ABOUT MARK SLATIN, CCXP
The frameworks in this series are what actually worked.
Not theory. Not consulting models. A decade of leading CX transformation inside a real organization — without formal authority — and the hard-won lessons that came from it.
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CCXP Certified
Former CXPA Board Member
Two-Time CX Innovation Award Winner
Professor of Practice — Michigan State University
Host: Delighted Customers Podcast —100+ Episodes
THE ORIGIN STORY
The frameworks in this series are what actually worked.
Ten years. One 150-year-old institution. Every obstacle you can imagine.
Not theory. Not consulting models. A decade of leading CX transformation inside a real organization — without formal authority — and the hard-won lessons that came from it.
I spent over a decade as the head of CX at a major financial institution — a 150-year-old organization with all the cultural inertia that implies. I had no mandate to force change and no organizational authority to compel anyone to do anything differently. I only had the conviction that a better customer experience was possible and the challenge of making the rest of the organization believe it, too.
What I discovered was that expertise was never the problem. The problem was influence. Trust. It was about knowing how to guide skeptical executives and siloed teams toward a shared vision of what the customer experience could be — without triggering the defensiveness that kills most CX initiatives before they start. I figured it out.
My CX program earned two CXPA Innovation Awards, and our cultural transformation initiatives reached 60—70% participation rates. The frameworks I built to make it happen became the foundation of The Trusted Guide Series™.
I wasn't brought in to fix the customer experience. I had to convince an entire organization it was worth fixing — and then show them how.
WHAT DRIVES THIS WORK
The Trusted Guide Series™
Three beliefs behind every course in the series.
01
Trust is the only currency that moves organizations
Expertise without trust sits on the shelf. The CX leaders who drive real change are the ones who've earned the right to be heard — not just the ones who are right.
02
The best CX leaders are guides, not heroes.
When you position yourself as the expert with all the answers, you create dependency and resistance. When you guide others to find the answers, you create commitment that lasts.
03
CX has to speak the language of the business to earn its seat.
Customer stories matter. But budget decisions get made in financial terms. CX leaders who can translate experience improvements into revenue and cost impact win more often.
Built by someone who has been inside CXPA, not just its platform
Mark served on the CXPA Board of Directors. He knows the rigor behind the CCXP credential and what it takes to deliver education that meets CXPA's standards. The Trusted Guide Series™ isn't a third-party course that happens to live on CXPA's platform — it was built in partnership with CXPA and is featured as a flagship program.
Three roles. One through line:
helping CX leaders lead better.
PROFESSOR OF PRACTICE
Michigan State University
MS-CXM
Teaching in MSU's Master of Science in Customer Experience Management program — one of the few graduate-level CX programs in the country.
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COURSE AUTHOR
A 5-course certificate program for mid-to-senior CX leaders, available exclusively through CXPA. Built on the frameworks that drove real CX transformation at a major financial institution.
PODCAST HOST
The Delighted Customers Podcast™
1.2 million downloads of conversations with CX leaders navigating the same challenges The Trusted Guide Series™ is built to solve — executive buy-in, organizational change, proving CX value.
THE DELIGHTED CUSTOMERS PODCAST
Real conversations with the people
doing this work.
The Delighted Customers Podcast brings together CX practitioners, executives, and researchers to talk honestly about what it actually takes to build customer-centric organizations. Over 1.2 million downloads and counting.
Topics range from stakeholder influence and executive alignment to journey mapping, VOC strategy, and the business case for CX — the same themes at the core of The Trusted Guide Series™.