A Keynote on Customer Obsession
There’s a unique energy in a room full of smart, forward-thinking people. It is 13 August 2025 and I had the privilege of experiencing of delivering the final keynote to the City X City Braze in Sydney to its customers and wider community. The feedback was incredibly kind—I was told the session was entertaining, insightful, and courageous.
It was a joy to share my perspective, because right now, we are at one of the most exciting and challenging intersections in business history. Change is accelerating at a pace we’ve never seen before, fuelled by a flood of capital and lightning-fast technology. In this new world, the old business cycles are broken. It’s a frantic, exhilarating, and often overwhelming time to be a leader.
But amidst all this change, one truth stands firm: customers are everything. And the single greatest differentiator in an age of automation is not your algorithm, but your ability to create genuine, human connection.
To recap for those present the core ideas I covered:
The New Reality: Your Customer is in Control
The pandemic was the tipping point. It forever changed customer expectations. The bar for a good experience is now sky-high—it needs to be fast, effortless, and intensely personal. Customers have more choice than ever, and digital innovators can steal markets overnight.
This creates what I call the "Choice Paradox." Faced with endless options, people don't analyse every feature. Instead, they gravitate to the brands they feel emotionally aligned with, the brands they trust. In this environment, your success is no longer defined just by how many you sell to, but by how many come back, how many rave about you, and how many bring their friends. This requires a profound mindset shift.
The Mindset Shift: From Satisfaction to Obsession
Satisfied customers leave. It’s a harsh truth. They might be happy with the transaction, but they have no real loyalty.
Obsessed customers, however, become advocates. They are the ones who feel a true connection to your brand. They stay, they spend more, and they become your volunteer marketing army.
To build this level of connection, you need to think like a customer anthropologist. You must understand their feelings, not just their buying habits. This means establishing "listening posts"—not just surveys, but digging into complaints, drop-offs, and behaviour patterns to find the goldmines of unmet needs. Every point of friction in your customer journey is an opportunity to remove a layer of disconnect and create delight.
You need to know the real "job" your customer is hiring your product to do—and it's almost always for an emotional or social reason, not just a functional one.
The Founder's Role: Leading From the Frontline
A customer-obsessed culture is not built by a department; it is ignited by a leader's energy. Your customers don't care if a problem is a "marketing," "ops," or "tech" issue—they experience one brand: yours. It is the founder's job to break down those silos and ensure the entire team is focused on the customer's reality.
This takes courage. It means trusting your instincts, even when the data is ambiguous. It means investing in yourself and your team's emotional intelligence—the ability to listen with empathy is gold in a customer-obsessed business. There is no silver bullet for this; it’s a commitment you live every single day.
AI is for Tasks; Relationships are for People
So where does AI fit into this? This was the core of my message. Artificial Intelligence is one of the most powerful tools we have ever been given to enhance our businesses. But its true power lies in using it to liberate your people, not replace them.
Use AI and automation for tasks: segmenting audiences, personalising communications at scale, analysing data, and streamlining processes. This creates the freedom and the space for your team to focus on the things only humans can do.
It’s the 1% Rule. A transformational experience doesn’t come from one giant, automated leap. It comes from dozens of small, thoughtful, human touches.
- A surprise that shows you were listening.
- Recovering from a mishap with such grace and generosity that you create a customer for life.
- Proactively anticipating a need before the customer even has to ask.
Mistakes handled with empathy are more powerful than perfect service ever could be. Technology can automate a task, but it cannot deliver a heartfelt apology or a moment of spontaneous delight. That is the work of people.
Disruption is Not Technology
As KPMG research has noted, "The successful organisations of the future will be those that are trusted." Technology itself is not the disruptor. Not being customer-centric is the biggest threat to any business.
Your job as a leader is to be an Advisor, an Advocate, and an Ambassador for your customer inside your own organisation.
Bringing This Energy to Your Stage
It was such a delight to share my journey with the Braze team and their customers and lovely feedback “Having Naomi close out Braze City x City Sydney 2025 was the perfect finale to an incredible day. Her energy, honesty, and perspective left the audience inspired and ready to take bold action. A true highlight of the event.” Jaye Vernon, Area Vice President of Sales, ANZ
As a keynote speaker, my passion is to bring this energy into the room. I believe the most important business conversations are about this intersection of technology, strategy, and humanity. My goal is to bring people together by delivering an entertaining, insightful, and courageous presentation that leaves your audience with a new framework for thinking about their own customers and a fire in their belly to make a real connection.
The future doesn’t belong to the business with the best algorithm. It belongs to the business that best understands people.
What's one small, human touch you can add to your customer experience this week? I'd love to hear your thoughts.
