customer experience leadership across Latin America.

GlobaleWorld Marketing Summit

Virtual keynote on marketing for social change.

CanadaCustomer Experience Strategies Summit

Host and emcee for customer experience strategy sessions.

United StatesCustomer Contact Week · Las Vegas

Workshop Leader on customer experience design.

GlobalPiktale Influencers Summit and Award Ceremony

Featured live session participant and speaker.

BrazilSTART.101 Brasil

Podcast conversation about customer experience and innovation.

GlobalCX Out Loud

Conversation about CX strategy and leadership.

United StatesAmazing Business Radio · CX Forums · Winning Digital Customers

Conversations about customer experience strategy, digital engagement, and the new customer relationship.

United StatesThe Marketing Stack · Inspired Life Project · Avtex Experience Points

Conversations about marketing, leadership, experience innovation, and customer engagement.

United StatesThe Experience Maker · The Data Standard · Another Cloud Podcast

Conversations about customer experience, social technology, data, and digital transformation.

The public record begins

United StatesEngati Webinar

Presenter for “Answering Complex Customer Questions in Real Time.”

United StatesGlobal Innovation Event and Digital Branding Summit

Public appearance on innovation, branding, and digital engagement.

United StatesEngati CX · June and November

Conversations about customer experience, conversational AI, and customer communication.

United StatesGet In The Mode

Conversation about customer experience and conversational AI.

United StatesShep Hyken’s Amazing Business Radio

Conversation about customer experience strategy and leadership.

Recognition.

A public record of the organizations, awards, and independent rankings that have recognized my work.

Global CX 200

Top 200 LinkedIn Voices in Customer Services Worldwide

Antony Martini included me in the independently curated Global CX 200.

View the Global CX 200
Engati

50 Brand Ambassadors to Work With

Engati included me in its international selection of brand ambassadors.

View the Engati selection
CX Network

Top Customer Experience Influencers to Follow

CX Network included me among its customer experience voices to follow in 2023.

View the CX Network selection
8x8

23 Customer Experience Influencers to Follow

8x8 included me in its 2023 customer experience selection.

View the 8x8 selection
100 Eminent Global Influencers Award

100 Eminent Global Influencers Award

I received the 100 Eminent Global Influencers Award.

View the award record
SurveySensum

150+ Global CX Thought Leaders and Influencers

SurveySensum included me in its international 2020 record.

View the SurveySensum list
Engati

Top 10 CX Influencer

Engati profiled me and named me among its leading customer experience voices.

View the Engati profile

Work with me.

I give keynotes, advise leaders, consult with organizations, and run ATLAS³ for questions existing reports cannot answer. Begin with the kind of help you need and the situation you are facing.

Tell me what you have in mind.

Choose the closest kind of conversation, then share what you know today.

A little context is enough.

Your first choice changes the questions that follow. You only need to answer what you know.

After you send the form

I will review what you share and reply about whether I can help and what a sensible next step might be.

Who will be listening?
What should the session accomplish?
What kind of decision is it?
What evidence is available?
Where do you need help?
What should be different afterward?
What do you need to understand?
What evidence can you provide?
What is the conversation about?
What would you like to discuss?
What can you bring to the conversation?
What would be most useful?
What would you like help with?

Where should I reply?

The world will keep scaling.

People will still experience it one moment at a time.