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About the episode
In this episode, Kellie sits down with Angela Rixon, Founder of The Centre for Meaningful Work and author of Meaning Over Purpose, to explore what human-centred growth really means and why meaning, not just purpose, is the missing piece in most workplace strategies.
Angela traces the idea back to a pivotal moment in her HR career when a colleague asked why growth conversations always centred on cost cutting rather than on people, a question that shaped her Five Pillars of Meaningful Work: autonomy, mastery, connection, impact and purpose.
The conversation moves through how leaders can build a bridge between organisational purpose and individual meaning, why coaching has replaced telling as the most effective leadership behaviour in a world where no one leader has all the answers and how to be intentional about connection in hybrid and distributed teams.
Angela closes with a reminder that leaders need to put their own oxygen mask on first and that meaningful change at work, like everything else, starts small.
Key Takeaways
Growth doesn't have to mean cost cutting. Angela's career turning point came when a colleague asked why no one had considered growing the business through its people instead of through acquisitions or layoffs, a question that became the foundation for her work on human-centred growth.Meaning and purpose are not the same thing. Purpose is the external mission an organisation sets, while meaning is the felt, daily experience employees have of belonging, growth and autonomy. Angela argues organisations have over invested in purpose statements while ignoring meaning.The Five Pillars give leaders a practical framework. Autonomy, mastery, connection, impact and purpose can be applied first to leaders themselves, then to individuals and teams, to spot where energy is being gained or lost.Leaders don't have all the answers anymore and that's okay. Complexity, pace and AI mean leaders are often guiding change they don't fully understand themselves, which is why coaching has overtaken telling as the most useful leadership behaviour.Connection in hybrid teams has to be intentional. Office osmosis was never evenly distributed in the first place, so leaders need deliberate mechanisms such as drop-in coffee sessions, more frequent one to ones and more creative formal communication to recreate what used to happen by chance.Start small and protect your own oxygen mask. Angela's closing advice is to look after yourself as a leader first, then begin building meaningful work one small step at a time, starting with a simple question to your team: why does your work matter to you?About Angela
Angela Rixon, founder and CEO of The Centre for Meaningful Work Ltd, is an award-winning leadership strategist, executive coach and culture-transformation specialist with over 25 years of experience. A former Partner at EY and Director at CGI and Mercer, she is recognised internationally for pioneering research and frameworks that close the Purpose-to-Meaning Gap™, enabling organisations to embed meaning into leadership, culture and performance.
Her Amazon best-selling book Meaning Over Purpose explores the “Purpose-to-Meaning Gap” – the disconnect between what an organisation says and what its people actually feel. Challenging the assumption that purpose alone drives engagement, she provides leaders and executives with a practical blueprint for embedding meaning into the very DNA of their organisations.
🔗 Connect with Angela on LinkedIn, or email @ [email protected] or [email protected]
Also Mentioned
Meaning Over Purpose by Angela RixonThe Centre for Meaningful WorkGainsight and former CEO Nick Mehta, an early voice in human-led leadershipLet's Flow A leadership mission and community, in partnership with Leah Stockley, to make work better so that organisations and people thrive. Follow on LinkedIn or DM Kellie to get involved -
About the episode
In this episode, Kellie sits down with Tim Beattie, founder of Stellafai and a consultant who has spent his career turning outcome-based thinking from a philosophy into a practical reality.
Together they explore what it truly means to lead with an outcome mindset, why visualising work unlocks shared understanding and how leaders can protect their teams from relentless organisational pressure while keeping themselves human in the process.
Honest and complete with practical ideas you can use tomorrow.
Key Takeaways
The outcome mindset in three words: clarity, intent, impact. When everyone knows why they're doing what they're doing and can see the difference it's making, work changes completely.A North Star needs a North Star metric. Aligning on direction is powerful. Agreeing on the single measure that tells you whether you're moving towards it is where real focus begins.Get it out of people's heads. Whether it's sticky notes, digital walls or a bowl of mood marbles, making thinking visible is one of the most underrated leadership practices there is. Shared understanding is the foundation of shared progress.The push-pull umbrella. A leader's most important job is protecting teams from the pressure pushing down from above. Creating the space for autonomy, mastery and purpose to exist.Most bad cultures aren't born of bad intent. People are promoted because they're brilliant at their jobs not because they've been developed as leaders. Changing culture starts with showing people what's possible.Silos are inevitable; enablement is the antidote. As organisations grow, someone needs to be focused on connecting the dots, breaking down communication gaps and keeping everyone aligned to what actually matters.About Tim
Tim Beattie is the Co-Founder of Stellafai, where he is building an operating system for outcome-based consulting. His work focuses on helping consulting, customer success and professional services teams anchor their work around measurable customer outcomes, visualise value and create stronger alignment between teams, clients and business impact.
Tim’s career has taken him through large-scale consulting and transformation roles at PwC, Deloitte, IBM and Red Hat, as well as smaller boutique consulting environments where culture, collaboration and customer value became central to his thinking. He is passionate about outcome mindset, visualising work, psychological safety and helping organisations move from activity and output to clarity, intent and impact.
Through Stellafai, Tim now works with boutique consultancies and enterprise customer success organisations to help them prove, scale and sustain the value they create with customers.🔗 Connect with Tim on LinkedIn.
🌐 Stellafai platform (free to use): stellafai.com
Also Mentioned
Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us by Dan PinkAlistair Cockburn: Agile Manifesto author and source of the push-pull umbrella conceptDeidre Paknad: CEO of Workboard and originator of the outcome mindset definition Tim references throughoutLet's Flow: A leadership mission, ACT! Leadership System and community, in partnership with Leah Stockley, to make work better so that organisations and people can thrive. Follow on LinkedIn or DM Kellie to get involved. -
Saknas det avsnitt?
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About the episode
In this episode, Kellie sits down with Minna Vaisanen, Head of Revenue at Thrive Partners and passionate customer success leader, for a wide-ranging conversation about the future of leadership and work.
Minna brings a refreshingly practical lens to some big questions:
- why leadership hasn't kept pace with how work has evolved
- why creativity is the new gold dust in an AI-accelerated world
- what organisations can do, starting small, to close that gap.
Together, they explore the shift from task-oriented management to human-centred leadership, the foundational importance of values (done properly, not just posted on a wall) and why the single most important mindset shift for any new manager is moving from I to we.
Above all, this is a conversation that keeps coming back to what matters most: we are all human, all doing our best and that's exactly where good leadership begins.
Key Takeaways
We are all human and that's where leadership starts. Behind every framework and every transformation is a simple truth: we're all learning, all imperfect and all capable of doing a little better than yesterday. Leadership isn't about having all the answers; it's about showing up with the intention to grow.Creativity is the new gold dust and leadership hasn't caught up. As AI takes over routine work, what humans bring is creativity and creativity doesn't thrive in rigid, micromanaged environments.The single biggest shift when you become a manager: from I to we. A manager's success is measured by the team's success. Owning both the wins and the failures, without blaming the team, is where real leadership begins.Leadership 1-0-1 is still missing for most people. Most are promoted because they're good at their job, not because they've been taught to lead. It starts with one question: do you even want to lead?Values only work if they're lived, not laminated. Values need to be embedded in hiring, performance reviews and everyday decisions. A poster on a wall changes nothing.Organisational transformation doesn't have to be seismic. Think like a product roadmap; sequence your experiments, run controlled steps and bring your people with you.Done is better than perfect. 1% better today than yesterday still accumulates. Progress over perfection, always.About Minna
Believing that a squiggly career makes leaders more versatile, Minna's Customer Success career background in tech extends over 12+ years navigating the realms of early-stage start-ups to multinational corporations. Her global perspective is shaped through expatriate roles in the Middle East, Europe and Asia, coupled with visits to 65+ countries. Minna has led a number of transformation projects for multinational organisations in the Asia Pacific region and guiding initiatives resulting from global company mergers. In her previous roles as Vice President of Customer Success, Minna devised and executed a successful customer success strategy, contributing to company growth at early stage and scale-up organisations. Currently, as the Head of Customer Success and Operational Excellence at Thrive Partners, she plays a pivotal role in the organisation's customer-centric transformation. Her industry range extends from HR to the Learning and Hospitality Technology sectors.
Beyond her professional endeavours, Minna is a mentor, podcast host and a speaker, sharing profound insights at industry events to inspire and educate emerging talent.
🔗 Connect with Minna on LinkedIn.
Also Mentioned
Motivation 2.0: the concept Minna references around shifting from task-based to purpose and creativity-driven motivation at work.Simon Sinek's Start With Why : referenced in the context of building organisational values from the ground up.Let's Flow: A leadership mission and community, in partnership with Leah Stockley, to make work better so that organisations and people thrive. Follow on LinkedIn or DM Kellie to get involved. -
About the episode
In this episode, Kellie welcomes Archana Mohan - a former teacher turned financial services professional, author and passionate advocate for human-centred leadership. Archana shares the winding path that took her from a decade working with neurodiverse children in New York City's schools to investment banking (sparked, brilliantly, by a professor who told her she couldn't do it) and eventually to writing her book, The Through Line, published in 2025.
The conversation explores what it truly means to build environments of care at work, why uncertainty is the system rather than the exception and how a simple three-part framework - reach in, reset, reach out - can help anyone navigate an ever-changing world.
There's also a beautiful, expanded conversation about leadership itself: who gets to call themselves a leader and why the answer should be everyone.
Key Takeaways
Build environments of care. Archana's core belief is that people do their best work when they feel genuinely supported and that workplaces should be intentionally designed with that in mind, not left to chance.Uncertainty is the system. Rather than something to overcome, uncertainty has always been the default state of life. The goal isn't to eliminate it but to get comfortable with the discomfort it brings.The Three-Part Framework from The Through Line: reach in, reset, reach out.Everyone is a leader. Leadership isn't a title or a management role. The parent, the community organiser, the night-shift taxi driver - they're all leading. The definition of leadership needs to be simplified back to what it really is: human influence and connection.Moments in our lives rhyme. Archana's beautiful observation that we've navigated uncertainty before and the approach, if we look for it, has always existed.Leadership is a choice. How we show up and the influence we exert is, ultimately, something we each get to choose. And it's ongoing work, there's no box to tick and move on.About Archana
Archana is a dynamic, multilingual Chief Operations and Technology Officer within the finance sector, with a passion for unlocking human potential.
Growing up in a multicultural environment, Archana witnessed first-hand how strong leadership could build relationships, bridge cultural divides and foster collaboration.
She brings a unique perspective to her work, drawing on her experiences as both a teacher and a leader to drive innovation.
She is also a supporter of Stop the Traffik, an organisation using data and technology to eradicate human trafficking globally.
🔗 Connect with Archana on LinkedIn🌐 Website: www.archanamohan.net📖 Get the book: The Through Line
Also Mentioned
Stop the Traffik: an incredible organisation working to eradicate human trafficking worldwide. Archana encourages everyone to check out their work.Challenging Heights: working towards eradicating child trafficking in the fishing industry, in GhanaMove the World: Global Citizenship education using experiential and creative learning methods, in GhanaLet's Flow: A leadership mission and community, in partnership with Leah Stockley, to make work better so that organisations and people thrive. Follow on LinkedIn or DM Kellie to get involved. -
About the Episode
If you're looking for authenticity and people-first leadership, then this is the episode for you!
Charlotte and Kellie talk through employee engagement, motivations, fulfilment and playing to each individual's strengths to make a stronger and more successful company culture.
They also riff on the subject of embedding company values into the entire people lifecycle - starting at company inception, people hiring, business objective setting and goal planning conversations.
Key takeaway: North Star's are not just for businesses, take the time to understand and develop the North Star for each of the people in your team!
About Charlotte
Charlotte Cobbaert is the Head of Customer Success at Collective Benefits, an insurtech and benefits platform for independent workers. Her entire career has evolved around worker engagement from leading an employee experience programme when working in Spain to joining the world of HR tech in the UK.
Building great teams by making people's careers a core priority is how Charlotte is looking to make an impact in her career. She also strongly believes that bringing authenticity into her leadership style and not being afraid to truly "be herself" will go a long way.
How to connect with Charlotte and their initiatives
LinkedIn: Charlotte Cobbaert
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About the Episode
On this episode of the podcast, our host, Kellie Lucas, talks with Susie Robinson, author of the book Transform to Outperform.
This is a fascinating masterclass on how great teams work together and achieve levels of super power, achievements and impact. Take a listen to the episode, read the book and develop your super powers and those around you!
Take a listen and let us know your thoughts!
About Susie
Susie Robinson is CEO of Transform2Outperform. She helps clients deploy HR solutions and leadership development which unlock breakthrough performance. During a 30-year international, corporate career culminating in Executive HR leadership with DHL Supply Chain, she worked closely with thought leaders in the field of HR and Organisation Development. She has led successful large-scale transformation and world-class HR functions. Her passion lies in developing leadership potential through expertise in transformation, personal and leadership development. Her mission is the creation of better working lives by detoxifying and re-energising the workplace and converting good leaders into great, dynamic leaders who are committed to delivering an outstanding leadership experience for their people and extraordinary results.
How to connect with Susie and their initiatives
LinkedIn: Susie Robinson
Website: Transform2Outperform
Buy the book here!
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About the Episode
On this episode of the podcast, our host, Kellie Lucas, talks with Bryan Hochstein, Associate Professor of Marketing at the University of Alabama.
As one would expect when talking to an academic, the conversation was philosophical, enlightening and thought-provoking. Areas of conversation were leadership styles between Sales and Customer Success and the utopian dream of balance in business and prevailing markets.
Take a listen and let us know your thoughts!
About Bryan
Bryan W. Hochstein (Ph.D. Florida State University) is an Associate Professor of Marketing at the University of Alabama. Prior to his current role, Dr. Hochstein (Dr. H) was a sales executive with Time Warner Media. Dr. H is considered an academic thought leader on customer success management, as such he regularly facilitates academic/industry discussions via thought leadership forums, industry conferences, and research interviews.
Dr. H’s research on sales, sales management, and customer success management appears in the Journal of Marketing, Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, Journal of Retailing, Journal of Service Research, Journal of Personal Selling and Sales Management, Industrial Marketing Management, Journal of Business Research, Marketing Letters, Journal of Business and Industrial Marketing, and other leading outlets.
From a teaching perspective, Dr. H teaches in and leads the University of Alabama’s Master-level Sales Leadership program. In addition, Dr. H facilitates doctoral seminars, undergraduate principles of marketing, and professional development courses. Dr. H is a co-author of the textbook “Marketing Strategy,” 8th Edition (Cengage Publishing), which focuses on bringing together strategies to manage disruption and evolving market approaches in ways that improve firm financial performance outcomes.
Dr. H and his family reside in Northport, Alabama, where they enjoy community, church, and university service opportunities.
How to connect with Bryan and their initiatives
LinkedIn: Bryan Hochstein
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About the Episode
On this episode of the podcast, our host, Kellie Lucas, talks with Molly Henson, Head of Customer Success at Edurio.
Topics discussed were the education sector, courage and bravery, the tangible and intangible components of leadership and the art of looking inwards in order to impact and elevate others outwardly.
The latter, of course, feeding into our own mantra of Their Success = Your Success : the power of unlocking potential in others, which then also unlocks potential in yourself because you thrive and elevate and develop as you're elevating others. A common theme on this podcast.
Take a listen and let us know your thoughts!
About Molly
I am now the Head of Customer Success for Edurio, a stakeholder survey and strategic feedback tool within the education sector that aims to help improve the quality of education provision provided. Formally Head of Success and Head of Support at The Key Support Services and CRB Cunninghams respectively, I am hoping to bring knowledge of the education sector to the role and support Edurio in its next phases. Watch this space!
Insanely passionate about the education sector and the opportunities EdTech has to really influence and guide educators to give our next generations the very best starts in life, I am also a volunteer for the Royal Air Force Air Cadets. My career started in the charity sector, working to combat loneliness and isolation for veterans of our armed forces. It was at that point that I realised that I had a deep rooted inclination for socially conscious/responsible businesses that deliver great things to society.
I absolutely love building teams that learn from and guide each other, and aligning customer experiences with employee experiences. My career to date has been very much focused on these things and I think there is a world of untapped opportunity for us all to build working environments with people at the genuine core of what we do, and I simply hope to be able to support that belief everywhere I go.
Interesting fact that makes people frown/laugh – my future career choice is to be a funeral director… because I believe there would be no greater honour than the opportunity to make the worst time in someone’s life feel effortless and even maybe pleasant in some ways.
How to connect with Molly and their initiatives
LinkedIn: Molly Henson
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About the Episode
This week, our host, Kellie Lucas, talks with People expert, Luke O'Mahoney, from SapienX - culture enablement consultancy.
Unsurprisingly, this was an incredible discussion between two passionate advocates for People Success and people-first cultures. The takeaways below are a small sample of the full episode. Take a listen and let us know what your key takeaways are!
On his personal definition of leadership: to ensure I am a positive force and a positive energy for the people that I interact with.
On the topic of what makes a leader: leadership has to start with showing up for others; you can’t lead others without leading yourself first.
On the difference between management and leadership: empathy bridges the gap between management and leadership. Many managers just haven’t tapped into empathy yet…
All of which ultimately feeds into our own mantra of Their Success = Your Success : the power of unlocking potential in others, which then also unlocks potential in yourself because you thrive and elevate and develop as you're elevating others.
About Luke
Luke is passionate about creating environments where individuals, teams, and organisations thrive.
His personal mission is to contribute to a world where every individual from any background has access to resource, opportunities, and support to become the best version of themselves that they want to be.
Having spent over a decade in Talent and People Ops within both corporate and start-up environments, Luke created SapienX to help organisations become intentional about the environment and experience they are providing for their people.
He developed the PEOPLE Culture source code model, which is the foundation of his cultural enablement work with organisations, teams, and leaders.
Infinitely curious, Luke also hosts the Human Potential Multiplied podcast where he speaks with leaders from business, entrepreneurship, sport, technology, and anyone who is doing extraordinary things to push the limits of human potential.
Husband and father, Luke's drive comes from building a better world where his own family can thrive now and in the future.
Luke pushes the limits of his own human potential through his work, but also his passion for endurance sport and long distance triathlon.
How to connect with Luke and their initiatives
LinkedIn: Luke O'Mahoney
LinkedIn: SapienX (company page)
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About the Episode
Continuing with the IWD2022 theme of Break the Bias, this week our host Kellie Lucas chats with Lucy Illidge who is breaking the bias of what it means to be professional in the workplace. A self-confessed and defined "girly-girl", Lucy is determined to be her authentic self in all areas of her life and provide the space for others to do so as well.
This is a lovely episode to listen to, not just for the discussion around authenticity, the definition of professional and the importance of defining and embodying your team values. Lucy has a melodic way of talking which is delightful and mesmerising to listen to. We promise you'll have a whimsical smile on your face, the whole way through.
Take a listen to Lucy and Kellie and let us know your thoughts. Also, that Matt Myszkowski gets everywhere!
About Lucy
Lucy is an experienced leader, having worked in start-ups, scale ups and now a multinational corporation. She has a passion for Commercial Strategy, finding efficiencies and building processes that enable businesses to scale effectively.
Lucy is currently the Head of Customer Experience Operations for EMEIA, responsible for Strategy & Operations, the Voice of Customer Program and Best Practice & Enablement at Cision. She manages teams based in France, Germany and the U.K. and enjoys working closely with international colleagues, gaining an appreciation for different cultures and working styles.
Based in London, Lucy is immersed in an exciting CX landscape and enjoys expanding her network with other GTM professionals.
How to connect with Lucy and their initiatives
LinkedIn: Lucy Illidge
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About the Episode
In the week that we celebrate the life of Queen Elizabeth II and the extraordinary inspiration and impact she had on the world, we are revisting the International Women's Day (IWD) 2022 theme of Break the Bias.
Queen Elizabeth certainly made her contribution to breaking the bias and in this episode we explore, in a panel format, how every one of us can also contribute and make a difference to our fellow humans.
International Women's Day falls on March 8th, each year, and heralds in a them for the entirety of that coming year. For 2022, the theme is Break the Bias.
At Move the World, we endeavour to highlight the theme at the beginning of the year with a panel discussion of that year's theme. We also aim to remind everyone during the year so that focus is maintained and this is why we, at Inspiring Future Leaders are sharing the recording of that panel discussion is this special episode of the podcast.
Take a listen and let us know your thoughts on the topics discussed, insights shared and what you are pledging to contribute to Break the Bias.
About The Panel
Nana-Efua Lawson : Managing Director and Principal Psychologist at Castlegate International
Renata Kashiwaya Pinheiro : VP Customer Success
David Selorm Atsu : Associate at Credit Suisse
How to connect with the Panel and their initiatives
LinkedIn: Nana-Efua Lawson
LinkedIn: Renata Kashiwaya Pinheiro
LinkedIn: David Selorm Atsu
Donate to Move the World
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About the Episode
For our first anniversary episode - yes! We launched the Inspiring Future Leaders podcast a year ago today! - we spoke to the humble and inspiring Maranda Dziekonski.
We talked about the qualities of a great leader; one who elevates and supports others to shine their brightest. We talked about how find the environment and those leaders who will support you to shine your brightest.
We also both "went a bit Matt" (listen to the podcast along with episode 19 - IYKYK) and enjoyed a few laughs.
Many thanks to Maranda for sharing as openly, humbly and as vulnerably as she does whenever she shares her journey with the world.
With leaders like her around, we'll all soon being doing better business for global good.
Take a listen and let us know your thoughts on the topics discussed and insights shared.
About Maranda
Maranda Dziekonski is the Chief Customer Officer at Swiftly. Maranda has over 20 years of experience both working in and building world-class operations. She has extensive experience building and scaling teams in early and mid-stage startups and has been part of 3 companies with successful exits (one unicorn).
Her specialties are Leadership/Management Coaching, Customer Success (B2B, B2C, B2B2C), Renewals Management, Implementations, Customer/Tech Support, Contact Centers (Inbound/Outbound), Sales, and various other teams in operations.
Maranda has been honored by various organizations as a Top 50 Customer Success Influencer 2022 and 2021, Top 25 Customer Success Influencer 2021, Top 100 Customer Success Strategist in 2017 & 2018. Maranda sits on numerous boards and is on the advisory board for the University of San Francisco's Customer Success and Insight's MBA Program. In her spare time, Maranda hosts a Podcast called From There to Here that focuses on personal and professional journeys.
How to connect with Maranda and their initiatives
LinkedIn: Maranda Dziekonski
Podcast: From There to Here
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About the Episode
Our host, Kellie Lucas, had a fantastic conversation with Matt Myszkowski for this episode of the Inspiring Future Leaders podcast.
Matt is a well-respected leader in Customer Success, who delivers his leadership authentically, vulnerably and openly. He lends his voice and support to many initiatives which aim to highlight and shine a spotlight on creating a world where everyone has access to the same opportunities.
If you follow him on LinkedIn or Twitter already, then you will know that he talks about diversity, equality and inclusion as well as depression, mental well-being and football!
As always, with Matt, the conversation is lyrical, inspiring and all too short. We'll definitely be inviting him back for more conversations in the near future. If you have any questions or suggested topics/themes for the next time, please let us know and we'll add them to the list.
Take a listen and let us know your thoughts on the topics discussed and insights shared.
About Matt
Matt currently holds the role of Vice President, Customer Experience for EMEIA at Cision which incorporates Customer Success, Customer Support, Onboarding & Training and CX Operations. Matt joined Cision in 2020 from SAP where he held the role of Vice President, Customer Success EMEA for three years leading a team of approximately 100 CSMs. Prior to his time at SAP, Matt created the inaugural Customer Success function at UK SaaS “scale-up” Rant & Rave (acquired by Upland Software), who provide customer experience solutions for the retail, utilities and financial sectors specifically. Matt spent over 5 years at CAD & data management SaaS company Autodesk where he helped mature, grow and scale their customer success organisation, leading a team of CSMs across EMEA and APAC.
Matt has worked in several leadership roles in customer success, account management, customer support and pre-sales for the likes of Thomson Reuters, Dun & Bradstreet and Iron Mountain.
Obsessed with customer experience, Matt enjoys correlating the significant value it brings businesses through the connection of technology, education, data analytics and clear objectives aligned to his customers' desired outcomes.
Matt has his own blog and podcast series at www.customersuccessmatters.com
How to connect with Matt and their initiatives
LinkedIn: Matt Myszkowski
Twitter: Matt Myszkowski (CSMatt)
Website: Customer Success Matters
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About the Episode
This week's guest is Fran Beckley, Head of People at SourceBreaker. This is a new role for Fran, having been Head of Customer Success since the early days of the company's journey.
Given that we talk a lot about people and culture, it seems appropriate that we have a Head of People on the podcast. It's even more exciting for us as Fran's background is Customer Success and we have a firm belief that CS has a lot to give the business world, in terms of people, partnerships and relationships. As every business is created by and for people, people feel like a good place to start to make sure you're maximising growth and value for all.
Listen to the episode for Fran's thoughts on:
- what is a leader and leadership
- what she learned from other episodes of the Inspiring Future Leaders podcast!
- the importance of values and how to embed them in the every day
- Personal Development Plans (PDPs); Fran provides a micro masterclass on how to create a people-led approach to PDPs and may even have persuaded our host that they are not so bad, after all. Listen to the episode for the full discussion!
Take a listen and let us know your thoughts on the topics discussed and insights shared.
About Fran
Fran Beckley has recently made the move to become Head of People at SourceBreaker, after returning from maternity leave. When she joined SourceBreaker, an AI driven recruitment technology platform, in 2016, she was the 4th employee and took on the task of building out the Customer Success division. The company has grown quickly and is now approaching 80 heads, so the newly created Head of People role is an amazing next challenge.
Fran is passionate about personal and organisational growth, recruiting and developing talent, and making the working environment the best it can be.
How to connect with Fran and their initiatives
LinkedIn: Fran Beckley
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About the Episode
This week's episode packs a real punch as our host, Kellie Lucas, speaks with Nabeeda Bakali about all things leadership, culture and creating space for quieter voices!
Nabeeda and Kellie have pretty similar views on a LOT of topics and if you listen carefully, you'll even hear Kellie snort with recognition as Nabeeda talks through yet another aligned perspective - we're not going to point out exactly where this happens but let us know if you spot it!
Topics covered include:
- approaching an interview process much like you would a new relationships; ask pertinent questions to find out more about your intended partner but understand that you're not really going to understand how much of a fit you are... until you live together for a while! There's also no shame in ending the relationship, if it's not what you thought it was going to be or what was promised. You'll be doing both parties a favour.
- listening to your team and ensuring they know that they've been heard; aka closing the feedback loop
- introversion vs. extraversion at work; the power and impact of including both!
- transparency and authenticity in the workplace (including the controversial topic of salary transparency)
Take a listen and let us know your thoughts on the topics discussed and insights shared.
About Nabeeda
Nabeeda Bakali currently works as a Customer Success Manager. Her goal is to use her experiences and knowledge to help others grow personally and professionally. You can join her on this journey through following Grow with Nabeeda on YouTube, Instagram, and LinkedIn.
How to connect with Nabeeda and their initiatives
LinkedIn: Nabeeda Bakali
YouTube: Grow with Nabeeda
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About the Episode
We really enjoyed talking with Adam Joseph this week about his long career in Customer Success, before it was even called that! He shared an employee's perspective on the human-first culture at Gainsight (see Episode 13 for the CEO's perspective...) and the learnings he's transformed into his own nurturing and relationship-based leadership style.
There's also a special cameo appearance from his six year-young puppy :-) and a moment of mutual appreciation and love between Kellie and Adam (extending the love to the rest of the Gainsight crew too!)
Take a listen and let us know your thoughts on the topics discussed and insights shared.
About Adam
Adam Joseph is the Regional Vice President of Customer Success, EMEA at Gainsight. In this role, Adam oversees the delivery of exceptional customer experience and creates long-term value for all of Gainsight’s European customers. Adam brings a wealth of leadership and customer success experience, having previously held the role of Director of Client Services at ChannelAdvisor and the VP Customer Success at Avention.
Adam also founded CSM Insight in 2017, a consultancy service that helps organizations build, manage and scale their customer success operations and deliver voice of the customer programmes. He is an active thought leader in the customer success space, having created the resource hub CustomerSuccessManager.com. Adam has created and hosted two podcast series in Customer Success (Gainsight Gamechangers and Customer Success Conversations), where he interviews post-sales executives about what it takes to succeed, the challenges they have overcome, and emerging trends within Customer Success.
How to connect with Adam and their initiatives
LinkedIn: Adam Joseph
Website: Customer Success Manager
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About the Episode
Another natural, authentic and insightful conversation on this week's podcast episode.
Our host, Kellie Lucas, chats with Kristi Faltorusso about empowered accountability, servant leadership, working in trusted partnerships with mutual respect alongside our people as well as our customers.
They talk about the power and importance of our words and actions, as leaders, as every experience provides the basis for learned behaviour, for someone out there, even if you don't realise they are taking notice.
They talk about being in the people business, doing good work for real people.
As Kristi says: Being in the people business is how you drive a business.
We couldn't agree more Kristi!
The best thing about this epsiode? They had plenty of laughs and shared words of affirmation sprinkled in amongst the wisdom...
Take a listen and let us know your thoughts on the topics discussed and insights shared.
About Kristi
Kristi Faltorusso is an award winning Customer Success Executive with experience in building, scaling and transforming Customer Success organizations at hyper-growth B2B SaaS companies. Over the past decade she's helped many companies redefine Customer Success resulting in increased retention, long term revenue growth and customer advocacy.
Kristi has led Customer Success and Experience teams at companies like BrightEdge, Sisense, BetterCloud and IntelliShift and has supported customers of all sizes. Currently, she is the VP of Customer Success at ClientSuccess, a leading Customer Success Management solution, where she leads Customer Success, Technical Support and Consulting.
In addition, Kristi is also the Founder of CS Real Simple, a content experience, supporting the simplification of Customer Success for Executives, CS Leaders, CPSs and more.How to connect with Kristi and their initiatives
LinkedIn: Kristi Faltorusso
Website: Keeping CS Simple
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About the Episode
For this episode, we talk to the man who is, essentially, the catalyst for the Inspiring Future Leaders podcast.
Our host, Kellie Lucas, has seen Nick Mehta deliver many enthusiastic and rousing speeches from the plenary stage at the leading Customer Success conference, Pulse (Europe).
One year, he delivered a keynote session on human-first leadership.
Not only did this resonate soundly within Kellie but she also had a conversation with a colleague where it seemed possible that if we adopted Customer Success principles and human-first business leadership, we could change the business world for the better AND motivate every person to be more human-led, community focused and committed to helping resolve the world's social challenges. Because we would all remember to care about each other, rather than only putting profit first.
Nick refers to this in his talks and in this episode as Success for all (one of Gainsight's core values) which includes their people, customers, community, family, investors and shareholders.
Gainsight's other four core values are also inspirational, not least Shoshin - listen to the episode to find out what this is and how magical and brilliant it truly is!
Listen to this fun, engaging and inspiring episode and let us know your thoughts. We'll be sure to entice Nick back onto the podcast soon.
About Nick
Nick Mehta (he/him), is the CEO of Gainsight, the Customer Success Company. He works with a team of over 1000 human beings who together have helped create the Customer Success category that's currently taking over the SaaS business model worldwide. Gainsight is a five-time Forbes Cloud 100 recipient and Nick has been named the #2 CEO by the Software Report, has a 99% approval rating on Glassdoor, and was named Entrepreneur Of The Year for Northern California Award. On top of all that, he was recently rated as the #1 CEO in the world (the award committee was just his mom, but the details are irrelevant). He is a member of the Board of Directors at F5 (NASDAQ:FFIV) and has co-authored two books on Customer Success, Customer Success and The Customer Success Economy. He is passionate about family, football, philosophy, physics, fashion, feminism, parody music videos and SaaS Customer Success. People told him it’s impossible to combine all of those interests, but Nick has made it his life’s mission to try.
How to connect with Nick and his initiatives
LinkedIn: Nick Mehta
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About the Episode
This episode is a very open, authentic and vulnerable conversation between our host, Kellie Lucas and Sean Ruane. They cover some fundamentals in relation to the topics of culture and leadership before delving into the vulnerable conversation around mental wellbeing at home and at work.
Our favourite takeaway of the session: It's fundamental to see someone as a person first, their job role second.
Hear! Hear!
Sean, as always, it was an absolute pleasure to speak with you and already looking forward to the next time and the launch of your MInd Data platform.
Take a listen and let us know what you found most interesting and valuable from this discussion!
About Sean
After graduating from the University of Buckingham with a First class degree in Business Enterprise, Sean joined the two co-founders of Clear Review, an HR cloud platform.
Sean was responsible for building an award winning customer success team that took the business from pre-seed to acquisition.
Sean is currently HCM Director of Customer Success at Advanced, one of the UK’s largest software providers. He is also currently building a mental health start up, Mind Data, which aims to improve the existing counselling and therapy experience for counsellors and patients alike.
His life’s mission is to improve the mental health of 1,000,000 people worldwide.
How to connect with Sean and his initiatives
LinkedIn: Sean Ruane
Mind Data App: Coming soon!
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About the Episode
Dan Steinman is often referred to as the Godfather of Customer Success and has a wealth of experiences to share with the world, not least about human-first leadership.
This episode is full of worldly advice and is no doubt the first of many conversations we will publish with Dan.
A few of the takeways that resonated with us were:
>> Live your culture and principles through your conversations with people
>> Leadership is about communication and vision; and the ability to bring these two things together to motivate those around you in a common, clear goal
>> Leadership is difficult to define but we each know it when we see it
>> Giving power to the powerless is very powerful
>> A great leader is always looking for ways to give more authority, opportunity, responsibility
Take a listen and let us know what you found most interesting in what Dan had to share with us all!
About Dan
Dan Steinman is the Chief Evangelist at Gainsight.
Prior to joining Gainsight as Chief Customer Officer, Dan was the first Vice President of Customer Success and Renewals at Marketo. Dan is a globally recognized thought leader in the Customer Success space, an active blogger and speaker on its behalf, and co-author of the seminal book on Customer Success.
How to connect with Dan and his initiatives
LinkedIn: Dan Steinman
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