How coaching (instead of micromanaging) helps everyone learn and evolve
From the moment Jennifer Brush entered the telecommunications industry right after college to carving out her path in customer success, she developed a true passion for the field. To her, the role resembled that of a quarterback — balancing external communication with customers while collaborating with internal teams to bring solutions back to the client.
“We take all the feedback from both our internal partners and the customer, and we combine them to deliver the best possible outcome for everyone.”
“We take all the feedback from both our internal partners and the customer, and we combine them to deliver the best possible outcome for everyone,” Brush explains.
This is a role in which Brush has thrived for over 20 years. As Head of Customer Success for Enterprise & Channel at Zayo, she focuses on cultivating strong partnerships. Across the board, she emphasizes that customer success is ultimately about “listening.”
It’s no surprise, then, that her advice for those interested in customer success is simple: practice listening. This involves digging deeper, like when a customer voices a complaint. Brush encourages asking questions such as, “What’s the bigger issue behind what they’re complaining about?”
She then uses insights from those conversations to collaborate with Zayo teams, crafting creative solutions that address not just the immediate concern, but the underlying problem. Her ability to listen and think outside the box has been key to her success.
Beyond creative problem-solving, Brush is also a proponent of taking calculated risks. Her mentors encouraged this throughout her career, and she stands by it because it’s proven effective. Over the years, she’s made lateral moves, even accepting pay cuts, to gain new skills and take on challenges she didn’t expect to enjoy or excel at. These pivots have expanded her knowledge and often proved invaluable in her career.
“Don’t be afraid to take risks.”
“It’s been incredibly rewarding,” she reflects. Her advice? “Don’t be afraid to take risks.”
A former soccer coach and player, Brush has found parallels between her coaching and leadership roles. While coaching high school girls’ soccer during college, and later stepping into her first leadership position at work, she noticed how similar the two roles were. In both, her goal was to coach and help people reach their full potential, not micromanage their every move.
For Brush, it’s never about perfection but always about progress.
“I ask the same of my employees and my kids,” she says. “I don’t care if you’re the best, but you should always strive to improve in something every day.”