ICMI's Top 50 Thought Leaders of 2015 - a Proud Team

An intriguing title, right? Yes, I am both proud and honored to be listed among ICMI's Top 50 Thought Leaders of 2015! One thing is being in the same list with customer service experts and another one is being #5!  I’m so appreciative to all who voted for us. Also special thanks to CallCenterICMI!

I’ve been following most of the team members already and would recommend you doing the same. You’ll only benefit having this team join your community, believe me. 

1. Marsha Collier | @marshacollier | Author, Speaker, and Founder of #CustServ chat
2. Shep Hyken | @hyken | Customer Service Speaker and Author
3. Kate Nasser | @katenasser |Coach, Trainer, and Speaker
4. Flavio Martins | @flavmartins | VP Ops at @DigiCert, Author of #WinTheCustomer
5. Anna Sabryan | @annasabryan | #SocialMedia & #DigitalMarketing Professional, PM @OracleServCloud
6. Doug Sandler | @djdoug | Professional Speaker, Best Selling Author of Nice Guys Finish First
7. Peter Gregg | @pfgregg | Philanthropist and Customer Service Advocate
8. Bill Quiseng | @billquiseng | Customer Service Speaker and Blogger
9. Rosetta Lue | @rosettalue | @Philly311 Executive Director & @PhiladelphiaGov Chief #CustServ Officer
10. Roy Atkinson | @RoyAtkinson | Customer Service Writer & Analyst
11. Steve Curtin | @enthused | Author of Delight Your Customers
12. Jeanne Bliss | @jeannebliss | Cofounder of Customer Experience Professionals Assoc.
13. Chip Bell | @ChipRBell | Customer Service Expert, Keynote Speaker, and Business Consultant
14. Jeremy Watkin | @jtwatkin | Head of Quality for @1callres & Blogger for @commbetterblog
15. Sheila McGee-Smith | @mcgeesmith | Contact Center/Enterprise Communications Industry Analyst
16. Blair Pleasant | @blairplez | Unified Communications & collaboration and Contact Center Industry Analyst
17. Al Hopper | @AlHopper_ | Co-host of #CustServ chat and Co-Founder of @Social_Path
18. Joshua March | @joshuamarch | Founder & CEO of Conversocial
19. Adam Toporek | @adamtoporek | Customer Service & Customer Experience Fanatic
20. Blake Morgan | @BlakeMichelleM |Customer Experience Advisor, Forbes Write, @SOCAP Board Member
21. Geraldine Gray | @GeraldineGray | Salesforce MVP
22. Mark Bernhardt | @ImMarkBernhardt | Career Student/Practitioner of How Customer Service, Design, PR, Social Media & Web Support Brand
23. Nancy Porte | @nporte | VP of Customer Experience at Verint
24. Alan Berkson | @Berkson0 | TEDx speaker & Influencer Relations @Freshdesk
25. Greg Ortbach | @gregortbach | Sr. Account Manager @Arcanebrand in #LdnOnt & Co-host of #CustServ chat
26. Sean Hawkins | @SeanBHawkins | Customer Service Manager and Speaker
27. Ian Jacobs | @iangjacobs | Senior Analyst at Forrester
28. Greg Yankelovich | @piplzchoice | Customer Experience IQ Blog
29. Jodi Beuder | @cx_jodi | Marketing & #CX Fanatic, Founder of jb&co
30. Brad Clevealnd | @bradcleveland | Author and Consultant, Former President & CEO of @CallCenterICMI
31. Andrew McFarland | @andy_mcf |Author, Blogger @ Pivot Point Solutions
32. Nancy Jamison | @nancyjami | Contact Center Analyst at Frost & Sullivan
33. Mike Aoki | @mikeaoki | Contact Center Trainer and Speaker
34. Sarah Stealey Reed | @stealeyreed | Editor of @JoinRelate
35. Jeff Toister | @toister | CPLP, Author of Service Failure, Blogger: Inside Customer Service
36. Andrew Neff | @Andrewincontact | VP at Keynomics
37. Erica Strother Marois | @ens0204 | Community Specialist at @CallCenterICMI, Founder of #ICMIchat
38. Tricia Morris | @triciaemorris | Customer Service Blogger
39. Leslie O’Flahavan | @LeslieO | E-WRITE Honcho & Writing Teacher
40. Darren Prine | @darrenprine | Providing Information on Cloud Based Contact Center Solutions
41. Jenny Dempsey | @jennysuedempsey | #CustServ @dmvorg & Writer @commbetterblog
42. Justin Robbins | @justinmrobbins | Community Director @ThinkHDI & @CallCenterICMI
43. Jess Greene Pierson | @JGPierson | Customer Experience at Insightly
44. Nate Brown | @CustomerIsFirst | Customer Service Experience Blogger and Speaker
45. Paul Stockord | @paulstockford | Contact Center Industry Analyst
46. Monica Norton | @monicalnorton | Content marketer, editor, and writer (@Zendesk @JoinRelate)
47. Neal Topf | @nealtopf | President of @Callzilla
48. Jessica Noble | @jessicajnoble | Strategy & Customer Experience Consulting Leader
49. Mike Maffei | @CxCallCenters | Founder of @Aledium
50. Kevin Hegebarth | @kghegebarth | Marketing VP @hireiqinc

 

 

 

 

 

 

People Do Not Follow Programs, But Leaders Who Inspire Them

Employee motivator - an interesting word combination which stopped you for a while to analyze all your “motivators” and “demotivators”. And you’re sure to experience both in your life.

Very few people think that most of their, as well as, company’s success depends on the leader. As Erskine Bowles said: “Leadership is the key to 99 % of all successful efforts”. It’s a reality, leader is a person who gives you wings or in the worst case drops you down. Once I read “Everything rises and falls on leadership”, so true. I’m quite sure everyone practiced this in his life and not just once.

Leadership is a hard process, not earned in one day, it’s an everyday hard work. The better leader you want to be, the more you should work.

“Leadership is the art of getting someone else to do something you want done because he wants to do it” - General Dwight Eisenhower

We call people “great leaders” not because of their inner power, but the great ability to empower and inspire others. As John Maxwell stated “A leader is one who knows the way, goes the way, and shows the way”. From the first sight nothing difficult, agree?

Before becoming a leader you spend all your efforts for self-growth – not an easy process. But when you are a leader you help others grow – even more effortful and more difficult work.

“Before you are a leader, success is all about growing yourself. When you become a leader, success is all about growing others” - Jack Welch

Now when I experienced both good and bad leaders’ influence, I can say that good leadership doesn’t depend on nationality, skin color, age or gender. In the process of becoming a great leader one should be good personality first of all.

While motivating an employee, you've got to engage not only his mind, but also his heart.

And how this could be done? Firstly make believe in you. Belief is everything! It would be likewise a good idea to readily listen to your employee and value his point of view – normal human behavior – nothing more!

Leadership, as everything in our life, can be taught as well as influence can be developed.