#79 Executives don’t buy CX activities. They buy confidence.

Welcome to a new episode of CX Leadership Talks with Nienke Bloem.  In this episode, we tackle one of the biggest blind spots in CX leadership: stakeholder management.  Because most CX leaders are strong in CX management. They know journey mapping, VoC, dashboards and improvement projects. But influencing senior stakeholders strategically? Building alliances? Creating organizational movement? That is where many CX leaders still play far too operational.  Nienke shares personal stories from her own leadership journey, including a painful lesson from her time at KPN, and explains why executives do not buy activities… they buy confidence.  This episode is practical, honest and packed with ideas to help you become more strategic in how you build influence, authority and momentum for Customer Experience inside your organization.  In this episode, you’ll learn:  Why many CX leaders unintentionally operate too tactically in stakeholder management  Why executives buy confidence instead of activities  How to use the Mendelow Matrix more strategically  Why relational authority is critical for CX leadership  Practical ways to engage stakeholders with more impact   Timestamped overview:  00:00 Customer experience leadership insights  05:43 Reflecting on CX leadership challenges  08:07 Focusing on relational authority  10:09 Planning effective leadership discussions  13:53 Engaging with stakeholders  19:10 Developing strategic CX leadership  20:21 Wrapping up and goodbyes  Extra information:  Download the free Strategic Stakeholder Management Playbook for CX Leaders here.   About Nienke:  Nienke Bloem is often called the Customer Experience speaker in the blue dress.  She's a global CX thought leader, educator and a global keynote speaker who inspires audiences with best practices and proven methodologies. She leads a speaking practice, a CX game company and a training business; she breathes Customer Experiences and is author of two CX books.  Her two-day Customer Experience Masterclass is known as the best program to prepare for your CCXP and she is the go-to person for CX leaders who want to advance their leadership and bring direct results from their Customer Experience transformation programs. Since 2020, she hosts a CX Leadership Masterminds program and helps leaders spice up their leadership and deliver an engaging CX Story including a solid CX Strategy. Besides, she is a modern-day pilgrim and found the parallel with leading customer centric transformations.  With her over 20 years of corporate experience, she speaks the business language. Her keynotes and education programs in Customer Experience are inspiring and hands-on. She is one of the few Recognized Training Partners of the Customer Experience Professionals Association and it is her mission to Make Customer Experience Work and help you deliver business results. Subscribe to her weekly CX Newsletter to stay tuned.