When you are doing a PhD dissertation, or writing a book, or working on some major project that takes a lot of your time, attention, and emotional energy, there is a tendency to start to resent that thing. I guess it is a natural outcome of all that investment. While I may have resented the dissertation process, I never really resented my dissertation topic because it focused on the ways in which commerce brings together people who might not otherwise come into contact. Those Metropolitan Detroit corner convenience stores that I was doing fieldwork in were not just places of business, but also of community and cultural connection. After all, we can look at the entire history of humanity and see how trade and commerce were the primary vehicles through which people come into contact with one another. From those contacts comes evolution and growth.

While commerce is global, it is also local. While it might have shared characteristics in some ways, it also is going to be distinctive in other ways. And that’s the beauty of culture. Whether it is food, music, art, architecture, language, or business, the same idea is going to be executed in different ways. Whether the differences are great or small, it is important to recognize and appreciate them. By understanding those differences, it might just inspire us to do what we do with more creativity.

That’s why I’m lucky to welcome Bruno Guimarães to Experience by Design podcast. Bruno is one of the leading voices of customer experience in Brazil, and beyond. He has been named one of the top influential CX professionals in the world, with a mission to inspire and assist individuals and companies in achieving excellence in CX.

He has worked with companies in Brazil to bring customer experience to that country, adding the unique Brazilian flavor to a global profession. This includes being a CX Solution Strategist for Brazil and Southern Latin America. He also is the Founder of Amigos do CX, a community for CX practitioners not only in Brazil, but anywhere.

We explore his journey to CX through marketing, advertising, and sales. He lays out the early origins of organizing a CX community to create a space for professionals to share support and knowledge. He describes how Brazil is a CX hotspot at the moment, with more and more companies trying to find a path to excellence in CX. However, as he points out, a limiting factor can be practitioners not understanding the businesses and industries they are trying to support. Thus, along with a strong foundation in CX, professionals also need to have a strong foundation in business as well.

We also talk about his work to bring other global CX voices together through his LinkedIn daily posting project, where he invites CX professionals from around the world to share their work and wisdom about CX. This has resulted in great collections on What I Learned, now in its third year.

We also talk about his marathon training, which I am happy to report resulted in a personal best time at the Boston Marathon in 2026.

Bruno Guimarães Website: https://www.brunoguimaraescx.com.br/

Bruno Guimarães LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/brunorguimaraes/

Amigos do CX: https://www.amigosdocx.com.br/

Where has the summer gone? Hard to believe we are staring at back-to-school in the face. I’m just wrapping up my summer course on Employee Experience, and it was great to see the students produce projects that really embrace the value of employees in organizations. Hopefully some of their ideas can be implemented in actual organizations, because I do believe that they can make a difference by putting their words into action. Now onto the regular fall semester, where more design work will be done and ideas generated (and unfortunately papers to be graded).

The new semester is a kind of blank slate, even though it is going to be my 27th year at my school. But it is still a blank slate, whether or not I’m teaching the same classes or a new one. A syllabus and a course is at the end of the day an exercise in design. There always is something to be tweaked and adjusted, shifted and modified, trying to make things better and connect with the students. Design is, at the end of the day, about making things better, in ways small and large.

Today’s guest on Experience by Design is all about making things better in ways both small and large. Andrea Lake is CEO of Sticker Junkie, which was founded in 1999 with not just a mission of creating quality products for customers, but creating experiences for employees as well. Before that, she also was a contestant on The Apprentice with a certain current president. And even before that. She had a business of selling Rhythm Sticks, t-shirts, and other entrepreneurial ventures. But being a dedicated entrepreneur does not mean she does business as usual.

We talk about her philosophy regarding running a business as well as capitalism as well. She describes Sticker Junkie as a punk rock company, which includes having open financials and advocating for a living wage (starting with her own employees). We talk about how companies have shifted away from treating employees as resources, and into valued members of the workplace community. This includes ideas such as profit sharing. She explains how Sticker Junkie provides high-touch client service and builds customized interfaces for each client. Andrea notes that customers are increasingly seeking out businesses with ethical practices, particularly avoiding those owned by private equity firms, and she believes this trend will continue to benefit companies like hers that prioritize values over pure profit maximization.

Additionally, Andrea talks about the importance of non-linear and critical thinking as vital skillsets that need to be taught more in schools.

A bit of strong language to communicate deeply held beliefs in this one.

Sticker Junkie: https://www.stickerjunkie.com/

Sticker Junkie Living Wage Page: https://www.stickerjunkie.com/pages/livingwage

Andrea Lake LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/andrealake101/

Andrea Lake Webpage: https://www.stickerjunkie.com/pages/andrea-lake

I just had the pleasure of traveling to New Orleans to take in the art, music, museums, and culture that the city has to offer. And trust me, it has a lot to offer. A city that old and with so much history has so much to offer on so many levels that it would take a lifetime to explore, let alone even attempt to understand.

During my trip, I chatted with a lot of people who were from there or moved there, talking about what the city is like 20 years after Hurricane Katrina. Parts of the city, like the Lower Ninth Ward, are still reeling from the impacts of the hurricane and flooding. The whole city is still being impacted by the financial mismanagement and theft allegations that happened after the storm. If you ask people (or don’t even ask them) about it, they will tell you about it.

Despite the empty buildings and empty storefronts and empty homes, there is still life in the city, as there has been for centuries. The legacy of New Orleans is full of different moments that define different periods. The more dramatic the hardship, the greater the opportunity for the return.

And it seems like the potential for hardships is only going to increase for all of us given the climate changes we have seen taking place, with Katrina being perhaps an early harbinger of things to come. My guest today on Experience by Design is here to talk about the trajectory we are on, and what it will mean for all of us.

Gerry McGovern has had a career working with organizations to identify customer needs and how to position themselves for digital transformation. Now he is leading with a different message about how we need to address the impacts of techno-capitalism for this generation and future ones as well. His book “99th Day: A Warning about Technology” was published in February 2026. In it, Gerry talks about the impending environmental and social collapse brought on by data centers, AI, and other technologies that take our shared resources for the pursuance of individual greed.

We cover a lot of territory in our conversation. We discuss how we are risking life on Earth to create AI slop. Gerry calls out the promises of a brighter technological future given the actual impacts. His initial explorations of digital waste led to a greater realization regarding the impacts of mining waste and other byproducts of unrestrained profit seeking and growth. As he observes, we are on a fast train to a massive crash unless we start to re-evaluate our priorities, policies, and positions on techno-capitalism.

And we all play a part in terms of our patterns of consumption and the marketing engines that drive it.

Ultimately, Gerry calls for us to give up and grieve for the civilization that we currently have in order to bring into existence the civilization that we need in this moment. But like with New Orleans, the more desperate the situation, the greater the opportunity for the recovery and rebirth. That is, only if we do the work necessary to bring it into being and become Good Ancestors to future generations.

Gerry McGovern website: https://gerrymcgovern.com/

“99th Day” Book: https://gerrymcgovern.com/books/99th-day/

Gerry McGovern Insights: https://gerrymcgovern.com/new-thinking/