The Launch of Bioma Laces

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In Customer Experiences with Soul Maria and I interview Cris Dios, the Brazilian cosmetologist and entrepreneur who for thirty years has been championing natural hair care and the concept of slow beauty in Brazil, first in 1987 with the opening of the first Laces and Hair beauty salon, and then more recently with the launch of Cris Dios Organics, her line of natural hair care products.

Today sees the opening of Laces and Hair’s new hair spa, Bioma Laces, which has been constructed inside the Villa Lobos shopping centre, situated next to Villa Lobos park, one of the major recreational parks in São Paulo. Continue reading “The Launch of Bioma Laces” →

Vivi M.L. Storsletten: Reflections on Kindergartens, Management, Leadership and the Holonomic Circle

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Vivi Storsletten is a Norwegian research fellow at the Centre for Ecological Economics and Ethics, Nord University Business School whose doctoral thesis is examining “flourishing processes of qualitative development”. Her work explores the rich landscape of stories and narratives in Norwegian kindergarten’s organisational context, researching new perspectives on what qualitative development and ‘enjoyment-of-life’ in ecological economics might mean at an organisational and individual level. Continue reading “Vivi M.L. Storsletten: Reflections on Kindergartens, Management, Leadership and the Holonomic Circle” →

The Experience Economy Arrives

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In 1998 Joseph Pine and James Gilmore published their classic article Welcome to the Experience Economy in Harvard Business Review.  Their paper characterises the evolution of economies by describing four different stages:

Economists have typically lumped experiences in with services, but experiences are a distinct economic offering, as different from services as services are from goods. Today we can identify and describe this fourth economic offering because consumers unquestionably desire experiences, and more and more businesses are responding by explicitly designing and promoting them. As services, like goods before them, increasingly become commoditized—think of long-distance telephone services sold solely on price—experiences have emerged as the next step in what we call the progression of economic value. From now on, leading-edge companies—whether they sell to consumers or businesses—will find that the next competitive battleground lies in staging experiences.

Continue reading “The Experience Economy Arrives” →

The Philosophical Inspirations of Customer Experiences with Soul

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With my background in user experience design, business development and internet start-ups, in 2011 I was invited to become a guest lecturer at Sustentare Business School, in Joinville, where together we developed a new foundational module for MBA students on complexity. The name ‘Sustentare’ was chosen by the founder, Wilmar Cidral, who wanted to emphasise the importance of teaching both ecology and economics, and therefore to create a business school with this ethos as its foundation. The power and impact of the course came from the combination of Henri Bortoft’s dynamic conception of wholeness, Fritjof Capra’s systems view of life, lessons from the programme Human Values in Education created by educator Sathya Sai Baba, and our many years of corporate experience in customer experience design, innovation, product marketing, strategy and change management. In these classes Maria also facilitated many exercises and dialogue sessions with students, providing her perspective on what these teachings and insights meant in practical terms. Continue reading “The Philosophical Inspirations of Customer Experiences with Soul” →

Apivita – Where Purpose, Values, Beauty, Well-Being and Customer Experience Meet

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Last week Maria and I were in Athens where we were participating in The Eco-Logic of the New Economy, a new event created by New Wrinkle, and which was inspired by our book Holonomics. The event was made possible by the support of Apivita, a Greek cosmetics company which was founded in 1979 with a philosophy and mission which was ahead of its time in terms of purpose, values, social responsible outlook and focus on innovation, including their customer experience.

The day before Eco-Logic we were invited to visit Apivita’s factory and headquarters which lie just outside of Athens. We also had the chance to visit the Apivita Experience Store with Eugenia Bozou, Apivita’s corporate affairs manager, giving us the chance to learn much more about Apivita’s history and philosophy. Continue reading “Apivita – Where Purpose, Values, Beauty, Well-Being and Customer Experience Meet” →

CX Competency: Purposeful Leadership

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In Customer Experiences with Soul Maria and I discuss the most recent customer experience research from Temkin Group, as well as discussing their model for the competencies business leaders and entrepreneurs must master to really be able to innovate in the area of CX design.

The four competencies are:

  1. Purposeful Leadership: Operate consistently with a clear set of values.
  2. Compelling Brand Values: Deliver on your brand promises to customers.
  3. Employee Engagement: Align employees with the goals of the organization.
  4. Customer Connectedness: Infuse customer insight across the organization.

Continue reading “CX Competency: Purposeful Leadership” →

Roger Penrose on Beauty and the Transcendentals

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In our new book Customer Experiences with Soul we describe being in relation to Plato’s Ideas, or which others have referred to as the trascendentals. These include beauty, truth and goodness. It was therefore extremely interesting to watch a new interview with Sir Roger Penrose, one of the world’s greatest living mathematical physicists whose more recent work has focused on understanding the nature of human consciousness, discuss Plato’s notion of beauty.  Continue reading “Roger Penrose on Beauty and the Transcendentals” →