The October 2026 issue of CX Insight is here, and it asks a question every customer experience leader is wrestling with: how do you lead through constant change without losing sight of the people who make CX work?
AI is reshaping how work gets done. Customer expectations keep climbing. Teams responsible for great experiences are being asked to adapt again, often with fewer resources and little certainty about what comes next. This issue, themed The Power of Convergence, explores what happens when people, technology, and leadership come together to shape the future of CX, and what it takes to make that convergence work in practice.
Here’s what’s inside.
The Human Side of CX Leadership
Our featured story turns the lens inward: what kind of experience are we creating for the people we ask to create experiences for customers? Drawing on research from the U.S. Surgeon General, NAMI, the APA, and Google, it explores psychological safety, mental health stigma, and why a meditation app can’t fix an operating model that routinely overloads people. Leaders from Nama, Intuit, and American Airlines share how they hold high standards while still giving their teams room to be human.
Is AI Adoption Reinventing the Workforce?
The question is no longer how many agents AI can replace. It’s what people should do once AI takes on work that no longer needs a person. This feature examines the agent as orchestrator, the skills that come next, the compensation question few organizations are discussing, and the training paradox: if AI handles the easy cases, how will tomorrow’s experts build judgment?
What Does Great Leadership Look Like When Everything Keeps Changing?
With more than 73% of organizations are near, at, or beyond change saturation, this piece argues that great leadership isn’t about moving faster. It’s about deciding what is worth moving forward. Learn how leaders balance agility with stability, build decision-making their teams can use without them, and find the courage to say “not yet.”
Brand Spotlight: The Ritz-Carlton Yacht Collection
Tracy Sedlak, Vice President, Global Sales Operations & Performance, at The Ritz-Carlton Yacht Collection, shares how the brand built its Customer Intelligence Center to make advisors more perceptive, not just faster. One finding stands out: in analyzed calls where guests mentioned a special occasion, advisors missed the opportunity nearly 40% of the time. Her challenge to every CX leader is worth a read.
When Your Customer Sends an AI Agent in Their Place
Personal AI agents can now dispute charges, rebook flights, and wait on hold for 40 minutes without complaint. Cresta CEO Ping Wu outlines what that means for demand forecasting, security, and liability, and how to decide whether to block, gate, or embrace agent traffic.
KIA Spotlight: 3Rivers Federal Credit Union
Chief Member Experience Officer Peter McMahon shows how 3Rivers turns more than 100 employee ideas a year into tested improvements, pilots them in an Innovation Branch, and rolls them out across all 24 locations, keeping human connection at the center of every AI decision.
The Customer Journey Is More Than a Single Conversation
Customers rarely accomplish anything meaningful in one interaction. Sierra explores how long-horizon AI agents retain context and keep working toward outcomes over days or months, with examples from Redfin, Rocket Mortgage, CarMax, and Guild, where customers who start with Rocket Mortgage’s AI assistant close at three times the rate of those who don’t.
Read the Full Issue
The future of CX will be shaped by the technology we adopt, but also by the judgment we exercise and the people we bring along. This issue is packed with research, frameworks, and candid perspectives from CX leaders who are navigating these choices right now.
