At Work.
The Early Years
Having a B.A. in English and Economics left a lot of different options open but it didn't make it any easier figuring out what I wanted to do with my professional life. I started as a Financial Analyst in the Publishing industry and, after figuring out how to automate some very cumbersome budgeting processes, I left Publishing to begin my career as a Services Consultant in the software world. That was 22 years ago and I never looked back, except to stop and occasionally think that life would be very, very different today had I stayed.
The Definition of Customer Centric
Consulting, Solution Architecture, PreSales Engineer, Account Manager and Technical Sales Leader all have one common element: the customer! It wasn't intentional or planned, but each of those roles uniquely prepared me for being a leader in Customer Success.
It also taught me that there are two components that elevate a CSM: passion and caring! Passion compels a CSM to advance the customer journey and make sure their clients are empowered to achieve the outcomes the solution was designed to deliver. Caring is what makes it happen through careful nurturing, enablement and high touch service.
Looking Forward
My track records demonstrates the ability to be a world class communicator, lead teams, grow revenue and retain customers. I want to continue to build on these strengths and be inspirational to the people that I work with as well as the organizations that are finding value in the software / services being delivered. More than that, I am looking for the next, big challenge.
We found ourselves grasping at tree saplings littering the sides of the mountain, praying they were well rooted enough to keep us in play.
In The Wild.
The call came the night before around 8PM, after a relaxing dinner and no plans for the weekend. My phone was crackling with excitement and my dear friend - the same one who had talked me into hiking Grand Canyon's Rim to Rim without stopping - explained that we would casually knock out a climb up Mt. Colden in a few hours the next morning.
We arrived blissfully unprepared with no poles, no crampons and no map. Just a cell phone and backpacks with some water, snacks and a change of clothes. We spent the first several miles seeking entry to the base of the ascent and quickly discovered the terrain was anything but friendly with jagged rocks sticking out of the ground and prickly brush everywhere. In between the rocks was a swampy base that felt like we were hiking through quicksand.
We persevered and began the ascent which, at first, was moderately difficult. Had I known what lay ahead were sheets of rocks at impossible angles whose surface was still slick from yesterday's rains I would have turned around. Instead, we found ourselves grasping at tree saplings littering the sides of the mountain, praying they were well rooted enough to keep us in play.
After what seemed like hours of flirting with near disaster, we came upon the Trap Dike, a crevice which runs up the center of the mountain and takes you to the peak. Climbing through, up and over the crevice may be one of the hardest things I will never do again, but somehow we managed and there we were standing on the summit in a moment of sheer agony, disbelief and triumph.
The descent was far less painful, and gave us time to reflect that sometimes the best journeys in life are the unplanned ones. Being somewhat wiser and older now would I attempt this same hike with the same level of unpreparedness? Absolutely not, but it's a day I will never forget!
Mt. Colden at the 4,715' Peak Summit