Lior Arussy explains that customers today no longer settle for “okay” or frictionless service—they expect exceptional experiences. But exceptional service cannot be bought or scripted; it’s a personal choice employees make every day.

He highlights this with a simple airline example: when boarding, flight attendants often display forced smiles. But when passengers leave, the smile is authentic—because genuine care cannot be faked or paid for. It must come from pride in one’s work.

To illustrate, Arussy shares a true story from a flower shop in Long Island, New York. A stressed customer urgently ordered roses after forgetting his anniversary. Instead of just processing the order, the employee paused, listened, and offered a thoughtful solution: she would include a note saying the late delivery was the shop’s fault, along with a box of chocolates. By showing empathy and creativity, she turned a frustrated interaction into a memorable, loyalty-building moment.

He emphasizes that how we define excellence matters. If we limit excellence to extreme achievements—like Michael Phelps winning 20 Olympic medals—most of us won’t even try. Instead, excellence should mean maximizing your own talents and contributions, wherever you are.

Ultimately, the customer is the only true judge of excellence. Every interaction is an opportunity to create value, build trust, and inspire loyalty. In today’s world, “exceptional is not optional”—it’s the new standard.

Lior Arussy opens as a practitioner, not a theorist, drawing on 250+ transformation projects (from Mercedes-Benz to Delta and The Met). For him, customer experience means two things at once: create value that’s relevant and differentiated for customers and profitable for the business—otherwise CEOs won’t care.

He says we’ve entered the era of the “one and only.” You win customers in only two ethical ways:

1. Inspiration—anticipate needs, surprise with relevant value, earn profitable growth.
2. Desperation—arrive last, pay ever-higher acquisition costs, discount to “buy” the customer.

Why this shift? Most firms go from exciting → boring → annoying by milking yesterday’s product instead of inventing tomorrow’s value. Motorola, Nokia, BlackBerry—each dominated, then lost relevance as they tweaked while customers leapt ahead. That gap appears when companies define themselves by products and “every customer” averages, not by customers and their evolving value.

He warns that digital self-service isn’t differentiation by default. When customers do the work—banking, travel, checkout—they feel loyal to themselves, not your brand. Post-COVID, with authorities often saying “we don’t know,” customers became super-empowered: they act like brands demanding deeply personal partnerships.

The root problem: a corporate mindset that separates profits from customers, fixating on exploiting current assets. Arussy poses a reframing: What if you had only one customer, guaranteed never to leave? You’d move budget from hard selling to co-creating value, showing up where/when/how they need—often before they ask.