The difference makers | Sarah Caminiti

[Sarah] (0:00 - 0:11)

Leaders in and around CX are the type of people that can change the world. And I know that that is a very big statement to make, but I don't think it's that big.

[Dillon] (0:21 - 0:34)

What's up lifers and welcome to the daily standup with lifetime value, where we're giving you fresh new customer success ideas every single day. I got my man, JP here, the chocolate creamsicle. JP, can you say hi?

[JP] (0:34 - 0:38)

Chocolate creamsicle. Hey, where's the cream filling?

[Dillon] (0:43 - 0:52)

And we've got, so you got to tune into the video to understand what we're talking about here, Rob with us. Rob, can you say hi?

[Rob] (0:52 - 0:55)

I'm done.

I'm done. No, I'm done. I got nothing.

[Dillon] (0:56 - 1:00)

And we have Sarah with us. Sarah, can you say hi, please?

[Sarah] (1:01 - 1:01)

Hello.

[Dillon] (1:03 - 1:08)

And I am your host. My name is Dillon Young. Sarah, thank you so much for being here.

Can you please introduce yourself?

[Sarah] (1:09 - 1:30)

Yes, I will try to be brief. I usually fail at that. Hi, I'm Sarah Caminiti.

I have been in and around CX for 20 years. I am the head of customer service in the U S for Abcam, a biotech company. And I am also the host of Epical Growth Podcast, where I get to celebrate leaders in and around CX doing great things.

And I am so happy to be here.

[Dillon] (1:31 - 1:45)

Really quick. I don't trust that our audience knows how to spell. So Epical is E P O C H A L for everybody listening.

Epical. I wouldn't have even been able to spell that.

[Sarah] (1:45 - 1:57)

It's all right. It's all right. I am thinking about a rebrand because I can't even get Siri to pull up the podcast when I try to get it.

And I thought maybe I should have thought about that before naming this bad boy.

[Dillon] (1:58 - 2:07)

You just name it phonetically now, go change it to E P I C A L. And like, don't even ask any questions.

[JP] (2:07 - 2:08)

No, no, no. C L E.

[Sarah] (2:10 - 2:11)

Like creamsicle?

[Dillon] (2:11 - 2:31)

That's what I was going to say. Exactly. Yes.

All right. How am I? Anyway.

Sarah, you know what we do here? We ask every single guest, one simple question, and that is what is on your mind when it comes to CS slash CX? So can you tell us what that is for you?

[Sarah] (2:32 - 4:03)

Yeah, I am thinking a lot about how the leaders in and around CX are the type of people that can change the world. And I know that that is a very big statement to make, but I don't think it's that big because the people that I have had the pleasure of getting to know that are leading teams quietly in CX are so thoughtful with their approach to treating others with kindness, with purpose, and making sure that they have an experience at work that is better than the ones that they had themselves. And it's because we spend our entire careers learning how human interaction works, and we learn how to handle different types of conversations, different types of people from all over the world, think on the fly, problem solve without any resources, and still enjoy our job.

And then as we evolve into, I mean, I'm being optimistic here. It's Friday. But then we get to become leaders and we get to take all of that care that we've learned along the way and use that to build teams that then also get to take that care and bring it to the customer.

And that is powerful stuff and they're doing it without even realizing it half the time, which is the crazy part.

[Dillon] (4:03 - 4:50)

I do wonder how much of this is specific to CS slash CX or is generational? As folks from our generation begin to ascend the ranks. I know my wife deals with this a lot where she's obviously around the same age as all of us and is climbing the ranks at her company and fighting against this culture at the very top, which is just so very different from the way she manages with empathy and with an eye towards results and not necessarily towards the path you take to get there.

Of course, there are some guardrails. So I love what you're saying. That is the only thing I would posit is I wonder if it's just generational.

[Sarah] (4:50 - 5:54)

I agree. I think that it could be. I would love it if it was, because that means that this is happening in so many different spaces.

And I've noticed that once we have hit this age group that we find ourselves in, we are, and I'm not going to say anything more than that. No one needs to know. We hit this reflective pause and we want to kind of understand our purpose and evaluate where we are in our careers.

At least so many people that I've talked to lately have been in this kind of head space. And one of the things that they really, really keep going back to is they just want to continue to make a difference in people's lives as they continue to evolve in leadership roles. And that isn't, you're right.

That's not just with CX, but I do think the people in CX don't get enough credit for the way that we navigate conversation and leadership and what an impact that can make within a company in itself.

[Dillon] (5:55 - 6:03)

Yeah. Yeah. I think that goes back to the generalized mandate that we're given or how it's so different.

JP, I want you to jump in here, please.

[JP] (6:03 - 7:37)

Good managers are hard to come by. I think that there's more good people than good managers and good people are also hard to find. So we were having a similar discussion sort of around, yeah, when this non-linear way to look at career, as opposed to the more linear way, which is, you know, Dillon mentioned, it's like climbing the ranks of the company and then what you sort of like encounter.

And I think that if I reflect on myself, I think that like, I want a good buffer zone between that. I don't want to even, like, I feel like in CS, so many uphill battles are being fought that like the last thing I want to do is go fight another one. So I'm like, what's it, individual contributor for life.

I see, baby, I see, you know, but, but, you know, I do really have a lot of respect for, like, I know for, for my manager, not to get sappy or whatever, but like, I really respect and appreciate, you know, my manager for, you know, being able to, you know, really balance those things. And yeah, you know, she's around our age, actually like a little bit younger. You know, I really, I can really appreciate that.

I don't know necessarily the scale of the world changing, but it certainly makes a difference in my world. And I'll take that for now.

[Dillon] (7:38 - 8:09)

Rob, you and I just connected over this yesterday about having difficulty in larger organizations because of the way we think and we act and maybe want to feel seen. So I wonder how this resonates for you, given you've made the active change to kind of eschew that experience for the most part. I mean, you still obviously have to work with folks and you have bosses, so to speak, but what do you think about all of this?

[Rob] (8:10 - 9:16)

You and me want to be seen? Nah, not us. I'm going to come back to that because I think it's a good, it's a good observation, very, very reflective.

Sarah, I like you said that, you know, customer success is essentially the study of how human interaction works and how it doesn't work, right? And I started jotting down some notes. I was thinking like, you think about a lot of the skills that we use, like how to negotiate, how to mediate, how to advocate, how to persuade, how to build a success plan, how to provide feedback on that plan.

And I was like, well, imagine you're a diplomat between two countries. It sounds like a lot of those skills would be somewhat transferable. Now I'm not saying, yeah, I'm not saying all of us are there.

Um, obviously that requires a higher degree of tact and awareness and that kind of thing, potentially. Um, but at the same time, like those fundamental skills are universally applicable to like, you know, I have a friend who's visiting me, she's a doctor. Same skills really do apply in a lot of her work, but you wouldn't fully expect that off the top of your head.

[JP] (9:16 - 9:18)

And put me in the operating room.

[Rob] (9:18 - 9:18)

Yeah.

-: 10:20

I think it's interesting and I'm going to bring it back to the plight of CS of, I don't actually even think doctors have it as hard. And I mean that to sound divisive because they aren't expected to do such a wide variety of things the way we are. And that's why I talked about this idea of the generalist.

Like there's not a lot left aside from maybe like early stage CEOs, early stage employees in general, but customer success seems to get the brunt of it. Like being expected to be client facing, but also a bit of support and technical acumen, but also having sales skills, but also having project management skills. Those are typically all different roles.

And so we've got to maintain such a broad perspective that creates those sort of world changers like you were talking about, Sarah.

[Sarah] (: 10:20

No, I definitely agree. And I think that there's such a powerful thing to be said about planting a seed. And like you were saying, JP, like your manager is making a difference in your world, but you know what, every interaction that you make with other people, that is carrying over.

And all of these small interactions that we get to make as people that are customer facing, we have the opportunity to make somebody's day better. And as leaders, we have the opportunity to teach other people how to make others day better by listening and by being engaged and showing that we value them and their time. And Rob, I 100% agree.

This is one of these areas where we have to be so skilled and tactful in so many different areas and be so quiet about it. And we can't, like, we don't have this stage where a doctor would be praised for all of those skills. They would be getting awards for all of those skills.

And we get reprimanded sometimes for trying to insert ourselves into places where we have information that could be valuable. And if we don't ask something in the right way, if we don't know the right language that these other teams are speaking in, or we ask too many questions, we don't get invited back. And then we get told when everything kind of hits the fan, why didn't you insert yourself in that?

You weren't monitoring that? You weren't paying attention to all of those other little spaces that no one actually knew existed? It's, it is just one of those beauties of this role.

[JP] (: 12:07

Sarah, I messed up one lobotomy and I'm no longer a doctor.

[Dillon] (: 12:14

But Sarah, I love that you got down in the mud with me at the end there. I, it was very lofty to begin with. And I love that.

I appreciate that. But I also love that you, you came down and appealed to my base sensibilities. That is our time.

Sarah, are you surprised?

[Sarah] (: 12:30

Yes. This is why I came on 10 minutes early.

[Dillon] (: 12:36

Well, come back.

[Sarah] (: 12:38

Okay.

[Dillon] (: 12:38

Join us a second time and let's talk more about it. Let's, uh, let's talk about maybe the things that you're doing in, in your particular role to affect, you know, downstream people's realities in their worlds and the way they view things. For now, Sarah, we've got to say goodbye.

[Sarah] (: 12:55

Breaking my heart. It has been such a pleasure getting to hang with you guys for 15 minutes and 48 seconds. I hope you enjoy your weekend.

[VO] (: 13:05

You've been listening to the daily standup by lifetime value. Please note that the views expressed in these conversations are attributed only to those individuals on this recording and do not necessarily reflect the views and opinions of their respective employers. For all inquiries, please reach out via email to Dillon at lifetime value, media.com find us on YouTube at lifetime value and find us on the socials and Socials at Lifetime Value Media Until next time