Culture Isn’t A “Nice To Have”, It’s Your CX Growth Engine
November 13, 2025
Customer experience doesn’t succeed on insight alone. This episode of In other words explores how leaders embed culture into strategy to drive meaningful change, aligning teams, acting on customer understanding, and delivering consistent experiences across languages and regions. Host Jason Hemingway and Phrase CEO, George Ell, are joined by Annette Franz, the Founder and CEO of CX Journey Inc., to discuss how strong cultural foundations help organizations stay relevant locally, scale with intent, and deliver lasting business results.
Customer experience doesn’t succeed on insight alone. This episode of In other words explores how leaders embed culture into strategy to drive meaningful change, aligning teams, acting on customer understanding, and delivering consistent experiences across languages and regions. Host Jason Hemingway and Phrase CEO, George Ell, are joined by Annette Franz, the Founder and CEO of CX Journey Inc., to discuss how strong cultural foundations help organizations stay relevant locally, scale with intent, and deliver lasting business results.
What You’ll Learn:
What You’ll Learn:
- How to build a foundation of culture before implementing customer experience initiatives
- Why employee experience directly drives customer experience outcomes and business growth
- How to balance automation with human connection in customer and employee experiences
- Why leadership must exemplify culture through actions, not just words
- How to adapt global culture strategies while maintaining consistent core values
Annette Franz is a globally recognized thought leader, author, and speaker specializing in culture transformation, employee experience (EX), and customer experience (CX). As the Founder and CEO of CX Journey Inc., she partners with organizations to embed value-driven cultures that empower employees and improve customer relationships to drive sustained performance and better business outcomes.
With over 30 years of experience and a reputation as a top EX and CX influencer, Annette has worked across industries, including roles at J.D. Power, Mattel, Fidelity, and Medallia. She's the author of three widely respected books: "Customer Understanding," "Employee Understanding," and "Built to Win."
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Highlights and YouTube Chapters:
- 00:00 Introduction
- 01:49 From Math Nerd to CX Pioneer
- 04:08 How Customer Experience Became Strategic
- 06:57 Smiling on the Phone and Respecting the Customer
- 10:05 The Case for Effortless Experiences
- 15:39 How Symbolic Leadership Behaviors Shape Culture in Organizations
- 18:37 Why Culture Isn’t About Pleasing Everyone
- 24:01 Resistance to Change
- 26:53 Who Owns the Bridge Between EX and CX?
- 31:10 Feedback Loops That Actually Work
- 36:01 Survey Fatigue Is Real
- 38:37 What Happens When You Get EX and CX Right
Episode Resources:
- Annette Franz, Founder and CEO of CX Journey Inc
- CX Journey Website and LinkedIn
- Customer Understanding Book
- Employee Understanding Book
- Built to Win Book
- CX Leadership Is Evolving Blog
- Internal Customer Personas vs. Employee Personas Blog
- Socializing and Operationalizing Your Customer Personas Blog
- Jason Hemingway, CMO at Phrase
- George Ell, CEO at Phrase
- Phrase Website