Why you don’t need a separate AI strategy - Interview with Charlene Li

Why you don’t need a separate AI strategy - Interview with Charlene Li

Author: Adrian Swinscoe | Customer Experience Strategy Expert May 7, 2026 Duration: 36:34

Today’s episode of the Punk CX podcast features a recent conversation I had with Charlene Li about her new book, Winning with AI: The 90-Day Blueprint for Success (co-authored with Dr Katia Walsh). We talk about why 90 Days, why you don’t need a separate AI strategy, why most AI initiatives fail and fail to improve customer outcomes, the use case trap, the shift that leaders need to make from "knowing" to continuous learning and the five traits of an AI-ready culture.

This interview follows on from my recent interview – Harnessing AI to orchestrate customer experiences at scale – Interviews with Luc Dammann, Nina Caruso & Vivek Pandya of Adobe – and is number 585 in the series of interviews with authors and business leaders who are doing great things, providing valuable insights, helping businesses innovate and delivering great service and experience to both their customers and their employees.


There’s a lot of noise around customer experience, but Punk CX: Customer Experience Insights with Adrian Swinscoe cuts through it with conversations that feel more like a strategic workshop than a standard interview. Host Adrian Swinscoe, a customer experience strategy expert, brings a distinctively pragmatic and often contrarian perspective to each discussion. He sits down with a wide range of industry leaders, from entrepreneurs to seasoned executives, to unpack what it really takes to build an organization that people genuinely want to engage with. You’ll hear them delve into the interconnected mechanics of customer service, customer engagement, and the often-overlooked driver of it all: employee experience and engagement. The dialogue naturally explores how technology, from AI to broader digital transformation, can be leveraged practically rather than just hyped, and what it means to build adaptable, responsive organizations with high-performing teams at their core. This podcast moves beyond theory, focusing on the actionable insights and sometimes uncomfortable truths that define modern customer and business strategy. Each episode is designed to give you a tangible takeaway, whether you’re refining your own approach or challenging the status quo within your company.
Author: Language: English Episodes: 100

Punk CX: Customer Experience Insights with Adrian Swinscoe
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