Rewiring CX: Bill Staikos on Human-Centered AI and the Future of Experience Leadership
Mon Nov 03 2025
In this episode of The CX Iconoclast, Richard Owen hosts Bill Staikos, a CX and EX leader with more than 20 years of experience helping organizations move beyond dashboards and into delivering tangible business outcomes. Drawing on his unique perspective from both the vendor and buyer sides of the industry, Bill discusses why too many companies are still stuck in outdated models of customer experience - focused on surveys and metrics - rather than designing solutions with customers at the center. The conversation covers the pitfalls of “product-led growth” thinking, the impact of AI on both customer experience and the workforce, and why the best companies are those that operationalize CX in partnership with technology, operations, and employee experience.
Bill and Richard comment on the growing gap between companies that innovate and those that stagnate, with Bill arguing that success will come from action-oriented, integrated approaches rather than overcomplicated frameworks. They discuss the risks of shortsighted cost-cutting in the AI era, the importance of moral responsibility toward employees, and the opportunity for AI to help organizations finally break free from decades of CX mediocrity. Packed with candid insights, industry anecdotes, and a challenge to rethink old paradigms, this conversation offers practical and thought-provoking guidance for leaders who want to achieve meaningful change in customer and employee experiences alike.
With over 20 years of expertise in CX & EX, Bill is the founder and managing partner of Be Customer Led, a consultancy that helps companies stop guessing what customers want, start building around what customers actually do, and drive real business outcomes. His expertise has focused on developing and growing teams that deliver CX strategy and execution plans to achieve real business outcomes (not just delivering NPS dashboards), deliver a change management platform to make these outcomes sustainable, and activate leadership participation.
He is also the founder of two podcasts, with his latest, The Multimodal Experience, focusing on how advanced capabilities and technology, from AI and spatial computing to extended reality and wearables, will change the way we engage with and buy from brands every day and how we operate within the companies we work for.
Find out how predictive CX analytics can help your business: https://ocxcognition.com/
Follow us on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/ocxcognition/
Connect with Richard Owen on LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/richard-owen-98ba3
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In this episode of The CX Iconoclast, Richard Owen hosts Bill Staikos, a CX and EX leader with more than 20 years of experience helping organizations move beyond dashboards and into delivering tangible business outcomes. Drawing on his unique perspective from both the vendor and buyer sides of the industry, Bill discusses why too many companies are still stuck in outdated models of customer experience - focused on surveys and metrics - rather than designing solutions with customers at the center. The conversation covers the pitfalls of “product-led growth” thinking, the impact of AI on both customer experience and the workforce, and why the best companies are those that operationalize CX in partnership with technology, operations, and employee experience. Bill and Richard comment on the growing gap between companies that innovate and those that stagnate, with Bill arguing that success will come from action-oriented, integrated approaches rather than overcomplicated frameworks. They discuss the risks of shortsighted cost-cutting in the AI era, the importance of moral responsibility toward employees, and the opportunity for AI to help organizations finally break free from decades of CX mediocrity. Packed with candid insights, industry anecdotes, and a challenge to rethink old paradigms, this conversation offers practical and thought-provoking guidance for leaders who want to achieve meaningful change in customer and employee experiences alike. With over 20 years of expertise in CX & EX, Bill is the founder and managing partner of Be Customer Led, a consultancy that helps companies stop guessing what customers want, start building around what customers actually do, and drive real business outcomes. His expertise has focused on developing and growing teams that deliver CX strategy and execution plans to achieve real business outcomes (not just delivering NPS dashboards), deliver a change management platform to make these outcomes sustainable, and activate leadership participation. He is also the founder of two podcasts, with his latest, The Multimodal Experience, focusing on how advanced capabilities and technology, from AI and spatial computing to extended reality and wearables, will change the way we engage with and buy from brands every day and how we operate within the companies we work for. Find out how predictive CX analytics can help your business: https://ocxcognition.com/ Follow us on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/ocxcognition/ Connect with Richard Owen on LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/richard-owen-98ba3