Many years ago, I spoke to a ‘Head of’ at one of the big telecommunications providers. It was clear the level of exceptional talent that this person had; the depth of their knowledge in the operations space as well as broad customer experience strategy; how they articulated themselves – they were VERY impressive.
The business they worked for wasn’t exactly known for customer experience excellence, however, the mechanisms used to track, manage and optimise processes was very sophisticated, and the stakeholder management skills this candidate had pick up through being in such a heavily matrixed environment were nothing less than superb.
This candidate was quite literally top notch!
They had that little extra bit of sparkle that’s not easy to put your finger on… and also not too easy to label.
I put them forward to a Customer Operations Director role that was nearly double their salary – they’d been with the same business for many years and sadly had not been reward for their loyalty.
A bit of a risk? Maybe… but I believed in this candidate and though they didn’t get the job, they came a very close second! Against a shortlist of some very strong well seasoned senior leadership talent.
This candidate went on to become the YOUNGEST EVER UK CEO in banking!
Whilst I didn’t place this extremely talented individual on the upwards trajectory of their career, I have gone on to place some uber-talented senior leadership capability with them.
It’s a story I love to tell… and the brands involved in this story are pretty impressive too but I will leave some sort of an air of mystery for you.
The Three-In-One Transformation Leader
The Birthday Message That Led To The Hire of the Decade
