These are not retrospectives assembled from interviews. They are the account of someone who was in the room — and did not know, at the time, that the room would matter. The Customer Success industry has been told its own story second-hand for thirty years. This is the primary source.
I spent one day in a room with Lou Tice.
Read the full article →How the principles of human change should shape every decision in building a company
Read the full article →My focus on customer service began long before Vantive. My prior experience was quite varied. My first job was at Six Flags Over Georgia – sweeping up trash. The initial intent was just a source of income to fund my education - a degree in Music Therapy. My goal in life was
Read the full article →After reading several articles about the advent of customer success recently, I find it time to share more about our actual experience and vision. At the time, none of us had any indication of how this would evolve. We were just on a mission to change the world of service and s
Read the full article →So much is written about alignment. I fear it is an overused term and woke today attempting to find a suitable replacement. The epiphany has evaded me. What you call it in the end does not matter – it is one of those things that when you have it you know it, it is palpable. Y
Read the full article →Early in my career, I recall sitting with the CEO of our company somewhat complaining about something someone else was doing. At my diplomatic best, I shared my concern and the impact to the company. I sincerely had the best of intentions. Nonetheless, our CEO leaned back in
Read the full article →I have always so admired Heidi Roizen at Threshold Ventures. Throughout my career she has so kindly offered advice and support. In this podcast she outlines one of the greatest disappointments option holders experience.
Read the full article →The typical approach to entrepreneurism is to focus on diligently designing and developing your product or service: build it, start selling it, and grow. I propose that it is time to rethink this. There is a fundamental step missing. Why don’t we spend as much time and energy d
Read the full article →Having built companies for a few decades now, I have come to believe that there are three distinct phases to development.
Read the full article →I never really understood why companies go off site once a year to plan and then put the plan away. It seems that everyone comes together to define the top line goals and then each departmental executive interprets those goals and decides what their department needs to do to supp
Read the full article →Over my career, I would often cringe when executives or investors announced we were going to be working with a consultant. A therapist at heart, I felt the need to explore why and what provoked such a negative energy.
Read the full article →I recall one day my VP of Marketing proudly announcing to me that she had created 1000 qualified leads. After thirty minutes working to convince me they were qualified and not just inquiries, I informed her that I was going to cut her budget by 80%. Shocked- she was so success
Read the full article →For years, I have been asked if I have written a book. I have finally decided it is time to share our story.
Everything I have done, everything I have learned, everything I have shared has involved other people. So this will not be a playbook or a framework. My current thought is that I want it to be just the story — a memoir.
Which is why I am reaching out to everyone who shared this journey with me. Send me your memories, your version of what happened, the lessons you took from it. The moment you remember that I may have forgotten. We did all of this together. I have one more ask: help me tell the story.