Dan Sullivan, Director of Journey Management at CHG Healthcare, has transformed how a major healthcare company connects business outcomes to customer experience. With a background spanning customer success, strategy, and design, Dan has built an enterprise-wide journey management practice that brings data, insights, and teams together to act as one.
In this conversation with TheyDo’s Jochem van der Veer, Dan shares how CHG made journey management tangible, through immersive storytelling, data integration, and co-creation across teams. He reveals how to align CX with business strategy, balance customer obsession with outcomes, and create organizational change that lasts beyond the latest initiative.
Guest Bio
Dan Sullivan is the Director of Journey Management at CHG Healthcare, where he leads the development and implementation of a company-wide journey management practice. His work bridges customer insight, product design, and business strategy to drive measurable impact. Prior to CHG, Dan led customer success at TheyDo and held strategic roles across startups and global enterprises. Known for his creative storytelling and systems thinking, he’s helping redefine how large organizations use journey management to become truly customer-led.
Top Takeaways
Chapters
00:00 Introducing Dan Sullivan and CHG Healthcare
02:12 Why it’s not about the journey itself
04:40 Customer centricity and business alignment
08:46 Balancing customer obsession with business goals
10:28 Finding gaps and building the case for journeys
13:20 Why CHG chose a journey-led approach
16:42 Connecting teams through shared journeys
18:48 Building an immersive journey experience
25:13 The impact of the immersive launch
29:19 From solution awareness to problem awareness
31:37 Making data meaningful, not just measurable
34:43 Using journeys as a decision-making tool
36:30 Keeping journey maps simple but powerful
40:38 Helping experience teams understand business impact
44:12 Organizational changes and long-term shifts
48:33 Embedding journeys into OKRs
52:14 Navigating resistance and scaling adoption
54:30 Governance, ownership, and design systems
58:18 Building ownership across teams
01:00:43 Advice to younger self and closing thoughts
LinkedIn Profiles
Dan Sullivan (CHG Healthcare)
Raymond Otero, Director of Global Customer Experience at Microsoft, bridges customer success and experience to create truly journey-centered transformation. With nearly three decades of experience, Ray’s approach brings operational cohesion, data-driven insights, and a cultural shift that makes customer obsession real inside the enterprise.
In this conversation with TheyDo’s Jochem van der Veer, Ray unpacks how Microsoft is blending CX and CS through journey-based operating models, how AI enables proactive coaching, and why humility and alignment—not hierarchy—drive lasting success.
Guest Bio
Raymond (Ray) Otero is Director of Global Customer Experience at Microsoft, where he leads strategic programs that connect customer success, experience design, and data insights across the organization. With over 25 years of experience spanning Citrix, Microsoft, and advisory roles with the Customer Success Collective and Influence Board, Ray helps global enterprises shift from reactive account management to proactive, journey-based transformation.
Takeaways
Chapters
00:00 Meet Raymond Otero, Director of Global Customer Experience at Microsoft
02:00 Redefining CX and Customer Success at Microsoft
06:00 Why silos hurt the customer journey
10:00 The “lean left” principle and early success engagement
14:00 CX as data, analytics, and rhythm of business
17:00 Journey as the organizational glue
19:00 Turning journeys into joint operating models
27:00 From tactical fixes to strategic programs
31:00 How AI reshapes customer success roles
36:00 Will AI replace CS jobs?
44:00 Building better CX organizations and roles
49:00 Structuring OKRs and aligning CX metrics
55:00 Journey-centered metrics and global alignment
59:00 Creating cultural cohesion and removing silos
01:03:00 Where to find Ray and final reflections
Websites
microsoft.com (Company)
AI Won’t Fix Broken Customer Understanding
Are you speeding past discovery and straight into irrelevance?
Generative AI has made it easy to ship. Everyone can prototype, design, and launch faster than ever. But faster doesn’t mean better, and skipping discovery is a mistake teams keep making.
In this episode, Jochem Van Der Veer (CEO of TheyDo) challenges the illusion of progress AI creates, and shows why the real return on investment lies in how we use AI for discovery - not delivery.
What You’ll Learn:
• Why skipping discovery leads to false confidence and wasted effort
• The overlooked ROI of AI: freeing time for deeper customer understanding
• How a scratched-up skate shoe saved Lego and what that means for your product strategy
• The limits of AI in research: where human insight still matters most
• A shift in mindset: from shipping more to learning faster
Follow Jochem van der Veer on LinkedIn
Learn more about Journey Management with TheyDo
Bruno Monteiro, VP and Head of Digital Experience at HealthEquity, is driving one of the boldest CX transformations in healthcare - reorganizing the company around customer journeys. Drawing on his time at JPMorgan Chase, where he pioneered the “experience object” strategy, Bruno explains what it takes to turn journey theory into business impact.
In this episode, he and TheyDo’s Jochem van der Veer explore how to align teams, data, and leadership around outcomes that balance customer intent and business value. The conversation reveals why shared ownership, empathy, and orchestration, not technology alone, power true transformation.
Guest Bio
Bruno Monteiro is VP and Head of Digital Experience at HealthEquity, where he leads the transformation of web and mobile experiences helping millions of Americans save and invest for health and wealth. Formerly Executive Director and Head of Service Design at JPMorgan Chase, he developed the “experience object” model and the UNDesign framework, applying systems thinking to reimagine how large enterprises align around journeys. Bruno also teaches at the School of Visual Arts and contributes to the Service Design Network.
Takeaways
Journey management succeeds when accountability, not ownership, drives collaboration.
Taxonomy and shared language are essential to aligning business and customer outcomes.
Product owners are evolving into “journey orchestrators” focused on end-to-end experiences.
Metrics must layer: KPIs + CX scores + UX signals = true visibility.
AI accelerates discovery but cannot replace empathy or human insight.
Chapters
00:00 Intro and the Trojan Horse at Chase
03:07 What it means to lead with journeys
07:33 Jobs to be Done vs. Journeys vs. Experiences
10:28 Journey architecture and taxonomy
14:10 Journey ownership and org structure at Chase
18:18 Accountability and the role of journey owners
21:34 Balancing business and customer outcomes
25:50 Coordinating the journey architecture
28:58 The evolution from product to journey management
34:33 Designing metrics that resonate with the business
39:37 Starting small and building behavior change
42:28 Selecting the first journeys to transform
43:41 Why NPS isn’t enough
46:00 Using layered metrics to reveal friction
50:04 Upskilling product owners for better discovery
51:40 Structuring research around journeys
55:27 AI’s limitations in customer empathy
58:16 Synthetic users and bias in design
01:02:29 AI can support, but not replace, deep research
01:05:27 Building empathy through real customer contact
01:08:16 Final advice and the vision of UNDesign
01:10:17 Where to find Bruno and follow his work
Bruno Monteiro: LINKEDIN
Jochem van der Veer: LINKEDIN
KEYWORDS: #CustomerExperienceDesign #JourneyBasedTransformation #DigitalExperienceLeadership #CXMetricsAndKPIs #ProductToJourneyShift #HealthcareCX #FinancialServicesCX #ExperienceArchitecture #CustomerIntentData #OrchestratedCustomerJourneys #DesignForOutcomes #UNDesignFramework #AIInCX #EmpathyDrivenDesign #ServiceDesignLeadership #CustomerExperience #JourneyManagement #DigitalTransformation #ProductToJourney #ServiceDesign #CustomerEmpathy #SystemsThinking #EndToEndDesign #ExperienceBlueprinting #CXLeadership #JobsToBeDone #CustomerIntent #CXMetrics #AIAndCX #UNDesignMindset #CX #Journeys #Design #Empathy #AI #Leadership #Data #Strategy #Systems #Innovation #Metrics #Blueprints #Outcomes #Ownership #Discovery
In this episode of The Experience Edge, Jochem van der Veer speaks with Bruno Monteiro, VP and Head of Digital Experience at HealthEquity, about what it truly takes to transform large organizations around customer journeys. From implementing journey management at JP Morgan Chase as a "Trojan horse" strategy to now leading an experience-centered transformation in healthcare, Bruno offers sharp, practical insights into how CX leaders can move from theory to enterprise-wide practice.
Bruno unpacks the challenges of scaling journey ownership, balancing business metrics with customer intent, and creating visibility through journey architectures. He dives into the need for shared accountability, behavior change, and empathy-building through real customer insights, beyond the limitations of synthetic data and dashboards. For anyone driving or scaling journey-based transformation, this episode is a masterclass.
Guest Bio
Bruno Monteiro is the Vice President and Head of Digital Experience at HealthEquity, where he leads digital transformation across web and mobile platforms to help millions of Americans manage their health and wealth. Previously, he was Executive Director and Head of Service Design at JP Morgan Chase, where he pioneered journey-based transformation using the "Experience Object Strategy." He is the creator of UNDesign, a mindset and methodology to dismantle legacy systems and drive systemic change. Bruno also teaches at SVA’s MFA in Design for Social Innovation and is a contributor to the Service Design Network.
Takeaways
Chapters
00:00 Intro and the Trojan Horse at Chase
03:07 What it means to lead with journeys
07:33 Jobs to be Done vs. Journeys vs. Experiences
10:28 Journey architecture and taxonomy
14:10 Journey ownership and org structure at Chase
18:18 Accountability and the role of journey owners
21:34 Balancing business and customer outcomes
25:50 Coordinating the journey architecture
28:58 The evolution from product to journey management
34:33 Designing metrics that resonate with the business
39:37 Starting small and building behavior change
42:28 Selecting the first journeys to transform
43:41 Why NPS isn’t enough
46:00 Using layered metrics to reveal friction
50:04 Upskilling product owners for better discovery
51:40 Structuring research around journeys
55:27 AI’s limitations in customer empathy
58:16 Synthetic users and bias in design
01:02:29 AI can support, but not replace, deep research
01:05:27 Building empathy through real customer contact
01:08:16 Final advice and the vision of UNDesign
01:10:17 Where to find Bruno and follow his work
Follow Bruno Monteiro
Follow Jochem van der Veer
Governance Models Every CX Leader Should Know
One global staffing firm discovered they were solving the same customer problem six different ways across regions. No alignment, duplicated work, eroded trust - not a tooling issue, but a governance issue.
In this episode, Jochem van der Veer (CEO of TheyDo) shares what he’s learned about how to structure journey management from working with 50-60 Fortune 500 companies.
He breaks down four real-world journey governance models - from Central Command to Full Autonomy - and explains the pros, cons, and trade-offs of each. You’ll hear how organizations move from chaos to coordination, and why your journey operating model is your real CX “operating system.”
You’ll learn how to scale journey management without bottlenecks, and why your governance model is the hidden lever behind customer-centric growth.
Key Insights
Subscribe to The Experience Edge for more on journey management, CX strategy, and the future of customer-centric organizations. Like, comment, and share this episode with your team if you’re wrestling with silos or fragmented journeys.
#CustomerExperience #JourneyManagement #CXLeadership #DigitalTransformation #BreakingSilos #CustomerCentricity #ExperienceEdge
If you can’t map customer experience to a business metric your CFO already obsesses over, you’re playing the wrong game.”
That’s how Bill Staikos - former Global Head of Experience at BNY Mellon and CX leader at American Express, JP Morgan, and Freddie Mac - describes the future of customer experience.
In this episode, Jochem van der Veer (TheyDo) reflects on his recent podcast episode with Bill, unpacks what it really means to tie customer outcomes to business results, and why most CX teams are still speaking the wrong language.
What You’ll Learn
How to connect CX metrics to growth, risk, and operating leverage, the language of the C‑suite
Watch next: Bill’s full conversation on The Experience Edge podcast (link below).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z9107GkJD4g
Subscribe for more on journey management, CX strategy, and operationalizing customer‑centricity at scale.
Like, comment, and share with your team if you’re ready to move from dashboards to boardrooms.
#CustomerExperience #CXLeadership #CustomerCentricity #BusinessImpact #JourneyManagement #ExperienceEdge #BNYMellon #CFO #CXStrategy
In this episode of The Experience Edge, Jochem Van Der Veer speaks with Eric Roux, Customer Experience Director at Cisco and co‑founder of the Boston Blockchain Association, about a compelling but underexplored idea: embedding customer experience (CX) into the go‑to‑market engine by forging a tight partnership with sales. They dive into how this alignment enables brands to deliver on promises, orchestrate outcomes, and avoid the “tossing over the fence” trap that many CX organizations fall into.
They also cover how CX leaders should build teams that are empowered and adaptive (not just follow the textbook), the nuanced role of metrics and trust, and how AI is starting to play a supporting, but not dominant, role in high‑touch enterprise relationships. Eric shares practical examples of how he’s applied these ideas in enterprise contexts and offers advice for scaling intimacy in consumer or low‑touch environments.
Guest Bio
Eric Roux is Customer Experience Director at Cisco, where he leads efforts to tightly integrate CX with sales, ensuring that customer promises made in the pursuit phase are honored through delivery and ongoing value creation. He is also a co‑founder of the Boston Blockchain Association, supporting innovation and connecting emerging tech leaders with funding and mentorship. With a background in consulting and professional services at top firms, Eric brings both strategic depth and hands‑on discipline to the CX space.
What you will learn
Chapters
00:00 Intro & framing: CX + Sales partnership
02:19 Why speak with one voice
04:19 Why many organizations struggle
06:04 Building the partnership: who initiates
08:00 What we lose in formalizing CX
09:17 Team composition & hiring
10:36 Orchestration across CX & Sales
13:13 Example: bringing people into the room
15:19 CX as the central orchestrator
17:42 Low‑touch / high-volume CX challenges
20:19 Distinctions between high-touch & transactional
22:31 Should CX be a department?
24:26 Role of AI in high-touch CX
27:55 Scaling productivity & journey to value
30:30 The expectation shift in delivery
32:16 Trust, consultant role & relationships
33:10 Obsession with metrics
35:20 Working backward from outcomes
36:46 Accountability and cross-domain problems
38:16 Incentivizing CX roles
40:43 Close to the customer in startups
42:59 How to keep intimacy while scaling
45:18 Traits of CX “rock stars”
47:13 Entry-level roles, AI & the future
50:00 Analytics vs. human insight
52:07 Incentives, role design & alignment
52:35 Closing / how to reach Eric
LinkedIn & Other Links
Follow Jochem Van Der Veer (TheyDo)
Follow Eric Roux
Eric's Website Boston Blockchain Association
Watch the Full Video HERE
One global staffing firm discovered they were solving the same customer problem six different ways across regions. No alignment, duplicated work, eroded trust - not a tooling issue, but a governance issue.
In this episode, Jochem van der Veer (CEO of TheyDo) shares what he’s learned about how to structure journey management from working with 50-60 Fortune 500 companies.
He breaks down four real-world journey governance models - from Central Command to Full Autonomy - and explains the pros, cons, and trade-offs of each. You’ll hear how organizations move from chaos to coordination, and why your journey operating model is your real CX “operating system.”
You’ll learn how to scale journey management without bottlenecks, and why your governance model is the hidden lever behind customer-centric growth.
Key Insights
Like, comment, and share this episode with your team if you’re wrestling with silos or fragmented journeys.
In this episode of The Experience Edge, Jochem van der Veer sits down with CX thought leader Stacy Sherman to unpack what it really means to “do CX right.” Stacy draws on her 25+ years of leadership at brands like Verizon, AT&T, Schindler, and more, and shares hard-won lessons in aligning culture, accountability, and cross‑functional execution. Their conversation weaves from the pitfalls of siloed thinking and unmet promise gaps to the art of embedding delight and meaningfully leveraging AI and data in the service of experience.
Listeners will come away with a richer understanding of why “customer experience is an inside job,” how to design journeys that bridge internal organization and external expectations, and how to pilot and scale CX initiatives that truly matter to both customers and the business.
Guest Bio
Stacy Sherman is an award‑winning CX strategist, author, speaker, and educator with more than 25 years of leadership in brands such as Verizon, AT&T, Schindler, LiveOps, BPO, and Wilton Brands. She holds an MBA and is the voice behind the Doing CXRite podcast. Stacy helps organizations move beyond superficial CX initiatives toward deeply aligned, cross‑functional execution that drives retention, brand advocacy, and meaningful experiences.
Takeaways
Chapters
00:00 Intro banter, setting the stage
01:59 Guest formal introduction
03:21 Why CX is often practiced poorly
05:32 Silo issues & misalignment
10:13 “CX is an inside job”
12:46 Discretionary acts that delight
16:25 Bridging online and offline friction
18:18 Designing vs validating experiences
21:03 Moments of emotional delight
24:00 Embedding CX metrics across teams
26:58 Pilot programs & scaling
28:48 Beyond journey mapping
32:11 Orchestration & central leadership
38:42 AI’s role in experience
44:15 Removing silos & consistency
47:42 Where to inject journey thinking
50:09 Scaling feedback loops
53:46 Leadership & execution
55:38 Closing and how to reach Stacy
LinkedIn / Links
Follow Jochem van der Veer
Follow Stacy Sherman
Stacy’s website: https://doingcxright.com/
Stacy’s podcast: Doing CXRite
In this episode of The Experience Edge, Jochem van der Veer sits down with Blake Morgan, customer experience (CX) futurist and author, to explore what’s stayed true in CX over the past decade, where business leaders often fall short, and how to build a customer-centric culture in a modern, AI-driven world. Blake highlights that while tools and channels have evolved (especially AI), fundamental human needs—being seen, heard, and having problems solved—remain the same. She emphasizes the importance of trust, long-term thinking, and tying CX efforts directly to business outcomes like revenue and customer retention. Throughout, she offers practical guidance on how organizations—especially in the “messy middle” of their structure—can embed CX mindsets, empower frontline and middle managers, link performance metrics to customer value, and begin with low-friction, high-impact actions.
Guest Bio
Blake Morgan is a leading voice in customer experience, known for her role as a CX futurist, author, and speaker. She is the author of The 8 Laws of Customer‑Focused Leadership: New Rules for Building a Business Around Today’s Customer, a framework rooted in research and interviews with top business leaders for making CX central to strategy. Blake is also the founder of the Modern Customer Podcast, an instructor on LinkedIn Learning, and frequently contributes to outlets like Forbes and Harvard Business Review. She helps organizations build trust, elevate customer‑centric culture, and align CX practices with revenue growth.
Takeaways
Chapters
00:00 Introduction & What’s Still True in CX
02:30 Underestimated Shifts & Trust in CX
07:40 Boardroom Perspective & Balancing Short‑ vs Long‑Term
11:50 Culture, Performance Metrics & CX Mindset
17:20 Employee Experience & Manager Role
37:40 AI’s Role: Enhancing or Undermining Emotional Intelligence
41:12 Starting Small & Building Momentum
44:16 The “Law” to Focus on Now & Closing Thoughts
Follow Blake Morgan on LinkedIn
Follow Jochem van der Veer on LinkedIn
In this episode of The Experience Edge, Jochem Van Der Veer sits down with Santos Subramanyam, Director of Enterprise Products, CX & UX at Macy’s, to explore how customer experience has evolved over time, and what timeless truths still matter. Drawing from Santos’s extensive background in retail, hospitality, automotive, SaaS, and more, they dig into the role of measurement beyond NPS/MPS, the importance of aligning teams around customer journeys, and how AI and data are enabling more real‐time, human‐centred decisions. The conversation is rich with examples, from redesigning checkout flows in store, to localized customer experience, to prototyping with empathy, that illustrate how to build experiences that scale and deliver business outcomes.
They also examine what it takes to shift organization culture: elevating customer journey thinking from execution teams all the way up to the C‑suite; storytelling and alignment; and the real work of bringing teams, data, and leadership together. Santos shares both his successes and the friction points, especially around aligning priorities, defining what metrics truly matter, and using small wins and service design to drive momentum.
Guest Bio
Santos Subramanyam is Director of Enterprise Products, CX & UX at Macy’s. He leads large, cross‑functional teams to build scalable design systems, align business and customer outcomes, and use data and AI to optimize customer and colleague experiences. Santos has a diverse industry background, including retail, SaaS, hospitality (notably Marriott), and automotive, and has driven major transformations: boosting metrics like MPS/MPS across tens of thousands of associates, cutting transaction times in stores, modernizing legacy systems with holistic designs, and partnering with business, product, engineering, and data teams for measurable impact. He’s also an advocate for culture, localization, and embedding journey thinking across organizations.
Takeaways
Chapters
00:00 Intro & Name Pronunciation
03:11 Santos’s Background & What Still Holds True in CX
06:30 The 80‑20 Rule & Localisation in Global CX
12:30 Moving Beyond NPS/MPS: Business Metrics & Speed of Transaction
18:30 Journey Mapping, Service Blueprints & Physical + Digital Integration
23:00 Prioritization, Autonomy & Small Wins
27:40 Organizing Teams Around Outcomes vs Functions
30:50 Storytelling Up the Org & C‑Suite Engagement
38:20 AI Use Cases: Call Center, Conversational Agents, Merchant Tools
50:30 Using Reports, Data, Feedback Loops to Drive Action
57:00 Magic Wand Question: What Would You Change Most?
59:00 What’s Next for Journey Alignment & Final Thoughts
LinkedIn Profiles
Guest: Santos Subramanyam
Host: Jochem van der Veer
In this episode of The Experience Edge, Jochem van der Veer sits down with Bill Staikos, a globally recognized CX leader with more than two decades of experience driving customer and employee experience transformation in financial services, consulting, and tech. Bill shares his candid perspective on the state of CX today, including why the function has struggled to mature, what it takes for leaders to earn a true seat at the executive table, and why journeys remain critical to connecting silos.
Together, Jochem and Bill dive into the challenges of aligning CX to business strategy, the role of AI in enabling both orchestration and context, and why defining value is the non-negotiable first step for any experience program. Bill also gives a preview of his upcoming podcast The Multimodal Experience, where he explores how emerging technologies will reshape how we interact with brands and organizations. This episode is a masterclass in cutting through jargon and redefining what it means to create business impact through customer experience.
Guest Bio
Bill Staikos is a senior customer experience executive with over 20 years of leadership across financial services, consulting, and technology. He has held senior roles at American Express, Freddie Mac, JP Morgan, and BNY Mellon, where he led global initiatives to transform client and employee experiences. A former SVP at Medallia, Bill helped organizations turn insights into measurable outcomes.
Recognized as a LinkedIn Top Voice and one of the Top 50 Global CX Influencers, Bill is also the founder of the Be Customer-Led podcast and is now preparing to launch The Multimodal Experience. Known for his pragmatic, impact-driven approach, Bill advises leading brands—including Apple, Bank of America, Marriott, and T-Mobile—on connecting customer experience to business growth.
Takeaways
Chapters
00:00 Introduction to Bill Staikos
02:34 What hasn’t changed in CX over two decades
05:24 CX’s survey problem and its consequences
08:13 Should CX be its own department?
10:59 Defining value in customer experience
13:47 Skill, will, and talent gaps in CX teams
19:23 Examples of CX creating business impact
25:21 Why journeys are vital for connecting silos
36:25 The role of AI in context and orchestration
43:57 Where organizations should start with AI and CX
46:11 Should CX leaders engage in the CIO’s AI agenda?
49:59 Launching The Multimodal Experience podcast
52:31 Closing reflections and future directions
Bill Staikos: LinkedIn Profile
Jochem van der Veer: LinkedIn Profile
In this special edition of The Experience Edge, we bring together six of our most impactful guests in one powerful narrative, tracing the journey of CX transformation from leadership mindset to system change—and ultimately to measurable business impact.
What you’ll learn in this episode:
Featuring standout insights from top CX leaders who’ve led transformations inside complex enterprises, from healthcare to transportation, financial services to tech.
Whether you're a CX strategist, product leader, or experience designer, this episode is your fast track to understanding what it really takes to evolve customer experience in 2025 and beyond.
Follow Jochem van der Veer on LinkedIn:
Explore Journey Management with TheyDo
In this episode, Jochem Van Der Veer is joined by Angelique Wyszynski, Global Head of Insurance Innovation and CX at HSB (Hartford Steam Boiler). With over two decades of customer experience leadership in risk-averse industries like insurance and finance, Angie shares how she’s transforming CX from the inside out, without creating new silos. They unpack how to embed CX into legacy systems, operationalize customer insights, build credibility with finance, and scale innovation in heavily regulated environments.
Angie offers a playbook for CX leaders to drive value in complex organizations, showing how her centralized team delivers high-impact research, innovation strategy, and operational alignment, while fostering a culture that’s both customer and employee obsessed.
Guest Bio
Angelique Wyszynski is the Global Head of Insurance Innovation and Customer Experience at HSB (Hartford Steam Boiler). She has spent 20+ years leading CX strategy, innovation, and transformation in some of the most regulated industries, including insurance and finance. Angie previously held senior roles at Travelers and The Hartford, where she built one of the most comprehensive voice-of-customer programs in the industry.
At HSB, she leads a multidisciplinary team focused on embedding customer insights, enabling innovation across product and service lines, and translating customer feedback into measurable business value. Known for her expertise in behavioral economics, strategic foresight, and cross-functional collaboration, Angie is redefining what it means to be customer-centric in complex B2B environments.
Takeaways
Chapters
00:00 Introduction to Angelique Wyszynski
01:11 Why HSB Was Ready for CX Transformation
04:49 Avoiding the Trap of CX Silo Creation
06:28 Running a 45-Interview CX Diagnostic
09:06 The Universal Insight that Sparked Her Team
11:37 How to Get Early Traction
15:52 High-Quality Research Means Actionable Results
18:14 Partnering with Finance to Show CX ROI
23:17 Building a 20-Person CX & Innovation Team
25:41 How the Team Prioritizes Work Across HSB
27:43 The Innovation Funnel and Idea Scoring
30:59 Defining Innovation at HSB
33:54 Can Organizations Innovate Without CX?
34:55 Why Centralized CX Still Works
36:47 Managing Strategic Focus vs. Business Requests
38:14 Will AI Make CX Fully On-Demand?
41:22 Journey Mapping: Keeping It Tangible
46:36 Taxonomy Trouble: What’s a Journey, Really?
49:24 Why Journey Thinking Is Back
52:08 Can Insurance Organize Around Journeys?
53:23 Best, Worst & First Customer Journeys
58:21 Current Focus Areas at HSB
1:00:11 Connect with Angie on LinkedIn
Follow Angelique Wyszynski on LinkedIn
Follow Jochem van der Veer on LinkedIn
Why Talking to 10 Customers Beats 10,000 AI Insights
Are your customer insights grounded in reality - or just AI-generated guesswork?
Synthetic research is everywhere. It looks real, sounds strategic, and gives you confident answers. But according to Gia Laudi, it’s BS if it isn’t rooted in real conversations with actual customers.
In this episode, Jochem Van Der Veer (TheyDo CEO) breaks down the false confidence synthetic insights create - and why teams relying on AI to define personas, journeys, and jobs to be done are building on sand.
What You’ll Learn:
• Why synthetic research is tempting - and dangerous
• Six common traps hiding in plain sight
• Why real conversations with 10-12 customers outperform 1,000 AI-generated “insights”
• How to anchor your growth in reality using a hybrid model
• What CX teams, marketers, and product leaders miss when nuance is stripped away
• The risks of basing strategic decisions on data that “sounds right” but isn’t real
• Why research is meant to reduce uncertainty, not fake clarity
Join the conversation:
When was the last time your team talked to 10 real customers before making a big decision?
Follow Jochem on LinkedIn:
Explore Journey Management with TheyDo:
Stop Saying You Are Customer Centric
Is your company actually customer centric - or just saying it is?
75% of companies claim to be customer-first. But only 30% of customers agree. In some surveys, the gap is even worse: 81% of leaders say they’re customer-centric... and only 3% of customers believe them.
In this episode, Jochem Van Der Veer (TheyDo CEO) exposes the disconnect between intent and execution - and how journey coordination bridges the gap between brand promises and customer reality.
What You’ll Learn:
• Why most customer-centricity efforts fail - despite good intentions
• How internal misalignment shows up as friction in the customer journey
• The hidden cost of symbolic gestures: workshops, research, and surveys that don’t lead to action
• Real examples from telco and transportation sectors - where clarity around where to act changed outcomes
• The dangers of insight without ownership: when knowing the problem still doesn’t lead to change
• How journey coordination becomes the operational structure for proving customer focus
• What high-performing organizations do differently
• Why customer centricity isn’t a campaign - it’s a structure
Join the conversation:
Where is your company performing customer centricity… without practicing it?
Follow Jochem on LinkedIn:
Explore Journey Management with TheyDo:
“Nobody’s just trying to withdraw money.”
That line from the podcast episode with Nathan Zahm (Vanguard) sparked this episode - and it reveals a blind spot in how most teams approach customer experience.
In this video, Jochem Van Der Veer (TheyDo CEO) unpacks the three-level journey model used at Vanguard and why so many teams miss the middle: the moments that matter.
If your team is optimizing for task completion or designing abstract lifecycle stages, but struggling to create real impact - this model is what you're missing.
What You’ll Learn:
The three types of value this model unlocks
Join the conversation:
What are the moments that matter that your company needs to get right - and do you?
See the podcast episode with Nathan Zahm here.
Follow Jochem on LinkedIn:
Explore Journey Management with TheyDo:
#CustomerExperience #JourneyManagement #CXStrategy #TheyDo #Vanguard #MomentsThatMatter #CustomerJourney #OperationalExcellence #EmotionalDesign #LifeJourneys #CXLeadership
In this energizing episode of The Experience Edge, Jochem van der Veer is joined by customer experience visionary Dan Gingiss. With leadership roles at Discover, McDonald's, and Humana, and as author of Becoming the Experience Maker, Dan shares how companies can transform everyday interactions into powerful brand moments. The conversation dives into Dan’s WISER framework - a tactical approach to designing experiences that customers can’t help but talk about.
Together, they explore how CX isn't just a department but a company-wide mindset, and Dan offers real-world examples of how tiny improvements can drive major business outcomes. From eliminating website friction to activating back-office teams as CX advocates, this episode is packed with practical wisdom on making customer experience a core business driver. A must-listen for CX leaders looking to move from theory to tangible impact.
Guest Bio
Dan Gingiss is an international keynote speaker, author, and former Fortune 200 executive with over two decades of experience in customer experience and marketing. His career spans leadership roles at Discover, McDonald’s, and Humana, and he is the author of two influential books: Becoming the Experience Maker and Winning at Social Customer Care. Dan is also the co-host of the award-winning podcast Experience This! and a respected voice in CX thought leadership, known for his actionable WISER framework that helps brands become truly memorable.
Takeaways
Chapters
00:00 Introduction to Dan Gingiss
01:20 The mindset shift: CX is everyone’s job
04:36 The cashless restaurant case study
08:22 Executives must become their own customers
10:13 Removing friction in digital onboarding
14:18 How to scale CX beyond the low-hanging fruit
16:30 Daily CX improvements over giant transformations
20:23 Linking CX to financial ROI
25:04 Why CX teams struggle to speak business language
29:53 The WISER framework unpacked
42:41 When not to apply the WISER framework
46:19 Leadership buy-in and prioritization
47:08 Navigating pricing and tariffs in CX
51:19 Brands that have your back build loyalty
53:17 Chewy: A masterclass in emotional CX
55:34 Where to find Dan Gingiss
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Journey Mapping is Dead. What comes next?
Journey maps are like blueprints without builders. Beautiful and insightful - but ultimately useless unless someone owns the outcome.
In this video, Jochem Van Der Veer (TheyDo CEO) breaks down why most customer journey maps fail to drive measurable impact - and introduces the shift from static maps to living systems of journey management.
If you’ve ever spent months building journeys that never get used, this one’s for you.
What You’ll Learn:
• Why over 80% of journey maps fail - and what to do about it
• Why beautiful maps on walls don’t drive change without ownership and accountability
• The life cycle of a journey map - and why it usually ends in failure
• What journey management really means
• Three steps to move from mapping to managing
• Why insight > alignment > action is the real path to customer-centric outcomes
• How leading companies use journey governance to increase CX and operational efficiency
Join the conversation:
What’s one journey in your business that gets mapped - but never acted on?
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Explore Journey Management with TheyDo#JourneyMapping #CustomerExperience #JourneyManagement #TheyDo #CXLeadership #DigitalTransformation #CustomerJourney #MappingToManaging #Silos #DecisionSupport