One of the most brilliant things about our digital, always-connected world is the access we all have to successful and inspiring people. You may not have a mentor or connections prominent in your field, but there are a host of successful individuals out there willing to share their experience and insights.
Recently, DataOceans’ CRO Fred Soller shared his journey in an interview on the You, Me, and Your Top Three podcast. You would expect an executive with over two decades of experience in enterprise sales would focus on business and the bottom line, but this podcast is a personal story about how his values have ultimately led him from a successful corporate career to a more entrepreneurial role at DataOceans.
If you’ve ever spoken with employees at DataOceans, you’ve probably heard the word “intention” repeatedly. Everything is done with a sense of intention, after deep consideration arriving at a decision, one that often aligns with the faith central to many employees here. It’s a very different dynamic than at most companies – certainly many that I’ve worked at in the past – and Fred’s discussion of the evolution of his career exemplifies this. Despite successful, rewarding careers at SAP and other major corporations, Fred felt the call to do something different that would enable him to impact more than the bottom line.
Many of us want to live our lives with more purpose and intention but may not know how to act on that. In the interview, Fred discusses several examples of intentionality in his life. First, he has a call to live his faith. Another is the need to continually improve, whether by challenging himself in Ironman competitions, or by becoming a better husband and father. Critical to this, he said, is receiving feedback regularly from people important in his life, who provided accountability in a judgment-free zone. He noted that especially in today’s world, where personal authenticity is clouded by the façade of social media, it is essential for our personal growth that we maintain ongoing dialogue with others who serve as lodestars for our journeys.
“People are almost apologetic sometimes when they come on this show to talk about personal life,” said host Gregg Garrett, “They either lock it out because they don’t think listeners are interested in it, or they immediately skip past it because they feel like it’s too personal…if you don’t get that right, it really doesn’t matter.”
But for DataOceans, the personal is absolutely relevant – it is at the core of what our product delivers. For Fred, central to the company’s mission is the desire to improve customers’ personal experiences, which in modern life, sadly trend towards the negative. As Fred reflected, “…every day we are bombarded by negative experiences. We’re bombarded by negativity overall, and people just get more divisive and confrontational. I think just doing a little act of kindness by creating a better experience, by creating a more personalized communication with your customer or your brand… leaves us in a better situation daily.”
You can hear the podcast in its entirety on the CSG Advisors site.
You can learn more about how DataOceans improves customer experiences in our Case Studies library.
