“Focus on Making Those Around You Successful.”

Each month, we’re featuring a member of ICMI’s Strategic Advisory Board. This group of industry thought leaders, practitioners, and solution providers helps ICMI keep tabs on customer insights and contact center market developments, and ensures our content offerings are aligned with industry best practices and our products evolve at pace to serve the community, and grow industry relationships.

This month, we’re featuring Scott Schleisman, who is responsible for every aspect of contact center functions for Bright Horizons, one of the leading education and care companies in the world.

What, in your opinion, are the characteristics of someone who is successful long-term in this industry?

Flexibility and an unwavering commitment to people! The needs of customers, employees, and stakeholders are constantly changing, often with little notice. Volumes are sometimes predictable but given the right circumstance, not often. Economics change our financial models and our ability to hire the best people. A commitment to people while maintaining a flexible approach to solving real business problems is the key to success in this industry.

What is one piece of advice you would like to share with those who are just setting out on a career path in the contact center industry?

Find ways to increase your value to the organization, and your career will take care of itself. Learn new things, volunteer for projects, seek new opportunities to contribute, and understand how your company makes decisions.

There have been so many changes in the contact center industry, both because of new technology and because of the COVID-19 crisis. How do you feel those changes will shape the industry in the next decade?

Dealing with the crisis this past year will no doubt change how we work, think, act, and interact in the future. If nothing else, the crisis shattered normal assumptions, broke down barriers, sped up innovation, and altered our vision for the future. No business or person will ever be the same. Virtual offerings will be closer to reality than ever before.

It’s clear by your participation on the board that you believe in the role of mentorship in the contact center industry. Can you share a valuable lesson you learned from a mentor, and share who that mentor was?

An important mentor of mine shared one simple principle with me early in my career: Focus on making those around you successful. if you can make that happen, the rest will take care of itself.