The Customer-Driven Leader (sponsored by the XM Global Collaborative) hosted by Dr. James H. Killian, spotlights practical, evidence-based ways leaders can turn customer obsession into growth without sacrificing employee experience. Each episode features a fast and focused conversation with business leaders and experts who align strategy, culture, and measurement to deliver superior EX and CX programs and business results. Listeners/Viewers can expect case examples and candid talk about how to avoid customer-derailing behaviors and strive to become Customer-Driven leaders, teams and cultures.

What to expect each month: The second Wednesday of each month will feature one live 25-minute interview (plus open Q&A) with operators and thinkers who blend Leadership + EX + CX to drive results in order to empower practitioners.

Episode #8:

James welcomes Tony Loyd to the Customer-Driven Leader Podcast. Tony is an author, speaker, and executive coach who helps business leaders build endurance in a world of constant change. A former Fortune 500 executive with companies like John Deere, Diversey, Medtronic, and Buffalo Wild Wings, he has led teams through uncertainty and understands the strain leaders feel when expectations rise and change is constant. Over time, he saw that most leaders weren’t failing. They were fatigued.

Tony’s perspective is shaped by his own endurance journey. After cancer surgery reduced his lung capacity by 25 percent, he learned how to perform, recover, and keep going with less. That experience reshaped how he understands leadership.He developed the Endurance Leadership Framework, a practical, research-backed approach that teaches leaders to regulate emotion, clarify purpose, adapt to change, connect with others, and maintain momentum. As the founder of Culture Shift Advisors and a TEDx speaker, Tony helps leaders build cultures that stay calm, clear, and aligned so they can make confident decisions and last.

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