The Contact Center as a Trust Engine with Chad Anderson of Mercedes-Benz USA

And so, Chad, for the long-form episode, I like to start by asking all my guests, If there were only one, and I'm sure there'll be a few, but if there were only one piece of actionable advice you might look to leave everyone with today, what might that be?

I would say is to be resilient.

The things that you set out to achieve, they may not manifest in the time that you want or the way that you think that it would visualize, but it's just really to stay the course and to overcome those obstacles and continue to be

resilient.

I don't know where I would be without resilience.

I mean, I was talking to the other day just about how many times the first answer that I've heard over the course of my career or in business or whatever was no.

And, you know, if I were to have just been like, well, you know, tough break and walked away like that.

I would have gotten nowhere, you know? I mean, and I think there's the resilience of just, you know, keeping moving and persevering.

And then there's the, yeah, the courage to like push back a little tactfully, right? Like you need to be, I need to be respectful and I need to, you know, but a lot of the times the door might seem closed, but can I, can I push further, right? Can I, can I like summon that courage to just like go a little deeper, right?

Absolutely.

And also not be afraid to stand alone, especially when you're coming up with innovative ideas or want to go against the status quo.

Sometimes you have to stand by yourself for a while until people are actually bought in.

And you have to be okay with that if you truly believe in the change that you're trying

to enact.

That's true.

I remember when I started Disruptive Innovations, it was me and my laptop and This little office cubicle because we lived in a tiny little apartment down the street.

And I laugh with people nowadays because my partner and I would watch Shark Tank.

And there'd be a lot of times I'd be watching the episodes and get choked up just because I know what it's like to just be on that island.

And whether you're at a company or an entrepreneur or whatever it might be, I think it's relative.

And it can be lonely.

And I think, especially if I'm solo as an entrepreneur or solo trying to drive innovation within a company where I don't have a bandwagon or a lot of supporters yet, how can I also make sure that I have you know, a good enough support structure that I've built at least of like either a mentor or advisor or coach or, you know, therapist or partner or whatever to at least have a hand on my back so I'm not as alone.

Absolutely.

It always helps.

And just really staying the course.

I know earlier in my career, there were times that I've kind of given up because, you know, as I started on the journey of creating something new that it didn't look the way that I thought it was going to look or I ran into obstacles, but what I've learned is you still have to push through all of that and your result will be even greater than what you actually envision because those hindrances, those bumps in the road kind of shape the end product and provide you with wisdom and a lot of insights that you can carry with you going forward.