The essential guide to creating a successful organization by making things easier, better and more straightforward for your customers.

Leadership Book of the Year 2023, as awarded by the Institute of Leadership

Across all sectors, organizations' fixation with functionality has meant that the 'human' elements of the customer's experience have become neglected. Strict processes and automated procedures have created organizations full of people who aren't allowed to act in a 'human' way.

As a result, and despite these new technologies, customers are no more satisfied than they were a decade ago (according to the Institute of Customer Service) and, according to Edelman, they now trust big organizations even less than they did in the past.

In The Human Experience, John Sills draws upon extensive research and illustrative case studies to explain that the emotional experience is just as important as the functional one, and, if done right, will create a more efficient business. He also demonstrates that the customer experience is not just the responsibility of front-line employees, but shared across the company, from the CEO operating as the spokesperson of the business to the programmers developing a seamless and welcoming user interface.

Whether you're a well-established incumbent or an early-stage start-up, on either end of your product or service is a human. Packed full of practical advice and engaging case studies, The Human Experience is the ultimate guide to creating a culture and an experience with humanity at its heart, helping to develop a customer base that will stay with an organization, and a company that will grow in an increasingly efficient way.

John Sills is Managing Partner at customer-led growth company, The Foundation. After starting his career on a market stall in Essex, he's spent the last twenty-five years working in and with companies around the world to make things better for customers. He's advised organisations such as Sky, The Body Shop, BUPA, Ovo Energy, Invesco, Morrisons, eBay, and UNICEF. He also spent twelve years at HSBC, starting on the frontline and finishing as Head of Customer Innovation.


John works closely with Young Enterprise, a charity that helps young adults become the next generation of entrepreneurs, and is a mentor for The School of Marketing.