LEADERSHIP & CAREER
The real work of leading a CX organization
Leading a support organization is one of the hardest management jobs in any company — you’re accountable for customer outcomes, team performance, budget discipline, and executive communication, often with less organizational support than the function deserves. I’ve been doing this at Director level for nearly two decades. This is where I write about what actually works — the hard conversations, the career decisions, and the management discipline that separates good CX leaders from great ones.
Managing teams · Hiring & QA · Offshore operations · Budget planning · Managing up · Executive presence · Getting promoted · Performance conversations · Mentorship
FEATURED READING
Leadership
How to Land a CX or Support Leadership Role (From Someone Who’s Hired For Them)
The resume mistakes that kill most applications, the metrics that signal senior credibility, and the questions that tell a hiring manager you’re thinking at the right level.
11 min read
Leadership
What 19 Years of Support Leadership Actually Taught Me
The beliefs I’ve changed, the process obsession I had to unlearn, and the one thing most CX leaders get wrong about executive presence.
8 min read
GETTING HIRED & CAREER GROWTH
Building a CX leadership career — deliberately
Most support leaders arrive at Director level through operational competence. Getting there intentionally — and getting beyond it — requires a different set of skills. How you present yourself, how you talk about your work, and how you think about the next level before you’re ready for it.
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How to Land a CX or Support Leadership Role (From Someone Who’s Hired For Them)
I’ve reviewed hundreds of applications for support and CX leadership roles over the past 15 years. Most of them made the same mistakes. Not because the candidates weren’t qualified — many of them were —…
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Strategic Job Search Guidance
Navigate the modern job search landscape with our comprehensive guide combining digital strategies and traditional techniques.
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The Mantra of Exceptional Service: Lessons from the Front Line
Discover the essence of exceptional service from someone that has lived on the front lines for years. Understand what works and what doesn’t from an expert in customer success, leadership, and operational excellence.
MANAGING TEAMS
The discipline of leading people at scale
The transition from senior individual contributor to manager is one of the hardest in any profession. The skills that got you promoted are not the skills that make you effective. These posts are about what to build, what to unlearn, and how to lead a team that performs consistently — not just occasionally.
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I Went for a Haircut. Got Into a Leadership Conversation
A chance conversation at my barber in Oakville turned into a real talk about managing people. Here’s how it started — and what I told him
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What 19 Years of Support Leadership Actually Taught Me
I started writing about customer experience in 2007. I was managing a helpdesk in London, working longer hours than I should have, and trying to make sense of what I was learning on the job.…
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Keeping and Retaining your Customers – Why Exceptional Service Pays
Discover why exceptional customer service is crucial for business success. Learn proven strategies for customer retention from a veteran in technical support and CX
MANAGING UP & EXECUTIVE PRESENCE
Getting your team heard at the executive table
Support leaders are chronically underfunded and under-heard in most organizations — not because leadership doesn’t care about customers, but because of translation failure. Executives speak in revenue, risk, and retention. Most support leaders present in CSAT scores and ticket volumes. Closing that gap is the most important skill a CX leader can develop.
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What 19 Years of Support Leadership Actually Taught Me
I started writing about customer experience in 2007. I was managing a helpdesk in London, working longer hours than I should have, and trying to make sense of what I was learning on the job. I wrote to think. I published because I figured if I was confused about something, someone else probably was too.…
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Beyond Price: Why Customer Value Trumps Cost
Discover why focusing solely on price can be a costly mistake. Explore the fallacy of price and learn how to build a customer-centric business that prioritizes value, customer experience, and long-term loyalty.
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Beyond the Price Tag: Why Discounting Rarely Delivers Long-Term Success
Discover why discounting rarely leads to sustainable business growth. Learn strategic alternatives to price cuts that preserve margins while building customer loyalty. Expert insights on value-based pricing
AI & THE FUTURE
Leading through the AI transition
The job of a support leader is changing faster than most leadership development programmes acknowledge. AI isn’t eliminating the need for experienced CX leadership — it’s raising the bar. The leaders who thrive will be the ones who understand what to automate, what to protect, and how to hire differently for an AI-augmented operation.
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Agentic AI in Your Contact Centre — A Practitioner’s Reality Check
Every vendor has an agentic AI pitch. Most of them are selling the same future: AI agents resolving complex issues end-to-end, without human involvement, at a fraction of current cost. Some of that is coming. But not as fast as the demos suggest, and not without operational decisions the vendor content skips entirely.
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I Wrote About AI in the Contact Centre in 2018. Here’s What I Got Right — and What Surprised Me
In 2018 I wrote about AI in the contact centre when it was still largely theoretical. Eight years on, I’ve implemented it at two companies, watched the predictions play out, and learned what the analysts got wrong. Here’s my honest retrospective — what I got right, what surprised me, and what it means for how…
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Beyond Price: Why Customer Value Trumps Cost
Discover why focusing solely on price can be a costly mistake. Explore the fallacy of price and learn how to build a customer-centric business that prioritizes value, customer experience, and long-term loyalty.
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