WHY THIS COURSE EXISTS
You know CX matters.
Getting others to act on it is the hard part.
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.
Most CX training teaches frameworks. This series teaches influence — how to build the trust, make the business case, and create the conditions that let CX actually change an organization.
"Trust is a function of credibility, reliability, and intimacy — divided by self-orientation. The best advisors make it about the other person, not themselves."
— The Trust Equation, Charles H. Green, David Maister & Robert Galford
IF THIS SOUNDS FAMILIAR
You're doing good CX work.
But you can't get traction.
The budget conversation goes nowhere
You can show the data. You can't seem to move the people with the power to act on it.
CX is still seen as a cost center
You know the ROI. Leadership sees expense. The language gap is real.
You're influencing without authority
No direct control. Just persuasion, persistence, and hoping people come along.
You're the expert — but not yet the trusted guide
People respect the knowledge. They're not yet coming to you before decisions get made.
This isn't a knowledge problem. It's a trust and influence problem — and it's exactly what this series was built to solve.
WHY I CAN HELP
I learned this inside an organization — not in a consulting deck.
For a decade I led CX transformation without formal authority. No budget control. No mandate from the top. Just the work of building trust, making the case, and guiding people toward change.
The Trusted Guide Series is what I wish had existed then — built from what actually worked, and what didn't.
CCXP Certified
Certified Customer Experience Professional — the field's highest credential
Former CXPA Board Member
Certified Customer Experience Professional — the field's highest credential
Professor of Practice – Michigan State
Teaching CX strategy in the Broad CXM program — bridging practice and academia
Two-time CX Innovation Award Winner
Certified Customer Experience Professional — the field's highest credential
A TRACK RECORD, NOT A MOMENT
This work has been consistent for years.
Reliability isn't claimed — it's demonstrated. Here's what that looks like in practice.
10 +
Years leading CX transformation inside organizations
3 +
Years of weekly podcast episodes with CX practitioners
5 +
Years teaching CX in a Master's Degree program
The Practice
A decade of internal CX leadership — building influence, navigating stakeholders, and driving change without formal authority.
The Podcast
The Delighted Customers Podcast (now Trusted Guide Podcast) launched to bring real conversations with practitioners doing this work. Still going, still weekly.
The Series
The Trusted Guide Series™ — a CXPA-featured course built to give CX leaders the influence skills the field rarely teaches.
WHAT THIS SERIES IS REALLY ABOUT
You're the hero of this story. I'm just the guide.
The goal isn't to make you sound like me. It's to help you become the kind of CX leader your organization can't ignore — trusted, credible, and effective on your own terms.
01
Trust is the currency that creates reputation
Expertise moves information. Trust moves people. This series is built around that difference.
02
Great CX leaders guide — they don't perform
When you position yourself as the hero with all the answers, you create dependency. Guides create capability.
03
CX must speak business to earn its seat
Customer obsession earns hearts. Business fluency earns budget. You need both.
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.
ABOUT MARK SLATIN, CCXP
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.
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Three roles. One through line:
helping CX leaders lead better.
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COURSE AUTHOR
The Trusted Guide Series™
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.
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.
PODCAST HOST
The Trusted Guide 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 TRUSTED GUIDE PODCAST
Real conversations with the people
doing this work.
The Trusted Guide 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™.