Inspiring Future Leaders

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!

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

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

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)

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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!

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

About the Episode Dale Roberts is a dear friend and colleague of mine and we often have business and culture conversations so this time we recorded one of them! In this episode, we talk about Dale's five principles of leadership: 1. Lead by inquiry 2. Balance of confidence and humility 3. Natural motivation first 4. Resilience over repeatability 5. Business is Human Grab a cup of your favoruite drink, settle in and listen to what Dale has to say - it's definitely worth a listen. About Dale Dale Roberts has led customer success and professional services teams for over 20 years and has advised some of the largest businesses in the world on customer experience, customer success, analytics and digital strategies. He is the author of Decision Sourcing (Gower, 2013), World of Workcraft (Ashgate, 2015) and has contributed chapters to Leading the Project Revolution (Routledge, Edited by Darren Dalcher, 2018) and The Customer Success Pioneer (Practical Inspiration, Authored by Kellie Lucas, 2019). Today, Dale advises rapidly growing SaaS companies on customer success programs and mediating win-win outcomes between digital businesses and customers in dispute or in stalled negotiations. How to connect with Dale and his initiatives LinkedIn: Dale Roberts Twitter: @DaleSRoberts Courses: Dale Roberts on Udemy

About the Episode We're starting 2022 with an authentic conversation with Liz Shipsey where we explore topics such as leadership by example, vulnerable and human leadership and the mental wellbeing of all and how to support this. About Liz Liz has been working in the charity sector for 9 years, with a particular focus on volunteering and supporting individuals into employment. Liz is passionate about: curating meaningful connections, encouraging local volunteering, supporting communities, listening to and developing people. She believes it's about real and lasting impact on individual lives and the diverse communities in which we live. How to connect with Liz and her initiatives LinkedIn: Liz Shipsey Website: Octavia Foundation

About the Episode Today's episode is small and mighty! Tom Goodman is one of our favourite people and leaders and we're thrilled to have had him on the show. We talk about: ** leading culture through well-defined, understood and embedded values, including shaping your people team from the start and your interview process around these values ** recruiting for values alignement and culture "addition" rather than culture fit ** providing a space for belonging and voices to be encouraged and heard ** leaders showing up every day, authentically and willing to listen, learn, fail and improve ** providing support and resilience to allow people to try innovative ideas with the security of knowing each success AND "failure" provides a learning opportunity ** placing personal development at the core of the business practice ** investing in young leaders with high potential About Tom Tom Goodman is the Director of Customer Operations at Goodlord. He's also a Man City fan so feel free to connect with him to talk footie as well as Customer Success and interpersonal leadership! How to connect with Tom and his initiatives LinkedIn: Tom Goodman Email: Tom Goodman

About the Episode Another gem of an episode! Today, we talk with Morika Georgieva around the neuroscience perspective and impact on business today. She loves the discipline of Customer Success so much that she finds it difficult to shut up about it and can be found discussing as part of her day job, her involvement with the CSN community and in conversations with connections within and beyond Customer Success. She's also passionate about finding ways to extend the reach and depth of Customer Success, not just as a field but as an embedded organisation-wide philosophy, to ensure success for all involved as well as progressing customer relationships to strategic partnerships rather than just as a vendor-supplier situation. We really enjoyed hearing her perspective on these topics, including some really tangible steps to creating and promoting an open, inclusive and proactive culture. About Morika Morika Georgieva is Customer Success Lead, EMEA at Permutive and heads up the digital events team at The Customer Success Network (check them out on Linkedin and YouTube). Her career focuses on Customer Success for enterprise B2B SaaS start ups in a multitude of industries, including advertising, recruitment, and hospitality. She is passionate about Customer Success, not only as a key part of business growth, but also as a corporate philosophy that should guide how companies conduct business with their customers and partners as well as how they approach their culture and employees. She has also just been voted one of the Top 100 Customer Success Strategists 2021! How to connect with Morika and her initiatives LinkedIn: Morika Georgieva Join the Customer Success Network here!

About the Episode I love this woman, her mission and chatting with her about all things business, leadership, culture and communications. If you're reading this/listening before October 22nd 2021, make sure you join her #BirthdayBonanza in her FB group (link below) for lots of incredible prizes and thoughtful questions. On this occasion we talked about authencitity, collaboration vs. competition, working to your strengths and within your zone of genius. All the things about which I'm passionate. Take a listen, connect with Sara and listen to the recommended TEDx Folkestone talk (linkes provided below) and let us know your thoughts. About Sara Sara is a rebellious optimist: an entrepreneur driven by her desire to help other purpose-led changemakers to make a difference, make a living and change the world. After 5 years of studying politics at Exeter, the LSE and at the Institut d'Etudes Politiques in Aix-en-Provence, Sara began her career in the Westminster Parliament. There she learnt about the corridors of power; how deals were made in smoke-filled rooms and that the ability to communicate is THE core skills required to truly make a difference and create change. Since then Sara has dedicated her entire career to helping people, organisations and brands to communicate better. Over 26 years in PR and campaigning, she has advised some of the largest companies and charities in the world from UNICEF to Avon, from Kellogg's to Variety – and start-ups including fledgling space missions and challenger bank Starling. Sara is no stranger to the impact of crisis, chaos and global uncertainty on life, a career and a business. She managed to progress her career – reaching the UK Board of one of the world's largest PR agencies - whilst navigating through divorce, cancer, at least three recessions, bereavement and a horrific accident that left her with injuries requiring multiple surgeries. She also co-founded her first entrepreneurial business in the aftermath of the 2008 financial crash - and grew it into a profitable independent communications consultancy with revenue over 7 figures in just 12 months - in spite of a global economic meltdown! Sara now works exclusively with purpose-led entrepreneurs, business owners and coaches through her new company Actually. Sara uses everything she has learnt in her career, plus her coaching and training skills, to help you to harness the right mindset, skills and support you need to make a difference and change the world. How to connect with Sara and her initiatives LinkedIn: Sara Price LinkedIn: Actually Website: Actually.world Facebook: Actually Making a Difference Take the Communications Superpower Quiz! "Love your Competitors" TEDx Folkestone talk (Alex Smith)

About the Episode This week, we speak with Anika Zubair, a veteran podcast host with not one but two successful Customer Success podcasts to her name (see details below). We talk about the power of appreciation and encouraging people to work to and develop their strengths to allow everyone to be the most authentically powerful person they can be, rather than forcing them to work on their weaknesses. One of the benefits of working in teams is to ensure each person plays to their strengths and achieve the best together. We explore the concept of Learning as you Grow and how this applies to everyone, in all areas of life and each stage of life; how we progress as humans with space to learn, space to uncover and exploit those individual strengths. As leaders, it should be natural to provide this space, encourage those around us and to celebrate every win - no matter how small and in the knowledge that it costs little in time and effort and benefits the recipient exponentially. Above everything, we discussed how important it is to be unapologetically yourself. Thanks, Anika, for always being authentic, inspiring, impactful and unapologetically you! About Anika Anika Zubair, an industry thought leader, CSM LDN community co-founder, and podcast host, is currently VP of Customer Success at inSided, where she is building a world-class customer success organisation. Drawing from previous experiences at multiple SaaS B2B startups and scale-ups, Anika is no stranger to scaling Customer Success efforts and has built teams from the ground up across the APAC, EMEA, and US regions and is excited to scale the CS team at inSided. She also hosts 2 podcasts: The Customer Success Channel Podcast and The inSide Scoop on Customer Success, both podcasts are thought-provoking, and highly rated podcasts diving into important and relevant topics to help spread CS and community knowledge. How to connect with Anika and her initiatives LinkedIn: Anika Zubair LinkedIn: CSM LDN Podcast: The Customer Success Channel Podcast: The InSide Scoop on Customer Success

About the Episode The concept of doing better business for global good is a fundamental motivation and passion for this podcast. It makes sense, therefore, that we will be talking to people from the private sector, communities, leadership, inspiring individuals of all ages and experience, beneficiaries and the charity sector. Today, we talk with Megan Taylor about the differences and similarities between the private and charity sectors - in which she has deep experience of both, having founded her own small charity many years ago while also running a leadership and organisational development consulting community. We talk about the Sustainable Development Goals and their predecessor, the Millenium Goals and the increase in awareness within individuals, communitites and businesses of not only their existence but how we can each contribute to achieving this goals by 2030. We discuss the encouraging trend of organisations willing to relearn how to listen to and provide a pleasant working and collaborative environment for their people, recognising that there is no one right way to deliver or travel on this journey. About Megan Megan is co-founder and Chair of Trustees for Move the World, a small charity working in Ghana on Global Citizenship Education. She is also Director and Consultant at RISE Beyond, a leadership and organisational development consulting community. How to connect with Megan and her initiatives Linkedin: Megan Taylor Website: Move the World Facebook: Move the World Instagram: Move the World Donate here: MTW Movers

About the Episode This is a gem of a conversation with Renata Kashiwaya Pinheiro. In this week's episode, the discussion ranges from the pleasure of hiring a great team around you and the rewards you reap, when they surprise you every day with their proactivity, authenticity, trust and respect. We talk about the ripple effects of every person's choices and decisions and ensuring everyone, at every level, takes conscious and collaborative action. Ever wondered what makes a safe space one you can actually believe in and trust? We talk at length about holding space for everyone to come to work and be completely genuine so there is no wasted energy pretending to be ok and putting up a facade. This includes driving a culture where questions are seen as neutral, perspective-finding and encouraged; mistakes are seen and actively used as learning opportunities. And finally, we explored the strength which comes from being authentic, allowing others to see every part of us so we each learn from the examples displayed around us. We share our learnings from our own personal experiences with mental health and wellbeing over the years. About Renata Renata has been working with customers for the past 11 years in one way or another, from big Corporate companies to small tech start-ups. Renata loves creating and building highly diverse, scalable and autonomous customer success teams, ensuring that as the company grows they don't lose touch with their customers. How to connect with Renata and her initiatives Linkedin: Renata Kashiwaya Pinheiro

About the Episode If you've got a twinkle in your eye about a book within you which needs to be birthed, then listen to independent publisher Alison Jones talk about how authors are leaders and the similarities between creating a book and a business. We talk about authors as leaders, experts and facilitators of personal and professional development. Books as a means to listen in on the conversations which are emerging in the world, at any point in time, as well as understanding that writing any book is the same as starting a business - through synthesising and differentiation. Core values are highligted, such as transparency, authenticity, trust and respect, in the realms of creating a positive, fulfilling, proactive and motivating workplace culture. In addition, this week (w/c 13th September 2021) also marks the start of Alison's latest Book Proposal Challenge, whereby each participant takes that twinke in the eye to a fully formed book proposal which is ready to be sent out into the world of publishers to catch a book deal. As if that wasn't enough, one lucky person will get themselves a full publishing deal with Practical Inspiration Publishing (aka Alison)! What are you waiting for? Sign up now About Alison Alison Jones is founder of Practical Inspiration Publishing, a pioneering publishing partner for businesses, and host of The Extraordinary Business Book Club, a podcast and community for writers and readers of extraordinary business books. A veteran of the publishing industry, she worked for 25 years with leading companies such as Chambers, Oxford University Press and Macmillan (as Publisher and then Director of Innovation Strategy at Palgrave Macmillan). She regularly speaks and blogs on the publishing industry, is on the board of the Independent Publishers Guild and Head Judge of the Business Book Awards. She has written and edited several books, most recently This Book Means Business (2018). How to connect with Alison and her initiatives LinkedIn: Alison Jones LinkedIn: Practical Inspiration Publishing Instagram: @bookstothesky Twitter: @bookstothesky Website: Practical Inspiration Publishing Website: Alison Jones Website: The Extraordinary Business Book Club (EBBC)

About the Episode Today's episode is released on the 6-month anniversary of International Women's Day 2021. This year's theme was "Choose to Challenge" and Marija Skobe-Pilley is certainly delivering on her pledge, which she made publicly on her podcast and a Gender Diversity in Customer Success panel discussion back on 8th March 2021! Marija is a full-time and passionate Customer Success professional, a proud mother of two, host of the Women in CS podcast and part of the founding leadership team for the Women in CS Network - I don't know where she finds the time! She believes in making connections at the purest level, that everyone is a leader - no matter your job title or age, there is huge power in leaders who focus on serving those around them and creating an environment for learning based on trust. I truly enjoyed my conversation with Marija and I hope you enjoy listening just as much. About Marija Marija Skobe-Pilley is the Founder of Women in Customer Success Podcast & Network, Customer Success Enthusiast. She's a classical musician who has transitioned into the world of technology. Having spent her education years as a music performer and educator, Marija discovered her passion for tech. and business after completing her graduate research on using arts to develop business competencies. She realised that future of business needs more human touch and her unique skillset and artistic mindset are in demand. Soon, she found a new home in Customer Success. During the pandemic, Marija started the Women in Customer Success Podcast to provide a platform for women to connect, inspire and champion each other. She is committed to bringing remarkable ladies to the show, from all career stages and backgrounds, to share their inspirational story and practical tools to help others succeed and make an impact. Marija holds degrees from the University of Zagreb (BA Music, MMus) and University of Cambridge (MPhil in Education). How to connect with Marija and her initiatives LinkedIn: Marija Skobe-Pilley LinkedIn: Women in CS podcast Instagram: @womenincspodcast Website: Women in CS podcast Join the Women in CS Network, on Slack, here!

This is an introduction to the Inspiring Future Leaders podcast. A podcast where I plan to have conversations with many individuals about positive business cultures, frameworks and leaderships styles. I'm particularly interested in exploring how positive business cultures can promote more conscious business styles and individual motivations towards community-led business practices and more active participation in being global citizens. Get in touch if you have thoughts, insights and/or suggestions as to who I should invite on the podcast!