Author: Franz Malten Buemann

If you’re watching a YouTube clip or a talking head, you can probably tell whether or not you disagree with someone even with the sound off.

And we judge a book or an article on the layout and appearance long before we’ve read all the words.

Human beings invented symbolic logic to make complex arguments based solely on the concepts in evidence. It’s a particularly advanced form of discussion, one that no other species is particularly good at.

And we’re not good at it either.

Bloviation, genre, anger, cultural identity and the transference of emotion all show up in our brands long before we’ve processed the rational truth of what’s being discussed.

This is worth keeping in mind when you’re trying to persuade someone of your point of view. And even more important when someone is trying to persuade you.

As always, the process of choosing the top rankings for CXMStars™ is not a simple task. Luckily, this year, we had the great help of our esteemed judging panel. Now, their scores, along with the voting results are in. It’s time to announce the top CX professionals and influencers of 2023! It’s been a tough…
The post Your top 50 CXMStars™ of 2023 have been chosen!🏆 appeared first on Customer Experience Magazine.

Ben Zander is bringing the Boston Philharmonic and Beethoven to New York in a few weeks. I’m excited to seem them in person, but it’s also streaming live. I hope you’re able to come.

While his impact on the musical canon is legendary, Ben’s ruckus extends far into how we lead, how we live and how we teach. The book he wrote with Roz Zander is rightly celebrated as a classic among business/motivation books, and I listen to it at least once a year. His TED talk is brilliant and I could go on…

For me, the biggest lessons come from his passion as a teacher. He views his musical practice as a chance to enroll others in a journey, and the volunteers in his orchestras find that this journey–the chance to lean into possibility, to fail, to connect, to hear and to be heard–changes their lives.

At the heart of possibility is change. The passion for change is available to everyone:

The title of this post comes from one of Ben’s students. Each is asked to write about the music they’re working on, their approach and the change they felt. Of course, any 14 year old could easily use GPT to compose a more professional essay, but these letters are far from the banal homework of a middle school student. Instead, the letters open the door to growth, to learning and to the humanity that we all seek.

Possibility is wherever we look for it.

When we think about altering a policy, a setting or even the outfit we usually wear, it’s easy to imagine that everyone is going to notice.

In fact, almost no one will.

That’s because no one cares about the noise in our head (or the actions we take) nearly as much as we do.

You might think it’s going to cause a big commotion when you do something that’s inconsistent, but if it’s generous and useful, it’ll simply happen.

We couldn’t noisily change it even if we wanted to.