The leaders who get noticed don’t report more.
They interpret better.
Most leaders assume visibility comes from communicating more. More updates. More meetings. More presentations. More status reports.
It doesn’t.
In fact, some of the most visible leaders I know communicate less than everyone else.
They simply communicate what matters.
THE PROBLEM
Many Customer Success leaders become reporters. They provide every detail, every activity, and every update.
The result? People hear information. But they don’t hear significance.
“What happened?”
isn’t the question executives are asking.
“What does this mean?”
is what they want to know.
THE SHIFT
Less visible leaders share information. Visible leaders provide interpretation.
INFORMATION
“Customer adoption increased by 12%.”
INTERPRETATION
“Customer adoption increased by 12%, which puts renewal risk below target and creates expansion opportunities in Q4.”
Same data.
Different leadership signal.
The ability to interpret information isn’t something I learned from a book.
I learned it by asking better questions.
A LESSON I LEARNED
Early in my leadership career, I was responsible for reporting customer escalations.
Each month, I presented the numbers and explained what was happening. I thought I was doing my job well because I was sharing the data.
But eventually I realized I was only reporting what had happened, not what it meant.
So I started asking different questions:
○ Why were customers escalating?
○ What patterns existed across accounts?
○ What was happening before the escalation occurred?
What I discovered surprised me.
Many of those “escalations” weren’t really escalations at all. Customers weren’t angry. They were struggling with adoption.
That changed how I communicated the issue.
ACTION
We were managing a high volume of customer escalations.
OUTCOME
Many customers were struggling to adopt key features and achieve value.
BUSINESS IMPACT
Poor adoption was increasing support demand, slowing time-to-value, and creating retention risk.
The escalation numbers never told that story.
The interpretation did.
That’s when I learned that visibility isn’t created by reporting information. It’s created by helping people understand what the information means.
THE INTERPRETATION FRAMEWORK
Before sharing an update, ask yourself three questions:
What happened? – The fact.
Why does it matter? – The implication.
What should happen next? – The decision.
If you’re missing the second or third question, you’re still reporting.
REAL-WORLD EXAMPLE
A LEADER REPORTS
“Escalations decreased by 18%.”
A VISIBLE LEADER SAYS
“Escalations decreased by 18%, reducing support burden and creating more capacity for proactive customer engagement.”
One is a metric.
One is a business story.
WHY IT MATTERS
Executives rarely remember the data. They remember the conclusion.
The leaders who advance are often not the ones with the most information. They’re the ones who make information easier to understand and act upon.
One Move This Week
Review your next leadership update. For every metric, update, or accomplishment you plan to share, ask:
○ What happened?
○ Why does it matter?
○ What should happen next?
Add one sentence that explains the significance. That’s where visibility begins.
Question for Reflection
What information are you sharing today that still requires your audience to connect the dots themselves?
Until next time,
Beverly Hathorn, PHR, PMP
Customer Success Leadership Consultant
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