Post #2 of my favorite blogs. This week, while whittling down my list of worth-reading to this go-to handful, I found myself humming tunes from The Sound of Music….of course. This video isn’t Julie Andrews, but it’s become a new favorite thing. It sets the mood for this post quite nicely:

In part #1 my favorite customer experience blogs of my favorite blogs, I covered 6 folks (7 including me, of course) who speak, create ideas and focus on customer experience as the definition of what they do.

Here, you’ll find business leaders who are using customer experience to drive performance for their organizations. Though many of these executives rarely use those words, I find the action of smart customer experience in their discussions. They share – often in real time – how customers reward or punish their organizations based on smart or not so smart customer experience performance. As a former corporate line executive, I have both empathy and admiration for their actions.

All Things Distributed: Werner Voegels is the CTO of Amazon.com. Running through many of the conversations on his blog is Amazon’s “working backwards” method of product development, which he defines as starting with the customer and then working backward to determine the technology requirements that answer customer needs. While this blog may a little technology-heavy for many of us, Werner offers us a glimpse into how Amazon uses customer experience to drive development. That’s priceless. Posts to check out:

• Feedback for Amazon Web Services
• Working Backwards

Running a Hospital: You might be surprised to see a blog written by Paul Levy, CEO of Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston on my list, but it fits. Experience and performance in a hospital setting is both complex and critical. Why complex? Try defining the target experiences of patients, staff, and the people that pay (insurance companies or government). Then tackle aligning daily actions across the organization to the needs of those groups. Paul gives us practical, digestible view of how to drive performance in health care. Posts to check out:

• How much we could change
• You suggest, therefore you do

Richard’s Blog: I know just as many fans of Virgin CEO Richard Branson as I do foes. What I love: while rarely using the words customer experience he breathes it into his actions. Virgin companies know what need they solve for customers, and they use those needs to drive performance. Posts to check out:

• The (sometimes) painful birth of innovation
• Stripping Virgin’s businesses bare

Barry Judge: The CMO of Best Buy, Barry Judge’s blog is informational, entertaining, and controversial. You need only to check out how many comments some of his posts rack up to see that. What I like so much about Barry’s blog is that he’s constantly monitoring the BBY experience and checking with his consumers on how they’re doing. Posts to check out:

• Bringing dream support to life in the customer experience
• Best Buy’s consumer experience

Global Crossing: It looks like network telcom company Global Crossing is winning is long hard slog back to solid ground after filing for Chapter 11 in 2002 (a rare story in and of itself, and the key reason I watch this blog). This blog is written by members of the company’s executive team, and is filled with all kinds of information -from super techy posts about leveraging network assets to going green. Watch for Steve Hauck’s entries. Steve is newly appointed to lead customer experience initiatives worldwide. Wonder what will happen next? Customer Experience. Posts to check out:

• CTO/CIO and Customer Experience Alignment
• Prepare to succeed – continue to innovate

Now that I’ve shared a few of my favorites, what about yours? Which blogging leaders do you observe using customer experience to drive financial performance? (Oh, and I hope you enjoy the new My Favorite Things now glued in your brain. Happy humming.)