Customers First: Welcome Guest Blogger Jim Gilmore

I’m extremely pleased to welcome the dean of customer experience, Jim Gilmore, to this forum this week. Gilmore and his business partner Joe Pine co-wrote The Experience Economy in 1999 (!) and its ideas continue to ripple through the business landscape. I remember seeing Mr. Pine speak at a web personalization conference not long after the book’s release and reading the book soon thereafter and being captivated by the audacity of their ideas. Gilmore has been extremely generous with his time with me and my staff as we thought about this year’s Customers First package, and his ideas are no less audacious and thought-provoking today. In fact, if anything, consumers are starting to close the gap with Gilmore and are demanding better experiences from the most everyday transactions. Now if we can just get more companies to think these thoughts more meaningfully. I look forward to Jim’s contribution to our month-long conversation. He’s batting cleanup, as he should be.