Once again, ICMI has compiled a list of the top thought leaders to follow on social media. We asked members of our community to nominate their favorite thought leaders, and why those people matter to the contact center community.
From that invaluable feedback, we can now unveil the 2021 ICMI Top 25 thought leaders. We provide links to the social media of each honoree and highly encourage you to follow them:
Annette Franz – @annettefranz
“Any CX thought leader list wouldn’t be complete without Annette. She is prolific with her blog, tweets relevant, helpful posts daily, and is always giving of her time and knowledge whenever asked.”
Ben Motteram – @CXpert
“Ben’s passion for customer experience is evident by the great articles and interviews he shares with his base. He is always willing to interact and respond to queries and with his broad experience provides a valuable unique insight.”
Bill Staikos – @becustomerled1
“Bill’s weekly podcast is awesome! Great source of CX and EX insight!”
Conrad Liburd – LinkedIn
“Conrad shares a frank and honest perspective on the spectre of racism in customer service, and how technology can help.”
Debbie Szumylo – @DebbieSzumylo
“Debbie Szumylo’s customer service tweets highlight some of the best CX information on the web. She constantly shares great tips and techniques to boost CX.”
Erica Mancuso – @esmancuso
“Erica is a wealth of knowledge and expertise. She regularly contributes to group/online discussions and is a sought after speaker and panelists.”
Jeff Toister – @toister
“Jeff continues to be the voice inside my head when I think about any new CX or contact center initiative — calling me back to my customer service mission.”
Jenny Dempsey – @jennysuedempsey
“Jenny is focused on a necessary topic that few others are talking about: agent self-care. She’s speaking from real experience in her daily work and is vulnerable enough to let us see the real her.”
Jeremy Watkin – @jtwatkin
“Jeremy provides a lot of valuable, “from the trenches” content. He’s not just a talking head–he’s a conversation starter.”
Justin Robbins – @justinmrobbins
“Vibrant, Innovative, Next-Gen thought leader with the ability to command a stage but also get into the trenches of helping ANYONE solve their most challenging contact center/customer experience challenges!”
Kaye Chapman – @kayejchapman
“Kaye is a wonderfully positive person, knowledgeable about omnichannel, chat and AI while also balancing that with training and employee experience knowledge.”
Leslie O’Flahavan – @LeslieO
“Leslie is *the* contact center writing expert. She frequently shares helpful examples of good and bad customer service writing, and I often learn a lot from her tweets.”
Mike Aoki – @mikeaoki
“Mike Aoki is one of the most caring industry leaders. He is well connected, shares content that is of value and celebrates the industries success. He epitomizes the definition of a thought leader.”
Nate Brown – @CustomerIsFirst
“Nate is not only a CX practitioner, but he is also a tireless advocate for experience improvement and helping to promote the practice of CX.”
Neal Dlin – @NealDlin
“Neal is not afraid to challenge norms and help others innovate and disrupt the status quo…He has one of the most progressive lines of thinking in our space, focusing on employee journeys that impact customer experiences.”
Neal Topf – @NealTopf
“He can talk day-to-day nuts and bolts but also seems to keep his eyes on the future.”
Peter Gregg – @pfgregg
“One of my “go to” people when trying to solve complex problems and roadmaps. He has a way of making the complex very simple with a clearly defined vision that is ever evolving.”
Roberto Osorno – @RobertoOsorno3
“A great online sharer of ideas that focus on the intersection of technology and humanity in the contact center workplace and the future of working from home.”
Russel Lolacher – @RussLoL
“Russel is a model of how government employees can envision themselves as customer service representatives.”
Sayo Afolayan – LinkedIn
“Sayo provides a much-needed perspective on the perspective of an international contact center workforce, and on motivational management.”
Sean B. Hawkins – @SeanBHawkins
“Sean is trusted contact center leader, who advocates for knowledge sharing and is a resource to all.”
Sheila McGee-Smith – @McGeeSmith
“My very first source for not just news, but insights, strategy and intel.”
Stacy Sherman – @stacysherman
“Stacy Sherman is an authentic leader and is passionate about improving customer experiences.”
Susan Hash – @susanhash
“I follow Susan Hash for industry news and trends. Her Twitter posts are relevant to current events and effect on contact center management.”
Umesh Sachdev – @Umesh_Sachdev
“Umesh has been very generous sharing his time and expertise with others, so that we can all learn about AI, automation, and customer service.”