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Jon Johnson:
I have, like, a lot of it.

Josh Schachter:
Hey. Alright. Hold on. Do our little thing. Where’s the music?

Kristi Faltorusso:
I have so much goddamn candy in this house from Easter. Unchurned is presented by

Josh Schachter:
Octave Aidan. Everybody open their wrappers now, please.

Josh Schachter:
Oh my god, John. If I hear you smacking your lips during this episode because you’re eating

Kristi Faltorusso:
Are you eating noodles? Are you eating soup?

Josh Schachter:
You know what? He did it at the beginning right at the beginning because he wanted

Jon Johnson:
this intro. Spin.

Josh Schachter:
He wanted this.

Kristi Faltorusso:
He can’t even keep it in.

Josh Schachter:
Why would it choke, guys? Yeah. We’re okay with that.

Jon Johnson:
Yes, daddy.

Josh Schachter:
Well, welcome, everybody. While John finishes his ramen or oatmeal or something in between, I’m Josh Schachter. I am recording this. Okay. Good.

Jon Johnson:
And Welcome to Call Josh Daddy.

Josh Schachter:
Yeah. Yeah. Oh, I’m new bushel and John Johnson.

Jon Johnson:
John. And we are

Josh Schachter:
we are sans guests for this week. We’re without a guest. It’s just the three of us here back in action. It’s been a little while, guys. I think since we’ve grouped together. Yeah. Wow. By the way,

Jon Johnson:
it’s a rice bowl with some chicken in it. It’s not either of the things that you said.

Kristi Faltorusso:
Okay. I mean, I definitely felt like there was some, like, noodle and some liquid and

Josh Schachter:
soup thing. Listeners don’t care. So

Kristi Faltorusso:
They don’t.

Josh Schachter:
Let’s get into the episode. The name

Jon Johnson:
of our podcast. Yeah.

Josh Schachter:
That’s awesome. The sliders don’t care.

Kristi Faltorusso:
Is that

Jon Johnson:
what your name is?

Josh Schachter:
Yeah. Should be. Okay. So we don’t have a guest

Kristi Faltorusso:
One gives a shit.

Josh Schachter:
Is there any, like, any any burning, desire you guys have for anything?

Kristi Faltorusso:
Burning, John?

Josh Schachter:
Yeah. John burning? Do you is there any burn anything burning, John?

Jon Johnson:
Why is this all directed at me today?

Josh Schachter:
Does anybody have any deep desire for any specific customer success topic they wanna discuss?

Kristi Faltorusso:
I think we all just sighed a big relief of, like, I think we’re good. I think we’re good this morning.

Josh Schachter:
Yeah. This afternoon. Cool.

Kristi Faltorusso:
This Monday. Alright.

Josh Schachter:
So then heads up for listeners. We might get a little bit personal on this episode. This might even be an emo episode. We got some some, some deep stuff to talk through. It ain’t so woah woah. John, why don’t you

Jon Johnson:
start that?

Kristi Faltorusso:
Doesn’t sound bad when he does that. Like, if I attempted to do that

Josh Schachter:
Yeah. Yeah.

Jon Johnson:
I think we would just, like, alter Oh. That was it.

Josh Schachter:
Well, because you actually, like, don’t

Kristi Faltorusso:
sound bad when you do it. It was just an uncomfortable insertion of of, like, the okay. Alright. We’re gonna do this. That’s my goal. We’re gonna yeah. Okay.

Josh Schachter:
Alright, John. Quickly insert insert the plug for your Spotify handle now that we’ve got this going.

Jon Johnson:
We are Wild Coast.

Josh Schachter:
We are We are Wild Coast. Okay. At We are Wild Coast. Alright, John. What’s going on in

Kristi Faltorusso:
your world? Describe.

Jon Johnson:
There’s so many new things, Josh. Where do you want me to start?

Josh Schachter:
The stuff that’s somewhat relevant to people listening.

Jon Johnson:
Yeah. Two things. Yeah. So I’m on week four at a new company. I joined a company called Great Question, which is so much fun to not only interview for it because I say it all the time, and it’s like a real thing. Like, it’s a great question. We count it now internally. Oh, that’s four great questions.

Jon Johnson:
It’s fun. Anyways, still in the research space. Still really excited to be working, with the people that I have been for the last three years on the customer side, and, it’s been great. It’s a completely different animal. My last company had, I don’t know, maybe a thousand employees. And we have, like, 34. I think I was employee 33 or 34. I’ll have to check.

Jon Johnson:
So I’m, like, back to my roots, back to start up, back to build. I I was, like, on a customer call on day one, and it was heaven. Like, it was heaven. It was heaven.

Josh Schachter:
So so what okay. So what so, so what does the company do? And I know it’s, you know, user research focused stuff, but, specifically, what do you guys do and what are you doing?

Jon Johnson:
Yeah. Yeah. So we have a platform that allows, user researchers and people who do research as well, to speak directly to their customers, to get feedback on their products, get feedback on their services, and house and synthesize and share all of those great insights. So ton of stuff kinda built into it with AI, but also how to power your AI and your your customer centric models outside of it. I am just I am just in the enterprise customer success blob. It’s Yeah. Amazing. I truly am just an enterprise CSM, and it’s, like, been fifteen years.

Josh Schachter:
Yeah. So so and and how how long were you on this free agency market? And no. No. I don’t and that’s not a backward that’s not a slap in the face question, because there’s so many people out there that that are on that market

Jon Johnson:
Yeah.

Josh Schachter:
And, and and people that will be and people that were. And, so what were your experiences like out there?

Jon Johnson:
Terrifying. Terrifying.

Kristi Faltorusso:
That’s fair.

Jon Johnson:
If you guys scroll back, like, six episodes, you remember I was part of a layoff, which is fine. Everybody goes through that. It’s like breathing these days. But I found, like, a light little life hack, and it’s it’s truly it truly made this transition the most incredible transition. And it is, just hope to God a recruiter from a competitor finds you out that you’re looking for work. And and it’s not a direct, obviously. There’s some, like, you know, Venn diagram of how we compete with user testing, and it’s very different space or different tool. But Same space.

Josh Schachter:
Different tool. Yeah.

Jon Johnson:
So not only did they hire me for my skills with customer success, but they also brought over, you know, three or four years of actual experience in the market they’re building. So for a founder who I who I met with, you know, it’s sure. We can talk about, you know, whatever we built or didn’t build at at any companies in the past, but the reality is is, like, no. I’ve been talking to researchers for three or four years. And I’ve been talking to the people that we’re going to be selling into, just as a persona. And that wealth made the interview process, made the the search outside of this Yeah. Meaningless. I didn’t need to talk to anybody.

Josh Schachter:
Did you did you did you orchestrate for that recruiter to be in touch with you? Did you No. Engineer this? This was just locked

Kristi Faltorusso:
They just found you?

Jon Johnson:
No. So, I mean, I I it connected with the recruiter. So there’s

Josh Schachter:
there

Jon Johnson:
is, like, a a first degree from there. But, the day, actually, I think we talked about on podcast today, put my green banner up. I got a message within

Josh Schachter:
So you recommend I’m trying to to to No. I don’t. Some lessons here for others. So you recommend the banner, the LinkedIn

Jon Johnson:
banner? So a good friend of mine named Taylor, that I’m on on LinkedIn and I have this ongoing battle of the green banner, and I think that it serves a purpose to a point. I think it serves the purpose as a as a flag. I’m ready. I’m available. But I also think you really gotta pay attention to what you’re looking for. Right? There is no one answer, Josh. You can’t just say yes, green banner and no green banner. I have opinions about this.

Jon Johnson:
Okay.

Josh Schachter:
Josh, it’s looking for

Kristi Faltorusso:
you to offer some advice to our listeners who are on the market, who are looking for work, John. So do you have any advice for them?

Jon Johnson:
Go talk to your competitors, man.

Josh Schachter:
That’s the But but fine. But did you did you talk to your competitor? This is very, very confusing. What? Did you talk you said it approached you?

Kristi Faltorusso:
Reached out to you.

Josh Schachter:
Or did you approach like, is there something that that that others should be doing? Like, you you you got into the feed of their competitors or anything like that? Like, what tips can you

Jon Johnson:
take away?

Josh Schachter:
Because so far, nothing.

Jon Johnson:
Yeah. I’m I’m really lucky, Josh. Do you wanna keep, like, nail this down into, like,

Josh Schachter:
the fifth

Jon Johnson:
Yeah. Think I’m so well thought out. No. No. I hesitated about putting my green banner up. And the moment that I did, a recruiter called me and offered me my dream job. So I don’t know what led to that other than my fifteen years leading up to this moment. But but, really, like, the advice that I give to people is the value of the industry that you’re in is so important and valuable to other companies that are looking for that value.

Jon Johnson:
And I’m not talking about secrets or internal stuff. I just mean speaking to the same customers and understanding that wealth. Aside from how they found my profile or whatever, the the thing that I have, the suggestion is, if you’re in, like, pharmaceuticals and you’re not talking to other pharmaceutical companies and selling your experience outside of a platform or a function with the industry, that’s the thing that people are paying attention to right now. Because all the other stuff, you can get from an online course. Are you are you tracking that?

Josh Schachter:
Yep. I’m tracking what you’re laying down.

Kristi Faltorusso:
Okay. Cool. Congratulations, John. I’m so happy that you found your role. I’m so happy that you’re enjoying it.

Jon Johnson:
With my answer. He wanted something quick and, like, he wanted to

Josh Schachter:
be able to click no.

Kristi Faltorusso:
Tactical tactical advice.

Josh Schachter:
I like that.

Kristi Faltorusso:
The problem is that this market is horrible for so many people. We know that. Right? Like, I don’t know about you guys, but every single day, my inbox is flooded with people who are looking, who just got laid off, who have been laid off, who feel hopeless. Everyone’s broken. No one’s finding what they’re looking for. And so I think Josh was just trying to connect some dots for some folks, John. But we’re super happy

Jon Johnson:
for you No. You landed

Kristi Faltorusso:
on your next role. And you’ve seemed really, like, positive about the experience that you’ve had so far. So that’s that’s cool.

Jon Johnson:
Yeah. It’s been great. And I I just I like the I like the youthfulness. I like going back to startups. This is gonna be a whole new experience for me. Well, it’s been ten years, but kinda feels like a whole new experience.

Kristi Faltorusso:
So Yeah.

Josh Schachter:
Yeah. Good. Congratulations. Alright. Well, cool. How do I shift gears into I told you guys that that the topics I wanted to talk about, and it’s very, very unnatural to shift gears, bring a little bit of a heavier energy there.

Kristi Faltorusso:
Josh, what’s going on? I know that you’ve done some traveling lately.

Jon Johnson:
Thank you.

Kristi Faltorusso:
I know that you made a trip down to Florida.

Josh Schachter:
Yeah.

Kristi Faltorusso:
And I think you have some stuff going on there. So what what’s been going on? What took you to Florida?

Josh Schachter:
Yeah. Okay. Thank you, Christy. My my best friend from college died. One of my best friends from college. We were very close. You know, knew her for over twenty years, and, she had, ovarian cancer. She was terminal.

Josh Schachter:
She, fought it for four years, which I think is a a long time for that type of cancer. And she was literally the strongest person that I knew. I went down. I actually went down to go see her get some treatment in Tampa about a month ago, and I just missed her. I went to Tampa and she went from Tampa back to Miami, effectively because she was they said, you know what? She’s she’s starting to get pretty bad. So she’s gonna go into hospice and go home to Miami. So then later in the week, I went to Miami and I saw her in hospice and had the most beautiful kind of moments. Honestly, this sounds hyper hyperbolic.

Josh Schachter:
It’s not probably, like, the most beautiful moment in my life, just sitting by her in bed for, like, an hour and a half just talking, just crying, laughing, telling stories, talking about death, talking about everything, talking about her being a ghost at my wedding, and my my little brother better look out if he trips on the dance floor. It was her. You know? Like, my yeah. My telling I see I see the the tears coming, Christy. You know, my telling her that that, you know, her telling me that she hopes she can make it to my wedding, but, you know and I saying, well, even if you’re not there physically, you’re gonna be there. We’re gonna have a photo framed of you, you know, by the table with all the college, you know, friends and everything like that. Like, it was really deep, but it was just the most meaningful yeah. Honestly, it’s the most meaningful moment in my life.

Josh Schachter:
So, and then she passed away, I think, two weeks later after I saw her, which is about two weeks, you know, from today. Actually, it was two weeks from today. And, you know, and it was one of those moments where it’s, you know, it sounds a little bit trite, but it’s the truth. Like, you know, I was actually more relieved that morning that I found out than the night before when I had no idea that it was, like, her last moments. But I was just thinking about her and, you know, walking the dog and thinking about how unfair it was that I could walk outside and she was just in bed, you know, and wouldn’t get up again. So there was, like, relief that initial kind of, you know, when that moment happened. And then I went down to Miami again for the celebration of life, and it was this beautiful thing. She’s Brazilian, half Brazilian, half half American, and just kind of, like, all her friends and family brought that Brazilian flare, you know, and, like, flare for life and all that kind of stuff.

Josh Schachter:
So that’s what’s been going on. It’s been, it’s been a kind of an existential deep couple of weeks for me. On her deathbed when we talked, she was writing she was talking too, but she was also writing stuff down on a on a whiteboard. And as I was just vomiting out stories and stuff, and I was doing more talking intentionally so that she wouldn’t have to, She she writes on the whiteboard, you. You are the problem. And then she refers me to Michael Singer’s podcast. Do you guys know Michael Singer?

Kristi Faltorusso:
So.

Josh Schachter:
He wrote a book called The Untethered Soul, I believe. I don’t know. If and it’s I mean, it’s it’s definitely one of these spiritual, you know, namaste types of existential books. It’s a little bit repetitive, but this podcast from Michael Singer is kind of a life changing podcast. And it basically just talks about we can hear you typing, John. And it basically just talks about how you don’t matter. Nothing matters. Your mind is a figment of your imagination, all like, just and basically, just let everything go.

Josh Schachter:
Let every which to a certain point, it kind of feels a little bit nihilistic. Well, it’s like, well, if nothing matters, then why does life matter? Right? Like, why don’t I just go end this now? But the point is, like, the point he makes is, like, just don’t harbor any negative energies because in the grand scheme, we are are we are a marble with inside this giant aquarium of the universe with, you know, like, it’s just kind of that type of perspective. So I’ve been walking around, walking Jacks and the dog every day, listening to twenty minutes here and there of the sixty one hour episodes of Michael Singer just ranting on life. And, I highly recommend it for anybody that’s kinda in that emo mood.

Jon Johnson:
We’ll drop the link in the show comments, Josh. Correct?

Josh Schachter:
Will we? Oh, sure. We could do that. We could do that. Or you just Google Josh,

Kristi Faltorusso:
I I would just prefer maybe, like, a highlight reel. So, like, maybe, like, the one thing you took away from every episode as you make your way through the 61 episodes.

Jon Johnson:
You have to actually subscribe to a sub stack for that.

Josh Schachter:
Ah, damn. Christy.

Jon Johnson:
Yeah. The one this morning.

Josh Schachter:
Yeah. Listen. The one this morning is just, like, you don’t control any you don’t control shit, you know, that happens in this world. So stop trying to control stuff. You know? Just go with the

Jon Johnson:
How’s that going for you, Josh?

Josh Schachter:
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

Jon Johnson:
I don’t

Kristi Faltorusso:
like that one.

Jon Johnson:
I’m working on it.

Kristi Faltorusso:
Let me know about the next one. That one’s done for me. Yeah. Does not apply.

Josh Schachter:
Yeah. Yeah. Alright. So anyway, so I have listen. We probably had every listener drop by now. And if they haven’t dropped yet, then then we’ll we’ll wave goodbye in the next couple of minutes. I I have, the I’m not gonna call it a eulogy. I’m gonna call it the the remarks of my friend’s younger sister that she spoke at the, celebration of life.

Josh Schachter:
And don’t worry. I’m not gonna read this thing one for one here. But my friend, when she passed, by the time she passed, she had become, like, this walking Buddha, this just this this just wealth of of of knowledge and insight and coaching to everybody else around her, like, just truly inspirational. And so it’s only fitting that her sister gave, like, the top kind of lessons, you know, in the voice of her friend for others to follow. So you guys are I want and I I wanna read some of these, and I want you guys to I want you I got I want you guys to comment. Alright? I think there was +1, 23456789. Okay. Alright.

Josh Schachter:
Now first one, the only thing that matters in life is relationships with others.

Jon Johnson:
That’s good.

Kristi Faltorusso:
Yeah. I support that.

Josh Schachter:
K. Well, you guys are deep.

Kristi Faltorusso:
As a puddle.

Jon Johnson:
As a puddle.

Josh Schachter:
Then I agree. I mean, you can’t really, like, not support that. Well, I

Kristi Faltorusso:
mean, like, relationships are the, like, the foundation of every single thing that we do. Right? Like, who we are, whether it’s work, it’s personally I don’t know. Like, I Yeah.

Josh Schachter:
That’s right. That’s right. That’s right. Self explanatory. It’s self explanatory. Yeah. But we could but that’s why we’re talking about it on this episode. Right? Customer success, building relationships.

Josh Schachter:
You know, we’re not gonna we’re not gonna go there.

Kristi Faltorusso:
I was like, please don’t do that. No.

Josh Schachter:
No. No. No. Okay. Let go. Be quick to forgive people.

Kristi Faltorusso:
Yeah. Easier said than done.

Jon Johnson:
Yeah. I mean, yeah, I always have like, I want to go deeper. Forgive, but don’t forget. But yes. Well, you

Josh Schachter:
know, and Michael Singer talks about this too, and and she had one sentence in here in this in this paragraph. It’s like, in letting go of low frequency energies such as resentment and anger, we create space for kindness, joy, and love.

Jon Johnson:
Mhmm. Yeah.

Kristi Faltorusso:
And I think that’s cut off and not forgive and not make space for any negative energy because I’m bigger on that. Like, I will I will just remove you from ever having any existence in my life, my world, my universe. Delete. And, like, yeah. And, like, you’re just gone. So I harbor no bad.

Jon Johnson:
I

Kristi Faltorusso:
will never forgive you, but I do not harbor any negative thing. Like, I don’t even think about you. Like, you don’t exist.

Jon Johnson:
Yeah. Can I give

Kristi Faltorusso:
you the same No?

Jon Johnson:
Or no. Think so, Chris. No. I think

Kristi Faltorusso:
that sucks.

Jon Johnson:
I think the energy in your voice as you’re explaining this is the answer.

Kristi Faltorusso:
I think I’m annoyed that I have to explain it. Like, I think that I should just be allowed to just cut you off and then this still apply to me.

Josh Schachter:
Well, listen. I think it’s better than than just having a person in your life and and holding a grudge. Yeah.

Kristi Faltorusso:
Like, I don’t have a grudge. You’re just dead to me. Like, you just don’t exist. Like, we’re dead.

Josh Schachter:
Here’s what I would say. This is based on my, you know, my my seven episodes of Michael Singer. Are they really dead to you, or have you just buried it? And all that crap that you’re burying is still energy that is circulating in a in a perpetual loop inside your mind.

Jon Johnson:
Yeah. It’s definitely like a floater in

Kristi Faltorusso:
a toilet bowl. Like, yes. I mean, there’s still

Jon Johnson:
some shit there.

Josh Schachter:
Much yes.

Jon Johnson:
Much better. Yes.

Josh Schachter:
So I would argue the only way to flush the toilet, to flush the poop, is to actually forgive.

Kristi Faltorusso:
Yeah. So, like, I’m just I’m not there yet with a lot of these things. So Yeah.

Josh Schachter:
You’re kinda more like a sassy.

Kristi Faltorusso:
Gonna keep syncing up the joint. Yeah. Yeah.

Jon Johnson:
She just keeps going, guys. Yeah. It’s amazing. Alright. Next one. So thrilled.

Josh Schachter:
Each person is the sum of their learned experiences. Can you guys interpret that one? And this is actually one that that that my friend told me when I was kinda telling her because I can be kinda judgmental. You guys may Kinda? Kinda? A little bit.

Jon Johnson:
I’ve not seen it.

Josh Schachter:
Yeah. A little bit. And and this is one that and and this is one Michael Singer talks about in some of his stuff. And and I think, actually, my friend used the same example for me. And she’s like, you know, you don’t fucking know, like, where that person that person that’s driving, you know, in front of you, so super slow and you’re honking them and you’re, you know, you’re upset. You don’t know, like, what what’s been in their day. You don’t know where they’re coming from. You don’t know how old they are.

Josh Schachter:
It could be your grandmother in that car. You know? And it’s kinda the same thing. Like, you know, each person is some of their learned experiences. We all have different backgrounds that have kind of molded the way that we see the world. And it it kinda I think it kinda goes hand in hand with the forgive and forget thing too.

Jon Johnson:
Yeah. I mean, I think that’s the goal. I think I think sometimes, like, that that should be the mark of a successful person is is allowing yourself to be shaped and molded by those things around you, I think.

Kristi Faltorusso:
Your learned experiences.

Jon Johnson:
Yeah. Your learned experience, I think.

Kristi Faltorusso:
But only if you continue to learn.

Jon Johnson:
That’s I think that’s what I’m saying. It’s, like, the folks that are stuck.

Kristi Faltorusso:
Evolution. Right?

Jon Johnson:
Yeah. Like, you can just tell the people to just let be like, nope. I’m rigid. I’m stuck. This is who I am. Nothing can shake, you know, shake me, and I don’t know. Yeah. Also just kinda describe, like, an ideal hierarchy of a, like, a good person.

Jon Johnson:
Somebody can’t shake.

Josh Schachter:
That’d be awesome.

Jon Johnson:
Myself out of that one.

Josh Schachter:
This next one we’re gonna move on, John. This next one, I I actually think you do really well. Seriously.

Jon Johnson:
Is this a compliment? Or It it is.

Josh Schachter:
It is. There there could be slight backhandedness to it, but I think it’s a compliment, truly. Find hobbies. They will make your life richer.

Jon Johnson:
Oh, yeah. Absolutely. Yeah. Yeah.

Kristi Faltorusso:
I need a hobby. It’s not customer success.

Jon Johnson:
Yes. Yeah. Maybe you

Josh Schachter:
should blog or something, Christy. That could

Jon Johnson:
be a problem. I thought about, like, a lot

Kristi Faltorusso:
of about customer success.

Jon Johnson:
Glamour shots. Like, I don’t know. You could like, all those thirst traps on LinkedIn, Christy. Jeez.

Kristi Faltorusso:
You know. You know.

Jon Johnson:
That’s her new hobby.

Kristi Faltorusso:
Mhmm.

Josh Schachter:
Christy’s hobby is creating downloadable templates for the CS community.

Kristi Faltorusso:
You know?

Josh Schachter:
Oh, get another hobby, Christie.

Kristi Faltorusso:
I know.

Josh Schachter:
John, what are

Jon Johnson:
you doing? I love shopping. You run marathons. Woman. Oh, right. Stand up. Yeah. I don’t

Kristi Faltorusso:
like I don’t like running, though, just so we’re all clear. I do it for the complete ability to say that I did the thing so I could be celebrated. Right? Like, and just, like, it’s for validation and, like, words of affirmation.

Jon Johnson:
Yeah. We love that. Do it for the extras.

Kristi Faltorusso:
Yeah. Oh, yeah. Yes. Yes. I have that.

Jon Johnson:
Your hobby.

Kristi Faltorusso:
If nothing else. Yeah.

Jon Johnson:
Yeah. I Josh, me, I like, obviously, I like music. I make a lot of music, but I also really like to cook.

Kristi Faltorusso:
Mhmm.

Jon Johnson:
And I and I really like board games. I really like board games.

Kristi Faltorusso:
Okay. Okay. What’s your favorite board game?

Jon Johnson:
Oh, right now

Kristi Faltorusso:
Is it gonna be so obscure? It’s gonna be so obscure.

Jon Johnson:
I mean, yeah. Probably.

Kristi Faltorusso:
What? What is it? What is it?

Jon Johnson:
Oh, I’m trying to read the box. We buy board games all the time. It’s fate fates of the empire fates of the empire. Anyways, something like that. It’s like a treasure.

Josh Schachter:
Like these Catan types of boards.

Kristi Faltorusso:
I like Catan.

Jon Johnson:
Yeah. Catan is good.

Kristi Faltorusso:
I’m playing ticket to ride, which gives Catan.

Jon Johnson:
It’s great. Yeah.

Kristi Faltorusso:
Yeah. Yeah. Catan.

Josh Schachter:
That’s it?

Jon Johnson:
Sorry. It’s called Archduke.

Josh Schachter:
Are these really complicated to get into? Because I’m not good at comp oh, they are. Okay.

Kristi Faltorusso:
Yeah. You should stick

Jon Johnson:
with the title. The read, Josh, number one. Yeah. And you Oh,

Kristi Faltorusso:
there’s lots of rules.

Jon Johnson:
You have to be able to accept criticism and receive feedback on

Josh Schachter:
K. I’m out. I’m out.

Kristi Faltorusso:
Just hit the buzzer now. So I said taboo feels better for him. Yeah.

Josh Schachter:
But I I think

Kristi Faltorusso:
The timer is quick. One minute. Let’s go.

Josh Schachter:
Yeah. Well, listen. My whole family loves Scrabble. Scrabble is just kinda huge growing up, but I did not have the patience for Scrabble.

Kristi Faltorusso:
Do you play words with friends?

Josh Schachter:
No. Did you ever? No. Because you need friends. But Oh. No.

Kristi Faltorusso:
I mean, that makes sense. You know, you could play the computer now.

Jon Johnson:
With co coworking space attendees.

Josh Schachter:
So no. But my family would play Scrabble, and I would play Boggle. Do you know what Boggle is?

Jon Johnson:
Boggle is fun. Yeah. That’s fun. Yeah. Fun. That’s a great one.

Josh Schachter:
The advantage of Boggle is that it’s like exactly. It’s one minute. You get all in. You’re done. Right? I didn’t have the patience for hours

Jon Johnson:
to travel. That and operation, I think, is, like, the cornerstone of our entire generation’s anxiety. Yeah. It’s just like we just gotta we just gotta

Kristi Faltorusso:
The ticker. And that ticker was so loud too. And, like, you couldn’t focus, and your tweezers and your shaking, and the cord was never long enough.

Jon Johnson:
Stop. Stop. Stop. I need another pill.

Josh Schachter:
Making me shake. But I do like John. I like the I like the board game thing because it also brings you together with people. Right? I’m assuming that you’re not playing, like, and then, like, switching chairs to be the other person. You actually have people to play with.

Jon Johnson:
No shame. No. My kids. I it’s like Noah. My, middle son is, like, addicted, and it’s just my favorite thing to sit down and play any games. That’s why we buy a lot of new ones. It’s like, you know, how do I keep him engaged? I love that. Yeah.

Josh Schachter:
Cool. Alright. Learn to do nothing. Oh. And so and so, so she had this quote in here, from my friend. And I don’t know if this my friend said this verbatim, but, I would sometimes compete with the iguanas in Miami who sit on trees and do nothing to see nothing to see who could do nothing the longest. They always won in the beginning, but eventually I caught up. This is while she’s sick and she’s kind of home home during the days.

Josh Schachter:
Right? She would sit there and try to and I and I think this is literal. I think she actually did this because she was doing a lot of deep work on stuff like this. And yeah.

Jon Johnson:
I I think a lot of times when we, like, rest I know this is a big thing for me is, like, when I rest, I often make myself feel badly that I’m not resting enough, or I’m not being restful enough, or I’m not being productive in my restfulness. And that doesn’t mean that you’re resting. And I think that the idea of doing nothing and a lot of the stoics and a lot of, like, the eastern religions are focused on not just, like, filling your mind, but actually, like, being truly aware of nothing.

Josh Schachter:
Yeah. Yeah.

Jon Johnson:
And that’s where the rest comes from. That’s when the brain resets. That’s when the heart regulates. That’s when the breathing’s you know, like, all of that stuff happens. But for those of us with the spicy brains, how do you do that? I can’t even do that.

Kristi Faltorusso:
I can’t do that.

Josh Schachter:
K. Connect with faith and spirituality in whatever form that might be for you. There’s no there’s no, atheists on a plane going down in a crash.

Jon Johnson:
Right? You got yeah. You got plane crash.

Josh Schachter:
You pray to something. Right?

Jon Johnson:
You pray to something. Yeah. Yeah.

Josh Schachter:
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. We are all terminal patients.

Jon Johnson:
Oh, yeah. We’re all gonna die. Yeah.

Josh Schachter:
Yeah.

Jon Johnson:
See, what are we this is dark, man.

Kristi Faltorusso:
No. That’s alright.

Josh Schachter:
Well, this was from a funeral. I think it’s reflective.

Kristi Faltorusso:
I think this is good.

Josh Schachter:
Well, listen. You’ll you you you will now I’m gonna read a little bit of the follow-up. You will tell yourself, I’ll start next week, next month, next year. Years later, you will find yourself stuck to the same old patterns. You will still be out of shape. You will still be complaining about the same white people problems. You see, most people don’t change unless it costs them enough. Don’t wait to make these changes.

Josh Schachter:
Don’t let it cost you enough. Just get out there and start. Just move. You never know when your quote unquote last good day will be to make every day worth seeing your last good day.

Jon Johnson:
I love that.

Josh Schachter:
Yeah. It’s good. Power of positivity?

Jon Johnson:
I mean, does anybody in the podcast have that?

Josh Schachter:
Working on it. You do.

Kristi Faltorusso:
Working on it.

Josh Schachter:
I’m working on it too.

Jon Johnson:
Yeah.

Kristi Faltorusso:
Josh, you’re not even thinking about it.

Josh Schachter:
Well, I’m I am thinking about it.

Jon Johnson:
He’s now he is.

Josh Schachter:
I I believe guys think that.

Kristi Faltorusso:
Okay. So you’re thinking I’m working John is doing? Are we, like, the three monkeys?

Josh Schachter:
Yeah. Listen. A couple things here. Like and and it says this too. Like, anxiety and stress can cause real somatic disease in your body. Yeah. But, and and I worry about that. Like, I actually worry about, like, anxiety and stress causing cancer, you know, at some point for me.

Josh Schachter:
Right? Like, or whatever other types of of diseases. Sure. And but I also and I also believe in, like, neuroplasticity, this idea that you can like, that your neuron wave patterns are shaped and you can work to reshape them, but probably the older you get, the harder the more entrenched they they get. Right? So I buy all that stuff. Love is the ultimate healer, so lead with your heart.

Kristi Faltorusso:
I support that.

Jon Johnson:
Yep. No notes.

Josh Schachter:
Yep. That’s it. That’s it. Those are the top lessons. I didn’t go through all the details, you know, in each one, but, it was a beautiful speech and, you know, I think really, did my friend proud. And I say that, you know, in the in the the present. Right? Because I’m believing that she’s up or sideways or somewhere her energy is around. Right? Observing us all.

Josh Schachter:
And, yeah, we miss you. We’ll love you. We love you. We’ll miss you. And, I’m taking all of life’s greatest lessons from this. Christy

Kristi Faltorusso:
Yes, sir.

Josh Schachter:
There’s been some hard times to client success recently as well, and you don’t have to go into as much deep detail. You know? But, tell us a little bit about how things are going over there.

Kristi Faltorusso:
Well, I think things are are getting better. But, for those who are listening who are not familiar, our CEO at client success, Dave Blake, who’s been a a pillar in this customer success community for decades, you know, leading and building his career, going from Omniture to Adobe as a customer success professional, and then eventually starting client success out of a real business need for him and his teams. He sadly, had to say goodbye to his daughter a few weeks ago, ’25 years old. Her name is Carly Carly Blake Smith, and, beautiful person, beautiful soul. I’ve I’ve had the honor and privilege of meeting her a few times and, you know, getting to be a little bit part of her story and in the few times that we met and all of her celebrations of life and all of their kind of their things, their weddings, and their you know, Dave is a very special person, and so if you ever get the privilege to to know him or work alongside of him, his family is so big in his life that to know him is to know his family. And so whether you work with him for for a day or a decade, you’ll get to know all of the people that really matter to him. And so, you know, I didn’t spend days, weeks, years with Carly, but I felt like I knew her through an extension of her father just because the way he would talk about her and how proud he was. So it’s been a it’s been a really tough couple weeks here, but I will say, I think the thing that’s been so beautiful about watching this journey for him and his family is their commitment to their faith and how that has given them such strength and peace through this in ways that I’ve never seen.

Kristi Faltorusso:
You know, I’m Roman Catholic, so, like, we we grieve in sadness and sorrow and guilt, and it’s all the the sad things where I feel like, you know, watching him and his family grieve has been a very different experience for him from an outsider. Right? It’s not part of his religion, his faith. Watching them celebrate her life and talk about her as part of the eternal families and, like, you know, she’s she’s not dead. She’s not here. You know what I mean? Like, so she continues to live in in some place else. And so it just been really beautiful from that regard and then to watch, him and his family kinda rally around this and and navigate the journey together. I definitely I I don’t know a family that I have ever seen be as close as they were before. So if it’s possible that they are closer now, I do believe that they are.

Kristi Faltorusso:
And so I was fortunate enough to make the flight out there and and go be a part of the service, which I have to say was just a true celebration of life. So, Josh, probably similar to the experience that you had, which, again, coming from my faith, which is sad, sorrow, grieving, it was really beautiful to be part of something that was so light and celebratory. And, you know, I don’t know. It was just a very different experience for me. So, like I said, outsider watching, it it was beautiful. I’m I’m happy to have been a part of that and happy that I could be a friend to Dave as he’s kinda embarking on this next journey because it’s gonna be tough. It’s a it’s a long road ahead. I can’t imagine.

Kristi Faltorusso:
I talked to my parents. I lost my brother. It’ll be eighteen years ago this June. And so, obviously, when I heard the news, I reflected on my own experiences with losing my brother. And I went back to my parents and I said, you know, I hope I never get to know what this feels like, but just give me some context here, like, you know, what what is what is Dave and his wife what are they experiencing? Like, what what is what’s going on? My mom and dad said that it’s like, when you lose a child, there’s just life before and there’s life after. Like, a part of you dies with your child and they’re like, you can’t really explain it. And it’s not like life is bad after, but everything about your life is different. And so, you know, my dad, who’s not a very emotional person at all, you know, he talks about, like, how much he loves my brother and thinks about him often and how eighteen years later, it’s still hard.

Kristi Faltorusso:
Right? Because it’s still a part of you is gone and missing for forever. And so you get to go on and just have this this void. I don’t know. So he was trying to explain it to me. And like I said, I don’t think it’s something that anyone can really truly understand unless you go through it, and I just don’t know that I wish that on anybody. So

Josh Schachter:
That’s probably I mean, the void is probably the best work. Right? Yeah. Just this this void that that, you go on. There’s always a void there. The first thing that comes to mind is, like, why do shitty things happen to great people? Right? Because Dave is just such a a wonderful person and

Kristi Faltorusso:
Best person I’ve ever known. Yeah.

Josh Schachter:
Yeah. So my condolences to to him and and his entire family and to all you guys that are surrounding him and find success.

Kristi Faltorusso:
Yeah. I’m sure everybody watch the community rally around him though too. I have to say, like, you know, I get very defensive of Dave. Like, I’m very protective of him, like, because he’s just the best and kindest person that, like, I’m like, nothing bad can happen to him. And so I was I was hoping to witness the community rally around him and in a big way, and they did. And so I was very proud to have watched that and just make sure that he was appreciated and respected as the pillar in the community that which he is. Right? Like, he’s been around for a long time building and doing a lot and giving back, you know, not only to the customer success community, but to his community in Utah. And so it’s like, I just I was I was really happy to, like, look at how many people were trying to support him and his family during this time.

Kristi Faltorusso:
That made me feel good.

Josh Schachter:
That’s good. That’s good.

Kristi Faltorusso:
Yeah.

Josh Schachter:
Alright. And then also the pope died today.

Jon Johnson:
The pope

Kristi Faltorusso:
died today on Easter Monday.

Josh Schachter:
Yep. And he was a good one. And he was a good one. You know? He was a lot of cool stuff.

Kristi Faltorusso:
Of who the next pope is? I mean, like, what are we doing here?

Josh Schachter:
Yeah. I don’t know if that was

Jon Johnson:
are impeccable, Josh.

Josh Schachter:
Yeah. That was a that was a little bit uncomfortable. I didn’t you know? What else are you gonna say? Goodbye. John, that

Kristi Faltorusso:
would have been one way to segue.

Josh Schachter:
But Yeah.

Kristi Faltorusso:
He chose with the headline.

Josh Schachter:
Yeah.

Kristi Faltorusso:
I mean, listen, I did get the news alert on my phone at, like, 4AM, and it got out of sleep mode that, the pope died. So

Josh Schachter:
Did you guys see the movie Conclave?

Kristi Faltorusso:
Last year? Is it the movie theater?

Jon Johnson:
No. It’s not

Josh Schachter:
the movie theater. It was up for an Academy Award. It was with Ralph Fiennes and, Stanley Tucci.

Jon Johnson:
No. No. No. I I do see that. Yeah. You

Josh Schachter:
should see it because it’s it’s about It’s about the process. The pope the pope dies, and it’s about the entire process.

Jon Johnson:
It’s a really

Kristi Faltorusso:
good movie. Okay. Okay.

Jon Johnson:
Yeah.

Kristi Faltorusso:
Yes. I’ve seen that, but, like, I didn’t watch it.

Josh Schachter:
Okay. Well, let’s leave on that note. Everybody should watch it. Is that where you’re gonna go?

Kristi Faltorusso:
It was

Josh Schachter:
a really good film. Yeah. It was a really good film. It was up for an Academy Award. It’s got some twists and turns, and so I highly recommend that.

Kristi Faltorusso:
Alright. We’re gonna go do that.

Jon Johnson:
Cool. Bye, guys.

Josh Schachter:
Well, listen. I I I don’t know. We’ll see how people appreciate this episode or not.

Kristi Faltorusso:
And I

Jon Johnson:
think it’s it’s nice.

Kristi Faltorusso:
It’s I think it’s important

Jon Johnson:
to know

Kristi Faltorusso:
that, like, we all have things going on in our lives, some good, some bad. Everyone’s navigating their own journey. Not everything is about work. Not everything is is what you see on the surface. And so I think it’s a it was a friendly reminder that we’re all navigating our own paths, and Yep. Everyone’s got something probably bigger going on outside of what you see on LinkedIn. Right, Josh? Yes.

Josh Schachter:
Because we

Kristi Faltorusso:
know how much you hate LinkedIn.

Josh Schachter:
There’s more to life outside of work as well. Yeah. Yeah. There’s more to it than LinkedIn.

Jon Johnson:
Yeah.

Josh Schachter:
Okay. Thank you. Maybe I will. Alright, guys. Well, good talk.

Jon Johnson:
This has been weird.

Josh Schachter:
No. No. You know what? That’s okay. Weird weird weird is more intimate, and intimate is what people want, and it brings us closer together. And Next

Kristi Faltorusso:
time, we’re gonna read our, text thread on the podcast. That’s what we’re gonna do.

Josh Schachter:
Be weird.

Josh Schachter:
Alright, guys. Have a great week ahead.