I've judged the International CX Awards since 2018 and seen hundreds of programs. The uncomfortable pattern: most CX work is performance. Dashboards nobody acts on. NPS reported to three decimals and connected to nothing. AI “experiments everywhere,” with no line to customer value. Beautiful decks, applause, no movement in the numbers. It photographs well. It doesn't show up on the P&L.
The CX that pays looks different. It starts from where value actually leaks — churn, cost-to-serve, dead adoption, unmonetised data. It prioritises by impact, ships pilots, measures honestly, and scales what moves money. That's the only kind I do.
If those are uncomfortable — that's the leak.