Experts of Experience

Most leaders build strategy around data and decks — and then wonder why nobody commits.

Matt Marcotte has spent 34 years watching this pattern repeat across 200+ companies, from Apple to Salesforce. His conclusion: real commitment starts with emotion, not logic. In his book Built on Belief, Matt lays out a deceptively simple mental model — heart, head, hands (feel, think, do) — that explains why culture breaks at scale, why AI-perfect content repels instead of attracts, and why the companies that invest in belief outperform everyone playing the metrics game.

Key takeaways:

- The brain is wired to feel first, think second, act third — leaders who reverse this order get compliance, not commitment

- You cannot give what you've never received: employee experience must precede customer experience

- As AI commoditizes execution, belief and human connection become the true competitive advantage

- The 3 C's (Clarity, Curiosity, Connection) give leaders a practical framework for aligning teams around purpose

- Metrics replace purpose when companies scale without vetting for belief — and that's when culture dies

Connect with Matt Marcotte:

Matt’s LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/mamarcotte/

Matt’s Book: https://a.co/d/065v7O29

Website: m2collaborative.com/

Email: matt@m2collaborative.com

Expert of Experience is hosted by Lacey Peace and made by the team at Mission.org.

Chapters

00:00:00 You Can't Give What You've Never Received
00:02:21 The "Rational Consumer" Myth and Becoming a Consumer Anthropologist
00:08:38 Heart, Head, Hands: Why the Order Matters
00:11:05 Why Startups Lose Belief at Scale
00:16:37 The 3 C's: Clarity, Curiosity, Connection
00:21:43 You Can't Give What You've Never Received
00:32:22 Patagonia, Starbucks, and the Power of Alignment
00:38:11 AI and the Rebellion Against Perfection
00:43:03 Outsourcing Meaning vs. Building Confidence
00:50:39 Lightning Round: Physical Spaces, Talking to Strangers, and Built on Belief

Experts of Experience is a Mission.org production. To discover more shows designed to educate, inspire, and entertain, go to mission.org.

What if everything you thought you knew about customer experience was backwards?

In this episode, JC Quintana—author, educator, and psychologist—reveals why most companies are approaching CX completely wrong. Instead of obsessing over touchpoints and metrics, JC argues we need to start with something much more fundamental: expectations.

JC walks us through his Dialogue 7 framework, which identifies the seven critical conversations that must happen before you can even think about designing an experience. From defining value and understanding cultural influences to managing engagement levels and transparency expectations, these conversations form the foundation of every successful business relationship.

We explore why employees are anxious about AI adoption (hint: it's not about the technology), why ChatGPT accidentally became the world's best communication teacher, and why saying your company is "like a family" might be doing more harm than good.

If you're tired of CX strategies that look great on paper but fail in practice, this conversation will fundamentally shift how you think about customer relationships in 2026 and beyond.

Chapters

00:00:00 Why Technology Vendors Broke Customer Experience
03:14 What's Really Broken: We've Lost the Human Component
10:00 Business Model First, Experience Second
16:35 Introducing the Dialogue 7 Framework
24:01 The Most Commonly Missed Expectations: Knowledge & Engagement
34:48 How to Actually Use the 7 Conversations in Practice
41:00 Why Employees Are Anxious About AI (And What to Do About It)
50:03 ChatGPT: The World's Best Communication Teacher
58:21 Lightning Round: Books, Trends, and What's Next
01:09:00 Connect with JC: Books, Resources, and Next Steps

Experts of Experience is a Mission.org production. To discover more shows designed to educate, inspire, and entertain, go to mission.org.

What separates companies succeeding with AI from those struggling to see results? The answer isn't the AI itself-it's the data foundation underneath it.

In this episode, we explore why the companies winning with AI today are the ones that spent years cleaning, structuring, and curating their data. Our guest is Mike Hutchinson, Chief Operating Officer at Teradata, bringing 35 years of customer experience expertise across three software companies.

Mike breaks down the critical gap between structured and unstructured data, why vector stores and context engines are game-changers, and how real AI use cases come from solving business problems-not from hackathons. He shares examples from banking, airlines, and Teradata's own operations, including their fully autonomous account planning system.

We also look ahead to 2026 and Mike's bold prediction: this will be the year companies build agents at scale - autonomous systems that monitor, decide, and act without human intervention.

Chapters

00:00:00 Meet Mike Hutchinson, 35 Year CX Veteran
00:09:22 The Unstructured Data Problem
00:12:07 Marrying Structured & Unstructured Data
00:16:15 Why AI Use Cases Fail
00:19:32 Banking NPS Transformation Story
00:25:18 Security & Hallucination Concerns
00:30:32 Getting Started with Data Organization
00:37:33 Predictive Analytics & Weather Patterns Example
00:42:21 CX Skills for the Next Decade
00:48:52 The Expertise Debate in an AI World
00:56:49 2026 Prediction: The Year of Agents

Watch Next: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=enBE_5PQOb4

Experts of Experience is produced by the team at Mission.org.

How are customer expectations evolving when people are talking less, trusting less, and switching brands faster than ever?

In this episode, we break down the four major shifts reshaping customer experience in 2026 and why traditional listening tactics are failing right when companies need them most.

Our guest is Isabelle Zdatny, Head of Thought Leadership at the Qualtrics XM Institute and co-creator of one of the largest global CX studies in the world. With data from 20,000 consumers across 14 countries, Isabelle reveals the surprising trends leaders cannot afford to overlook and why trust has become the real driver of customer behavior.

Chapters

00:00:00 Meet Isabel Zdatny, Head of Thought Leadership at Qualtrics XM Institute
00:04:43 The Surprising State of Customer Experience Heading Into 2026
00:10:44 Why AI-Powered Customer Service Is Failing Customers
00:15:07 How to Use AI to Enhance Rather Than Replace Human Experience
00:19:41 The Silent Customer Crisis: Why Feedback Has Dropped to All-Time Lows
00:25:03 Conversational Surveys and Predictive Models: The Future of Customer Listening
00:34:55 Why Value Alone Won't Keep Customers Loyal in 2026
00:38:18 The Trust Equation: How Economic Uncertainty Changes Customer Behavior
00:42:51 The Personalization Paradox: Consumers Want It But Don't Trust It
00:54:10 What Will Surprise Us Most About 2026: Two Wildly Different Predictions

Wondersauce CEO and Co-Founder John Sampogna breaks down what today’s customer really expects - and how brands can stand out when AI overviews and LLMs shape the journey long before anyone reaches your website.

You’ll learn:

How AI is rewriting customer behavior

Why your website may no longer be the front door

The two paths brands can take in 2026

How to design digital and in-person experiences people actually want

How to stay relevant in an AI-first era (hint: it might mean LESS AI)

Watch Next: https://youtu.be/rgNCaTYkXCE

Chapters

00:00:00 Meet John Sampogna, Wondersauce CEO and Co-Founder
00:08:41 Why Brands Need an Outside Perspective to Stay Relevant
00:11:27 How AI Is Changing Customer Behavior
00:15:32 How to Stand Out When AI Summaries Flatten Every Brand
00:20:22 The Rise of Analog Experiences (and Why They Matter)
00:25:52 How to Choose Which AI Tools Are Worth Your Time
00:38:12 How to Prepare Your Team for an AI-Driven Future
00:43:07 The Honest Truth About “Vibe Coding”
00:45:42 The Return of Cool, Personalized Digital Experiences
00:48:02 What Personalization Will Look Like in 2026