Surviving the Speed of Change: AI, Trust and Customer Experience

At the Portland Summit, 3 Tree Tech hosted its own “tribal council.” Not on a deserted island, but in the middle of today’s chaotic, high-speed business environment. Tim Schocke, Product Manager at Lowe’s, Stacy Sherman, Founder of Doing CX Right®, and Eric Skeens, Co-founder and CTO of 3 Tree Tech sat down to debate how leaders can survive the rapid pace of change in technology, business, and customer experience.

In true Survivor fashion, the question was not who has the best tools. It was who can outwit, outplay, and outlast the speed of disruption.

Outwit: Building Trust as Strategy

Tim Schoke emphasized that survival in IT is not just about systems. It is about trust. As the single point of contact between business and technology, he sees trust as the glue that keeps both sides working together.

His secret weapon is listening. Schoke invests four to six hours each week reviewing real customer calls to hear friction firsthand. It keeps him grounded in reality and ahead of the next blindside.

Outplay: Eliminating Friction Before It Eliminates You

Stacy Sherman reminded the council that silos are often the hidden immunity idol that kills customer loyalty. When a customer cannot return an online order in-store or bails on a confusing website, they do not care about your internal walls. They only see one brand.

Her approach is simple: walk the customer journey yourself. If it is hard for you, it is game over for them.

Outlast: Using AI as a Survival Tool

Both Schoke and Sherman agreed that AI can be the torch that lights the way or the fire that burns you.

• For Schoke, AI provides scale by analyzing patterns across thousands of calls and chats in ways humans never could.
• For Sherman, AI makes fragmented feedback useful by pulling surveys, chats, reviews, and social sentiment into actionable priorities.

In training, AI simulations allow agents to rehearse with “customers” who are angry, calm, or confused. That practice builds confidence and psychological safety. Both are vital for survival.

When Only Humans Can Keep the Torch Lit

Not everything should be automated. Sherman’s story about Schindler Elevator drove that home. Imagine being trapped in an elevator and pressing the emergency button. The last thing you want to hear is a bot saying “sorry about your luck.” You need a human voice with empathy. AI can provide real-time data, but it cannot replace reassurance.

Schoke added that the goal is to offload complexity and threat detection onto AI so people can focus on what only they can do: deliver trust, empathy, and human connection.

Final Tribal Words

As moderator Eric Skeens put it, “Technology may scale efficiency, but people scale trust.”

In the end, survival is not about who has the flashiest tools. It is about balance. The organizations that outwit change with trust, outplay friction with empathy, and outlast disruption with the right mix of AI and humanity will keep their torch burning long after others get snuffed out.