Closing Keynote: The View from the Top
Summary
Like design leaders, CEOs are working hard to deliver customer-focused experiences—only under a different set of constraints, ranging from integrating efforts across corporate silos to managing the involvement and expectations of corporate boards. Who are CEOs looking to lead, what are their expectations, and how are they shifting in their management styles to differentiate, compete, and win in this new era of digital transformation, collaboration and high customer expectations? Iram Shah will share insights from her global executive experience of over 25 years in fortune 200 companies like Coca Cola, Pepsi, BP, Zurich Financial, Schneider Electric and now advisor to CEOs on growth and transformation.
Key Insights
-
•
Understanding the emotional 'why' behind customer engagement creates a sustainable competitive advantage.
-
•
Employees are more important stakeholders than customers or shareholders in delivering successful customer experience.
-
•
Boards of directors are evolving to include more functional experts and diverse members, shifting the strategic dialogue.
-
•
Wisdom, gained often from failure, is a more powerful guide for leadership than intelligence alone.
-
•
Trust, built on aligned values and transparency, is foundational between employees, employers, customers, and boards.
-
•
Customer obsession without regard for employee well-being risks unsustainable practices and deteriorating experience quality.
-
•
CEOs struggle to clearly articulate the investment and vision needed to differentiate customer experience effectively.
-
•
Authentic leadership means being transparent about challenges and purpose, not just optimistic messaging.
-
•
Technology cannot replace human connection which is vital to sustaining trust and engagement.
-
•
Employees should boldly raise concerns focusing on business impact to be heard by leaders and boards.
Notable Quotes
"I may be ruining his experience because I’m forgetting it’s his experience, not mine."
"Customers aren’t buying a quarter-inch drill, they’re buying a quarter-inch hole."
"Intelligence is the pursuit of knowledge; wisdom is the pursuit of truth."
"An intelligent person understands what is being said; a wise person understands what is left unsaid."
"Employees are more important than customers and shareholders in designing and delivering experience."
"If you’re not inspired and motivated, you cannot connect the dots across functions for a seamless customer experience."
"CEOs and boards have shifted focus from short-term gains to long-term transformation driven by customer experience."
"Transparency is the basis for trust and respect among employees and leadership."
"Authentic leaders tell you why you are here before telling you what to do or how to do it."
"Technology helps efficiency but cannot replace human connection—eye contact and handshake remain essential."
Or choose a question:
More Videos
"Before sharing insights, I try to prime the room by acknowledging feelings and starting fresh."
Jerome “Axle” BrownHow to Use Self-Directed Learning to Ensure Your Research Insights are Heard and Acted Upon
March 11, 2021
"We had an engineering culture that confused uniformity with design, and consistency with design."
Phil GilbertA Consistent Culture of Design
May 14, 2015
"Synthetic users might be okay for finding average behaviors, but they won’t replace unique insights from real users."
Kate Towsey Basel Fakhoury Oren Friedman Graham GardnerParticipant Recruitment and Management Tools
March 12, 2026
"These playlists have some element of machines recommending music in addition to editors behind the scenes."
Sohit KarolDesigning Delightful Listening Experiences: Mixed Methods Research in the Age of Machine Learning
March 31, 2020
"If you have an unmet need, pairing can help address it by matching offers and needs within the team."
Christopher Taylor Edwards Valerie RoskeDesign as a Team Practice, A Practical Guide to Cross-functional Collaboration
September 30, 2021
"Systems thinking can help us design more explicitly for resilience, as seen in distributed manufacturing of PPE during the pandemic."
Sheryl CababaExpanding Your Design Lens with Systems Thinking
February 23, 2023
"Business is just people who may be working with design but don’t quite get how design helps them."
Francesca Barrientos, PhDYou Need Your Own Definition of Design Maturity
June 8, 2022
"People coming from agencies sometimes need help dropping bad habits like working at 2am or stressful environments."
Allison SandersOperating with Purpose
January 8, 2024
"Words are how we express our values, our philosophies, why we do what we do as designers and researchers."
Saara Kamppari-Miller"Prototype" vs "Prototype"--Breaking Down and Rebuilding Our Understanding of What We Do
October 24, 2019