The Customer-Driven Leader with Dr. James Killian

Most leaders spend their careers chasing growth. Few stop to ask what kind of culture they're creating along the way. In this conversation, Rudy Karsan and I discuss building Kenexa from startup to public company, balancing customers and employees, the promise and peril of AI, and why the future belongs to leaders who can create both performance and joy in employees and customers alike.

James welcomes Dr. Alexis Fink — one of the leading voices in people analytics, workforce strategy, and organizational measurement. With leadership experience spanning Meta, Intel, and Microsoft, Alexis has spent her career helping organizations better understand the intersection of talent, business performance, and human behavior. In this episode, we explore a question many leaders are struggling...

Dr. Killian welcomes experience management pioneer Lou Carbone to discuss recent trends in the CX space, challenges CxOs are facing to showcase value, examples of customers and leaders who made critical changes that saved their businesses and why now is the time for an Experience Management Reformation.

On this episode, our guest is Ken Powell. Ken Powell is the Chief Revenue Officer at K1x, a FinTech leader in AI-powered automation for alternative investment data. A seasoned global operator, he’s been a PE operating partner and held multiple CRO, CMO, and strategy roles across Fortune 200 firms, private equity, and high-growth SaaS companies. Ken is also the creator of Bend the Trend™, a framewo...

Tamar Cohen is a workplace and employee experience strategist with over two decades of global leadership in employee engagement, customer experience, and organizational transformation. As Founder of HaloEffect, she helps mid-sized and enterprise organizations connect workforce and workplace insights to build cultures of trust, productivity, and loyalty. Tamar is recognized for her ability to trans...

Most leaders are still trying to fit everyone into a single management style: but fairness isn't about treating everyone the same. It’s about meeting people where they are for real impact. Gig workers value autonomy and clear feedback, while full-timers need growth and belonging.  Success starts with differentiated communication, trauma-informed flexibility, and recognition that looks differe...

James welcomes XM Global Collaborative Founder Dr. Tom DeWitt. In this episode we discuss the globalization of experience management, challenges and solutions with a cultural twist!

In this episode of the Customer-Driven Leader, James welcomes industry veteran Erik Vogel, Founder of VistaXM. Erik and James will discuss the current state of XM, industry challenges, and why technology (albeit critical) is only part of delivering a solid XM program. Erik will share his expertise on why CX-as-a-Service is the right approach to helping companies activate their technology and deliv...

James welcomes Dr. Ben Granger, author of A Leader Worth Following, who serves as Chief Workplace Psychologist at Qualtrics. James and Ben discuss his new book and how leadership drives the ultimate business outcomes we hope to achieve in Experience Management (XM). His research has been published and featured in major academic and media outlets, including ABC News, Business Insider, Bloomberg, CN...

James welcomes Tony Loyd to the Customer-Driven Leader Podcast. Tony is an author, speaker, and executive coach who helps business leaders build endurance in a world of constant change. A former Fortune 500 executive with companies like John Deere, Diversey, Medtronic, and Buffalo Wild Wings, he has led teams through uncertainty and understands the strain leaders feel when expectations rise and ch...

Bart Fanelli is the CEO and Co-founder of Skillibrium and a seasoned GTM leader with 25+ years in tech. Bart is best known for helping scale Splunk from ~$60M to ~$1.5B and driving growth at OutSystems from ~$100M to ~$300M. Bart is a co-author of The Success Cadence and an executive advisor focused on building predictable, high-performing revenue organizations through alignment, discipline, and s...