It's the most wonderful time of the year, and time for one of our favorite traditions: looking back on what we learned. Each of us has three things we learned in the past year that we think can help all of us moving forward into 2024.

Reflection is a key part of the growth process. That's why we are excited to continue our tradition of reflecting on the past year and what we learned during it.

Moreover, it's essential to take note if no changes have occurred. A lack of progress signals a need for reassessment.

Sometimes what we learned was personal, but it has implications for the business world. For example, you may have heard Colin share about his wife, Lorraine, and her back surgery this year—a major undertaking that necessitated extensive physical therapy during recovery.

Lorraine has diligently worked through it, making gradual changes that have cumulatively resulted in significant progress. Pre-surgery, everyday activities like walking or solo grocery shopping were challenging for her. Now, she can accomplish these tasks without enduring constant pain.

The transformation wasn't immediate. Initially, Lorraine relearned walking using two sticks, then transitioned to just one stick, and now, she confidently walks without any sticks at all.

The same principle of gradual improvement through diligent effort holds true for Customer Experiences. Achieving a customer-centric organization isn't an overnight switch. It evolves over time, with incremental enhancements fostering a culture and experience centered around customers.

In this episode, we look back at what we learned in 2023 and how it can help us in 2024. As it turns out, we are smarter than we were last year, and we hope after this episode you will be, too.

Here are some other key moments in the discussion:

• 03:36 Ryan kicks off the lessons learned by explaining how hard work and luck led to his new book deal—for the second book he pitched this year.

• 06:14 Colin shares his first lesson about how he sees organizations about to make the same mistakes they did 25 years ago with the Web, but this time with AI.

• 09:20 Ryan talks about how even he, an introvert that doesn't like people, needs other people in his community to have his back.

• 12:47 Colin tells the story about how he remembered that most people are trying to do the right thing, even if sometimes it feels like the opposite is true.

• 14:57 Ryan shares that by stepping up and taking on a new challenge he took a step back to realize how much he enjoys this part of his job.

• 17:20 Colin talks about how his wife's recovery from surgery taught him that small changes can make big change happen, if you are patient and keep doing the work.

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About Colin Shaw

LinkedIn recognizes Colin Shaw as one of the 'World's Top 150 Business Influencers.' As a result, he has over 294,000 followers and 78,000 subscribers to his LinkedIn newsletter 'Why Customers Buy'. The Financial Times selected Beyond Philosophy as one of the best management consultancies for four years.

Colin is a renown keynote speaker and undertakes consultancy work and educational workshops to help organizations improve their Customer Experience.

Click here to learn more about Professor Ryan Hamilton of Emory University.

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