AI, Leadership, and the Future of Customer Experience – with Moira Clark

In this episode of CX Iconoclast, Richard Owen sits down with Professor Moira Clark, Director of the Henley Centre for Customer Management at Henley Business School. Moira brings sharp insight from two decades of research into what drives customer loyalty, profitability, and organizational performance. Together, they discuss the evolving role of AI in customer experience—from hyper-personalization to smarter service automation—and challenge businesses to move from short-term tactics to bold, strategic leadership. With a call to “get in the driver’s seat,” Moira urges customer leaders to use AI not just to cut costs, but to deliver differentiated value at scale.

They also cover surprisingly couter-intuitive research on employee engagement, revealing that culture and climate—not engaged staff—are what truly drive customer outcomes. Plus, hear why UK businesses may be falling behind on productivity, how COVID reshaped work expectations, and why this year’s Henley Regatta CX Conference will zero in on AI’s potential to transform B2B customer relationships. It’s a thought-provoking conversation that delivers big-picture thinking with real-world implications. Don’t miss it!

Professor Moira Clark is a leading expert in Strategic Customer Management; her main areas of research and consulting are in Customer Management, Customer Centricity, Customer Experience and the drivers of Customer Retention and Service Excellence. She has worked extensively in the area of culture and climate, its impact on retention and loyalty, and the critical linkages between employee behaviour and customer retention.

 

She has researched and published widely on Customer Management, Relationship Marketing, Customer Experience and Service Excellence. Publications include for example, the Academy of Marketing Science, Journal of Retailing, Journal of Business Research, Psychology and Marketing and International Journal of Management Reviews. She is also co-author of 'Relationship Marketing for Competitive Advantage, Winning and Keeping Customers and Relationship Marketing: Strategy and Implementation'.

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