Here are our top Pulse Europe 2022 takeaways from Gainsight’s Adam Joseph, Regional VP of Customer Success, EMEA
As I reflect on the events of last week, I am left in absolute awe of both our amazing local Customer Success community and of my wonderful groups of colleagues who helped bring Pulse Europe to life.
Planning an in-person event of this magnitude was no small feat and seeing everyone’s hard work come to fruition over three action-packed days (Pulse Academy Live + the conference) was phenomenal to witness.
Pulse Europe has been a mainstay of the European customer success calendar since the inaugural event back in 2015; the two-year enforced Covid hiatus was felt by everyone. Being back together again in person and seeing firsthand the new friendships and connections being made was wonderful. Moreover, the challenges, vulnerability, successes, and insights shared were incredible and moved me profoundly, not just from a business perspective but also on a human level.
There were so many highlights from Pulse Europe 2022 that it’s difficult to narrow them down to a manageable list however, here were my top six takeaways.
1. We’re Always Learning With Our PALs
Pulse Academy Live (PAL) was the day before the conference and about 150 professionals joined us for a day of education and learning spread across three tracks (CS Foundations, Advanced, and Gainsight Technical Training). Throughout both PAL and Pulse Europe, it was incredible to see so many people willing to share their learnings and have an audience so dedicated to mastering their craft.
As we race towards the holiday season and 2023, I can’t wait to see how everyone has taken these learnings to change and evolve their approach. I’m so excited to see how the audience members from this year become presenters at Pulse Europe 2023 to share their own insights based on what they have learned!
2. Pulse Is an Unstoppable Community
One of my biggest takeaways from the amazing opening keynote at Pulse Europe was the power of Community in two senses:
- Our community coming back together again and meeting people for the first time (or in real life after countless Zoom meetings) was truly amazing. I not only feel that all of our professional “networks” have increased but also some new long-lasting friendships have been made as a result.
- Online communities have evolved to help customers derive durable growth by truly managing CS at scale and enabling peer-to-peer relationships. Pulse Europe was packed with amazing stories of how organizations such as Salesforce, Notified, and Cognite have taken online communities to whole new levels. I’m so excited to see how Gainsight Nucleus (announced during the Product keynote) will also drive this forward in the future.
3. Our Most Amazing Array of Speakers Yet
We are absolutely indebted to the 100-strong group of professionals who dedicated so much time, energy, and enthusiasm to presenting at Pulse. We certainly don’t take for granted how much time and effort goes into the preparation, and this absolutely came through in the sessions.
As a leader myself, one of my greatest sources of pride and inspiration during Pulse was witnessing Gainsight’s own Rachel Valiente Bush (Regional Director of Customer Success) doing such an awesome job delivering part of the Product keynote. Rachel’s first day at Gainsight was Pulse 2019 and to play a small part in her development and seeing her present so confidently and enthusiastically almost three years to the day will stay with me forever.
4. Human-First Is Now More Important Than Ever
Pulse Europe 2022 is clearly happening at a transformative moment—not just within the world of customer success, but more widely as global financial markets enter a new era. No matter how resilient we are—both professionally and personally—the need to be human-first is more important now than ever before.
At the opening keynote, Easton Taylor and Karl Rumelhart discussed the Durable Growth Playbook, and I know for a lot of people, being human-first was one of the elements that resonated the most. Both we and our customers are going through a lot—our ability to lead with empathy through each interaction is going to be critical.
5. Diversity and Inclusivity Takes Center Stage
During the closing keynote, I was honored to be joined on stage by Ejieme Eromosele and Rochelle (Shelly) Wilson; two of the founders of Success in Black. I was absolutely inspired by their efforts to help increase inclusivity and diversity within Customer Success and could not think of a more powerful message to help close out Pulse Europe.
It’s vital that this message continues on post-Pulse and I am thrilled that Gainsight has extended the Pulse Impact program into Europe. Pulse Impact’s mission is to deliver equitable access to careers that drive company growth and we are so excited to share updates on this in the weeks and months to come.
6. Be Ready for Anything!
Working in customer success, skills such as resilience and adaptability are absolutely critical. This has never been so true in the lead-up and execution of an event like Pulse Europe. The successful running of Pulse Europe takes months of careful planning from start to finish and I am incredibly thankful to everyone who was a part of it.
In life and in business, there are always some curve balls that get thrown at you. I felt this personally during my time on the main stage at Pulse Europe when our AV temporarily failed as I was handing off to another speaker. Being told that I had to “fill in” for a couple of minutes whilst the audio systems were reset meant that I could bring my own version of a core Gainsight value—childlike joy—to the stage. Telling a dad joke to the audience was probably the beginning and end of my stand-up career, but I could not wish for a better and more forgiving audience.
Reminiscing on all of these highlights (and more) have whet my appetite even more for Pulse EMEA 2023. In the famous words of Nick Mehta, “WHO’S FIRED UP?”
Check out the GameChanger Awards and more from Pulse Europe 2022 in the Pulse Library.
