Why the Best Community Builders Stopped Using the Word "Community" (Esri)

2 July 2026 | EPISODE 195 | 39 MIN | How to Sell Community to a CEO Who Doesn’t Care About Community

[Un]Churned

Jul 02, 2026

Community is one of the strongest strategic bets in post-sales, but most organizations are still tripping over the word itself.

On this week’s episode of [Un]Churned, “How to Sell Community to a CEO Who Doesn’t Care About Community,” Chris Catania, Head of Community at Esri and author of The Community First Advantage, joins host Josh Schachter and co-host Erica Kuhl, EVP and General Manager of Gainsight’s Digital Customer Hub.

Together, they discuss how to make a strong internal case for community, use it as a cross-functional voice-of-customer tool, and build a program that earns executive trust over time.

Listen on YouTube, Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and Gainsight.com.

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🎯 The [Un]Churned Take: Community Is the Answer to AI’s Trust Problem. Now Sell It Like One.

As AI becomes part of every customer interaction, people are asking a question that no language model can answer for them: can I trust this? The peer-to-peer connection that community creates, with real customers helping each other, working with vendors, and advocating on their own, is one of the clearest answers. This is something AI can’t create or imitate.

That’s why now is the worst time to lose the budget battle for your community program.

The Pitch Problem Predates AI. The Stakes Don’t.

Chris Catania, Head of Community at Esri and author of The Community First Advantage, interviewed over 100 executives for his book and found that most executives already have their own idea of what ‘community’ means, like Facebook groups, Reddit, or even a city footprint. But those aren’t the definitions you’re pitching. But this isn’t new. Erica Kuhl, who built Salesforce’s Trailblazer community into a leading example of community-led growth in B2B SaaS, says she’s avoided using the word “community” in executive conversations for years.

What’s different now is what happens if you get it right. If community is the trust layer that AI can’t copy, then organizations that fail to make a strong internal case for it are giving their competitors an advantage that grows over time and can’t be regained quickly.

Chris’s solution is to stop using the word altogether and instead speak in terms each executive understands.

For a CMO, it’s about brand advocacy, with customers sharing on their own channels without being asked.
For a product leader, it’s about co-creation and getting better feedback.
For a CFO, it’s about improving retention and reducing support costs.

It’s the same program, just described differently each time. Erica does this too: she calls it a digital customer hub, since everyone knows what a hub is. The name focuses on what the company receives, not what the team creates.

The best example of this approach is Erica’s story about how she earned Marc Benioff’s ongoing support for Trailblazers. She didn’t pitch a community strategy. Instead, she gave him honest, direct feedback from real Salesforce customers about his keynote presentations, coming from people with no reason to hold back. Benioff wanted more. She wasn’t explaining what a community program was; she showed him something he couldn’t get any other way.

The Trust Layer AI Can’t Build for You

The moat around your community pitch or existing program just got stronger, now that AI is degrading every other signal executives rely on.

Vendor content is now generated, and outreach is automated. Community is the only input that remains truly human. Real customers help each other and share honest feedback without any reason to hold back. Co-creation reflects what users actually need, not just what they say in surveys. As Chris says, “How do I balance authenticity with efficiency of AI? Customers are really looking for that.” Organizations that have built real community trust can answer that question. Those that haven’t will see the gap grow.

To get there, community leaders need to make a clear internal case that can last through the budget cycle and grow over time. The pitch still needs to be strong, but now there’s an even better reason to make it.

🎧 Listen for These Moments

Chris and Erica get into the mechanics of how community programs actually earn executive support. Listen for these moments in the full episode:

Why community can't be siloed — the argument that community only works as a cross-functional service, not owned by any one department.
The three E’s — Chris’s operating system for community: enablement, experience, and evaluation.
North Star + small wins — how Erica thinks about keeping executive patience through a long-term community build by delivering staged ROI along the way.

🔎 Where to Find the Speakers

Chris Catania — LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/christophercatania/
Erica Kuhl — LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ericakuhl/
Josh Schachter — LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jschachter/

📎 Referenced in This Episode

The Community First Advantage — Chris Catania’s book on using community as a competitive advantage across the organization
Salesforce Trailblazers — Salesforce’s customer community program, built by Erica Kuhl
Gainsight Digital Customer Hub — Gainsight’s platform for centralizing customer engagement across community, learning, and support