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September 14, 2026 | 7 Mins Read

8 Traits the Next Era of Service Transformation Will Demand from Leaders

September 14, 2026 | 7 Mins Read

8 Traits the Next Era of Service Transformation Will Demand from Leaders

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By Sarah Nicastro, Founder and Editor in Chief, Future of Field Service

Next week we’ll announce the Stand Out 50 of 2026 – a group of leaders being recognized for their notable impact in the areas of authenticity, innovation, and execution. As we prepare for what is both an incredibly taxing and rewarding event, you can understand why I have leadership on my mind.

My fellow judges and I poured over the nominations, reading tales of how these individuals have not only accomplished impressive feats but – more importantly – how they’ve impacted peoples’ lives.

When the news is full of headlines of individuals that don’t seem to lead with integrity, care, or even humanity, it’s comforting to be reminded that there are plenty of leaders out there putting good into the world (while working hard).

How AI Impacts Leadership

I believe there’s a groundswell underway that demands more of today’s leaders. This shift, precipitated by the talent evolution and perpetuated by the expansion of AI, is significant and will create a point of differentiation for businesses in the coming years.

Which companies are set apart in the future will have to be adept at keeping pace with technology, certainly. And they must adapt to meeting today’s – and tomorrow’s – customer demands. What work looks like for all levels of the business will undoubtedly change, yes. But, in my opinion, strong leadership has never been more important as it is today – and will only be increasingly so.

However, there are a couple of variables that make this especially tricky. First, some of what constitutes good leadership has changed – and not all leaders have taken note. Second, in service specifically, we have many leaders within the ranks that really weren’t ideal for the role – they were put there as a progression from being strong individual contributors, but not necessarily because they’re good people leaders.

The next era of service transformation isn’t going to look like the last, in more ways than one. AI is far more capable – and complex – than any technological evolution that’s come before. The frontline workforce is in a precarious position. Service leadership isn’t an easy feat – it never has been, but even more so – which is why we care so much about recognizing the individuals that take it on.

When I reflect on my conversations with leaders across industries, around the world, as well as with frontline employees, these are the leadership traits that come to mind that have never been more important. That’s not to say they haven’t always been valuable traits, but rather that they have either taken on new meaning or are even more valuable given what’s changed.

Authenticity & Emotional Intelligence

In my recent podcast discussion with Kris Oldland, we spoke about how authenticity becomes an even more crucial characteristic in the AI era. I believe we’re only seeing the very beginning of how so, and it’s a trait that today’s workforce really needs from leadership.

We’re all weary of BS, of individuals who offer nothing more than towing the company line, who show no interest in getting to know people, or being known. We want realness, humanity, and to know someone gives a damn.

Beyond authenticity, other elements of emotional intelligence play an important role in meeting the needs of the new generation of workers. Leaders need to listen more – not only in quantity, but in depth. Psychological safety is an attribute that hasn’t always existed in the workplace but is an expectation and right today.

Employees want to feel connected, they want to understand their purpose and fulfill their potential, and they want to know they matter. The concept of mattering, and its power, was the topic of a podcast a while back with Zach Mercurio which is well worth a listen.

But the thing about these traits is that it isn’t just about being effective at applying these traits – leadership today and moving forward needs to have a very keen understanding of where these traits are most needed in the business.

As leaders determine where AI fits, and what it can and should do, a deep respect for authenticity and the ability to apply emotional intelligence are musts. Without ample respect for where humanity is needed within the business, and in the customer experience, there is massive risk.

More Curiosity & Creativity

Many of today’s leaders have spent decades acquiring skills, mastering experiences, and collecting accolades that – quite frankly – aren’t all relevant today. And that can be a really tough pill to swallow. Some leaders are excited about the opportunity to learn new skills, live new experiences, and collect fresh accolades – but others long for yesteryear.

Leaders who can’t, or won’t, unfurl themselves from the warm embrace of the status quo don’t stand a chance in the next era of service transformation. It requires boundless curiosity – not just about what’s changed or changing, but about what motivates individuals, about how differences create strength, and about the knowledge to be gained from considering new perspective and new possibilities.

Only with this type of curiosity can leaders foster the creativity that today and tomorrow’s landscape requires. Today’s challenges can’t be solved for with yesteryear’s formulas for success; greater creativity is essential. This can be frustrating because it feels like harder work – and it is. There are leaders who will be excited by the work itself, not just the outcome – and those are the leaders best fit for the future.

Temperance and Tenacity

Leadership in the next era of service transformation requires a unique combination of temperance and tenacity. In my recent conversation with Peter George about Alfa Laval’s service innovation, I asked him what he found most challenging.

“I would say what's been most challenging is the pace that we want to move at. Once you’ve identified what it is you need to do, you just want to get on and do it. But you have to allow the organization to move at a pace where it can digest and come along on the service journey,” he said. “It’s not just service on that journey; it’s the whole organization – and taking the time to make sure we get it right can feel challenging.”

There’s tremendous pressure on leaders today to keep pace with change, to move fast, to achieve results – and that pressure can cause a rush that often creates more damage than progress. Temperance is important.

Tenacity is as well, though. This isn’t about being lackadaisical at all, it’s about moving with intention and conviction. To achieve what many set out to achieve in service today takes a lot of grit. It’s being told no multiple times before you get a yes, failing ten times before you finally succeed. Leaders who are up for the task aren’t in it for the glory, but for the outcome – and they’re willing to stay that course.  

The Ability to Challenge

Leadership leading well today – and in the future – is not weak. It’s not afraid to push back when expectations are unrealistic, the time isn’t right, or they disagree with a path. Strong leadership requires a willingness to stand up for what you believe in, go to bat for your teams, and to voice the unpopular opinion.

At our NYC event in June, Natalia Shuman, CEO of MISTRAS Group, shared that when she began with the company, she told the board she needed 90 days before she’d begin discussing financials. Her priority was to get out in the field and spend time listening to customers and employees – only then, she said, could she properly set a strategy.

That’s a wonderful example of setting a boundary – to question the standard or push back on an expectation to instead do what you’re being asked to do in a way you believe is right and necessary.

Expert Curation & Choreography Skills

At some point, a strong leader was the person everyone turned to for the answer. Today, a leader who thinks they have all the answers is a massive liability. Dynamics have evolved in a way where the best leaders understand that their role is to curate and choreograph a variety of talents.

Leadership isn’t about knowing all or being able to do all but rather understanding context and seeing the big picture. Being stellar at listening, aligning, motivating, and rallying.

I remember having lunch with a leader in Copenhagen a couple of years ago who said to me how humbling she’s found leadership in recent years. She retold how she’s found herself having evolved from the go-to person to the conductor of greatness.

Humbling is a great way to put it, and that’s what it takes. Going back to my recent conversation with Kris, we talked a bit about “ego deaths” – and that’s a concept that may fit here. Ego is one trait there’s no room for in leadership today.  

Stay Connected

Subscribe to The INSIDER, our exclusive monthly newsletter, and get a first look at what’s new, what’s next, and what’s only shared with our inner circle.

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September 1, 2026 | 7 Mins Read

From Black Box to Glass Box: The Real Transformation of Servitization

September 1, 2026 | 7 Mins Read

From Black Box to Glass Box: The Real Transformation of Servitization

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By Sarah Nicastro, Founder and Editor in Chief, Future of Field Service

When I first spoke with Dave Mackerness for an episode of the podcast in late 2021, Kaer was well into its journey toward fully transitioning to a CaaS (cooling-as-a-service) company.

Fast forward several years, and Kaer has built upon its initial success. The company has expanded beyond its Singapore base into markets including India, Indonesia and Malaysia. Cooling as a service has moved from something that might have seemed like a bold experiment to an increasingly accepted business model. And technology—particularly AI—is creating entirely new opportunities to improve the performance of the assets Kaer operates.

But when I recently reconnected with Dave for a new episode of UNSCRIPTED, one point stood out to me above all others: The most challenging part of as-a-service isn't necessarily changing what you do, it's changing the relationship around what you do.

Kaer has been in the cooling business for roughly 70 years. Its evolution has been gradual: from distributing equipment and technology, to becoming a turnkey contractor and system integrator, to performance-based contracts, and then to CaaS.

As Dave shares, in many respects, the underlying work hasn't fundamentally changed. Kaer still designs cooling systems. It still procures equipment. It still installs and operates those systems. What changed was who owns the responsibility for the outcome—and therefore who owns the decisions about how that outcome is achieved.

In a traditional model, the customer buys the equipment and tells the provider what needs to be done. In an as-a-service model, Kaer takes responsibility for delivering the outcome. The customer doesn't need to care which chiller is running, how the system is optimized, or exactly how maintenance is scheduled, as long as Kaer delivers the agreed result.

That sounds straightforward, right? Theoretically, yes. In reality, not quite. Because the customer has to give up some control, and giving up control requires trust.

Transforming CX: From the Black Box to the Glass Box

Dave described one of the biggest lessons Kaer learned in a particularly memorable way.

Initially, the company thought about its operation as a black box. We'll take care of everything inside. You just care about the outcome.

But customers weren't necessarily comfortable with that. Imagine you've spent years owning and managing a critical piece of infrastructure. Suddenly, a provider tells you, essentially, “Don't worry about what we're doing. We'll take care of it.”

Even if the business case is compelling, that's a difficult psychological transition.

So Kaer changed its approach. Rather than a black box, it created a glass box.

Customers don't control how Kaer operates the system, but they can see what is happening. Through Kaer's customer experience application, customers can access the data and information that demonstrates performance, including historical temperatures, service records, checklists, and other documentation.

With the glass box, transparency replaces control. The customer doesn't need to dictate how the outcome is achieved. But they receive confidence that it is being achieved.

Organizations exploring servitization should pay close attention to this lesson Kaer learned. When you take responsibility for an outcome, you're not simply taking responsibility for the physical work. You're taking responsibility for creating enough confidence that the customer is comfortable allowing you to take control.

The 80/20 Lesson of Servitization Nobody Tells You

Another important consideration for anyone considering servitization is the reflection Dave shared on how Kaer's understanding of its own business changed as the company matured.

As a traditional contractor, the focus was largely on designing and installing equipment and ensuring it operated. With cooling as a service, Dave says, those technical activities represent only about 20% of the work.

The other 80% is managing the customer relationship: ensuring customers are happy, creating confidence, making the service auditable, and building the experience around the outcome. It's easy to focus solely on the commercial and operational aspects of moving to an outcome-based model, but it’s crucial to understand it’s more than that.

It's a customer experience transformation.

When you're selling equipment, the transaction has a relatively clear endpoint. When you're selling an outcome, the relationship is continuous. The customer needs to understand what they're receiving, trust that you're delivering it and have an easy way to engage with the information that matters to them.

As-a-Service Doesn’t Suit All

Another thing I appreciated about Dave's perspective is what he’s learned about what types of businesses “fit” the as-a-service model. He shares that, earlier on, he was of the mindset that anyone and everyone should consider the journey – but over time, he’s realized there are use cases where it simply doesn’t make sense.  In fact, he developed a framework of thinking about whether a product or industry is actually suited to as-a-service that considers two dimensions: complexity and cost.

If something is cheap and simple, customers may choose as-a-service primarily because it provides a better experience or greater convenience. If something is expensive but relatively simple, the economics and cost of capital become more important.

But when you move into products that are both expensive and highly complex, the opportunity becomes much more compelling (provided the provider has the expertise to operate and optimize them effectively). That's where cooling sits. The equipment itself matters, but so does the complexity of operating it well.

As Dave points out, buying the best equipment and installing it perfectly doesn't necessarily result in the best performance. Poor operation can dramatically increase energy consumption and carbon emissions. The ongoing optimization is where significant value can be created.

And that's a critical consideration for any organization thinking about servitization: Where is the expertise that your customer doesn't have, or doesn't want to develop themselves? That may be the real source of your service value.

AI Amplifies As-a-Service Capabilities, But it Can’t Become Another Black Box

Kaer began its AI journey in 2017, developing an AI platform to optimize cooling systems. The impact of AI in CaaS is that Kaer’s highest-performing system isn’t the newest, but the asset for which it has the most data.

The company's first cooling system installed in 2013 remains its highest-performing system, because it has accumulated the most data and that data allows Kaer's models to continually improve how the system is operated and optimized.

That's a powerful concept for asset-intensive industries: The value of an asset doesn't have to deteriorate simply because the asset ages. If data, intelligence, and optimization capabilities improve over time, the operational performance of that asset can actually become better understood and potentially better managed. AI is part of the mechanism through which an outcome is continuously improved.

While AI presents significant opportunity in as-a-service, it must be leveraged responsibly. Just as customers need transparency to trust an as-a-service provider, employees need transparency to trust AI.

Dave described the challenge of introducing AI into mission-critical cooling infrastructure. An AI system might identify an optimization opportunity, but if engineers don't understand or trust why the system is changing something, they may be reluctant to rely on it.

And unlike a consumer using an AI assistant, a cooling system can't simply produce an occasional bad answer. The consequences are far different.

Kaer addressed this by building a second validation layer around its machine learning. The AI can make recommendations, but those recommendations are checked against the physical realities of the system—thermodynamics, pump curves, fan curves ,and the defined service requirements—before action is taken.

That's a useful model for industrial AI more broadly: Intelligence needs guardrails.

The more mission-critical the environment, the more important it becomes to combine AI's ability to learn with domain expertise, physical constraints, safety mechanisms and transparency. The goal isn't simply to make AI autonomous, it's to make AI trustworthy enough to act.

Servitization Creates a Different Kind of Continuous Improvement

Perhaps the biggest lesson from Kaer's journey is that moving to as-a-service removes your endpoint, which changes the incentive structure around improvement.

If you're selling a piece of equipment, there’s a natural end to the transaction. When you're responsible for the outcome, you have a reason to keep asking:

  • Can we deliver this more efficiently?
  • Can we make the asset perform better?
  • Can we reduce energy consumption?
  • Can we improve reliability?
  • Can we make the customer experience easier?
  • Can we use what we've learned from one asset to improve another?

That creates a powerful feedback loop between operations, data, technology, and customer value. And it's one reason Kaer sees the as-a-service model continuing to expand into other industries. Dave points to the growing adoption of models such as lighting-as-a-service, transport-as-a-service, and data-as-a-service.

The Real Transformation is in the Relationship

Kaer's story is obviously about cooling, but the lessons are much broader. Servitization isn't simply about changing the contract from buying something to subscribing to something.

It requires organizations to reconsider:

  • What the customer is actually buying
  • Who owns the responsibility for the outcome
  • How much control the customer needs—and how much they are willing to give up
  • How transparency can replace control
  • What capabilities the provider must build to continuously improve
  • Where data and AI can create new value
  • How customers need to be supported through the behavioral shift
  • Whether the economics and complexity of the product actually make servitization a good fit

And perhaps most importantly, it requires a different definition of the customer relationship. When you sell a product, you give the customer ownership. When you sell an outcome, you ask them to give you some of that ownership back.

That's a much bigger shift than changing a pricing model; it is a shift in trust.

Kaer's experience suggests that the companies most likely to succeed will be those that understand this nuance. They won't simply tell customers, “Don't worry—we've got it.”

They'll say: “Let us take responsibility for the outcome. And we'll give you enough visibility, transparency, and confidence to know we're doing it well.”

Stay Connected

Subscribe to The INSIDER, our exclusive monthly newsletter, and get a first look at what’s new, what’s next, and what’s only shared with our inner circle.

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The Jigsaw Puzzle of Service Transformation at Alfa Laval

August 24, 2026 | 8 Mins Read

The Jigsaw Puzzle of Service Transformation at Alfa Laval

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By Sarah Nicastro, Founder and Editor in Chief, Future of Field Service

When organizations talk about transforming service, particularly given today’s pressures, the instinct is to look for the big move. Is it a new service strategy? A technology investment? A shift toward servitization? A new operating model? More digital services? Better talent?

The reality is that it’s all of those things—and none of them in isolation.

In a recent conversation for the UNSCRIPTED podcast, I spoke with Peter George, Head of Global Sales and Service for Alfa Laval’s Industrial Food and Heat Transfer Division, about the company’s journey to bring service into greater focus. I loved how Peter described that journey as a “big jigsaw puzzle with a lot of pieces.”

It’s an apt analogy.

Because what makes successful service transformation so complex is quite similar to the challenge of a jigsaw puzzle; it isn't simply that there are a lot of pieces, it’s that the pieces have to fit together just right to complete the vision.

You can’t redefine the service proposition without considering what that means for the people delivering it. You can’t ask technicians to become more consultative without giving them the competence, tools, and information to do so. You can’t build digital service capabilities without thinking about new roles and career paths. And you can’t expect the organization to invest differently in service if the business still fundamentally sees it as a reactive, break-fix function.

Service Transformation Starts with Changing the Vision You’re Aiming to Build

Historically, Alfa Laval viewed service as important—but, like many manufacturers with a strong product heritage, it didn't necessarily receive the same level of focus as product development.

That began to change as the company listened more closely to customers.

Peter explained that customer conversations were increasingly moving beyond traditional concepts like reliability and maintenance toward efficiency, sustainability, and ROI. Those are all areas where service can have significant impact, but they require a different way of not only thinking about but talking about service.

That became an important starting point: understanding that the value customers seek through their lens and allowing that to fundamentally change the service conversation.

Instead of, “Your machine is broken, and we can fix it,” the conversation becomes, “What are you trying to achieve, and how can we help you get more value from this asset across its lifecycle?”

That shift may sound subtle, but it has significant implications for everything that follows. And while the pieces to any one organization’s jigsaw puzzle will be unique, here are those that were vital to Alfa Laval’s success.

Puzzle Piece #1: Redefine the Service Vision

The first piece of Alfa Laval's puzzle was redefining what service should be.

The company brought service leaders together to establish a new service vision and then looked at its existing offerings through the lens of the customer lifecycle. Rather than simply retaining traditional service names and descriptions, the organization reconsidered how those offerings fit into the customer's journey and, critically, what value each one delivered.

That meant moving away from describing activities and toward describing outcomes. In the eyes of the customer, a reconditioning service isn't simply reconditioning. An upgrade isn't simply an upgrade.

What does that intervention enable the customer to accomplish? What happens when the equipment isn't performing as it should? What can be done to prevent recurring problems? How can the asset contribute more effectively to the customer's broader objectives?

And not only considering the view of the customer but adopting their language so that you express your understanding and so what you say resonates because it’s in their terms.

But redefining the offering creates another puzzle piece: if you're asking your people to have a different conversation with customers, they need to be equipped to have it.

Puzzle Piece #2: Build the Workforce Around the New Value Proposition

The frontline role changes when service changes.

A technician who is expected to simply diagnose and repair a problem has a different job from someone expected to act as a trusted advisor, identify opportunities to improve performance, and help a customer understand how to get more value from an asset.

Alfa Laval recognized that distinction. Peter emphasized the importance of attracting people with the right mindset and behaviors, but he also highlighted something that can sometimes get lost in conversations about frontline transformation: the human experience of doing the job.

For Peter, who began as a service engineer himself, work-life balance is one of the first considerations when thinking about attracting and retaining field service talent. Recognition, appropriate workload, training, tools and support all matter, but so does making sure people have a life outside of work.

Another important piece is career development. Not every field engineer wants to become a manager (nor should they). Alfa Laval has created learning programs and pathways that allow people to develop their skills and move into other roles when they're ready, including newer digital service roles.

That is a perfect example of why the puzzle pieces interconnect. Digital transformation creates new roles. New roles create new career opportunities. Career opportunities help attract and retain talent. And better talent enables the organization to deliver a more sophisticated service proposition.

Puzzle Piece #3: Give the Frontline Workforce the Tools to Succeed

One area Alfa Laval focused on was making information much more accessible to technicians in the field. For an OEM, critical information can live across multiple systems and repositories. A technician may need a drawing, parts list, standard operating procedure, or other piece of information while standing in front of equipment at a customer site.

Alfa Laval worked to centralize that information and make it accessible through tools such as IFS, reducing the friction involved in finding what technicians need to execute their work. The company also simplified reporting so technicians could complete documentation in real time rather than spending additional hours at the end of the day.

Notice the dual benefit here: Better technology can improve operational efficiency, but it can also improve employee experience.

Reducing administrative burden doesn't only mean a technician can potentially complete more jobs. It can mean less time spent working after hours, less frustration and more time away from work. That's an important mindset shift: technology investments shouldn't be evaluated solely through the lens of productivity. They can also be investments in the people who use them.

Puzzle Piece #4: Extend Beyond the Physical Field with Digital Services

As mentioned, Alfa Laval's transformation involved the creation of new digital capabilities. The company has established digital service centers where experts monitor connected equipment and provide predictive services. Those teams also act as a support mechanism for field engineers, helping them troubleshoot problems and access expertise when they need it. Alfa Laval has expanded this capability globally and incorporated technologies including augmented reality.

Again, this is more than the surface-level technology story. Digital service creates new capabilities for customers. It creates new support mechanisms for technicians. And it creates new career pathways for employees.

The pieces reinforce one another. The frontline doesn't become less important because digital capabilities expand. Instead, the definition of the frontline ecosystem becomes broader. Expertise can flow between the field and digital teams, with each making the other more effective.

Puzzle Piece #5: Create R&D Specifically for Service

Perhaps one of the most tangible indicators of Alfa Laval's changing perception and prioritization of service is the development of dedicated R&D activity for service.

Product R&D is a natural concept in a product manufacturer, of course. But service R&D requires a different mindset: proactively looking at what could be improved once products are in the field and creating new tools, services, or interventions to improve performance, efficiency, and customer value.

And critically, Alfa Laval's service organization is feeding those opportunities into dedicated R&D resources.

That creates a feedback loop: The field sees the opportunity. Service captures it. R&D develops it. The customer receives more value.

That is a very different model from waiting for something to break and then responding. It is service innovation becoming an intentional discipline, which only happens in a business that truly values the opportunity service presents.

Puzzle Piece #6: Build the Organizational Infrastructure Around Service

There's a lot of infrastructure required to make all this work. Peter talked about ensuring service has the right footprint, service centers, and infrastructure to support the installed base, while also embedding service systems into the broader IT landscape so employees can access the information they need seamlessly.

But it’s more than just infrastructure. It’s the understanding that to achieve true success, you have to accept that service transformation isn’t a “service initiative,” but rather a business transformation.

Marketing has a role because the organization needs to communicate value differently. HR has a role because talent models, career development, and employee experience have to evolve. R&D has a role because service opportunities need to influence innovation. IT has a role because information and systems need to support execution. Sales has a role because the conversation around customer value has to extend beyond the initial product sale.

In Peter's words, the transformation requires the whole organization to come along, not just service.

Advice for Service Transformation Success

The fact that the pieces can't be solved in isolation is, ultimately, what I find most compelling about the jigsaw puzzle analogy. The complexity isn't simply that there are many things to do; it's that each thing changes the requirements for the others.

Pull one piece out, and the picture changes. That's why transformation can feel overwhelming. There isn't necessarily one obvious starting point, and there certainly isn't one initiative that will solve everything. What’s helpful in achieving success is to understand upfront the interconnectedness of the pieces.

When I asked Peter what he found most challenging about this journey, it wasn’t the complexity itself he named, or any certain aspect of it, but rather the temptation to move too fast.  “Once you know what needs to change, the temptation is to move quickly,” he shares. “But transformation has to be digestible for the organization for it to work.”

Alfa Laval has deliberately brought the pieces together over time, allowing different functions to adapt and ensuring changes become embedded.

That may be one of the most important lessons for organizations embarking on their own transformation: Service transformation is not a project you complete; it's a new way of operating that you progressively build.

The goal isn't to put every piece in place as quickly as possible. It's to make sure the pieces fit—and that they stay in place.

There’s a wealth of knowledge in the full conversation with Peter, I’d recommend giving it a listen.

Stay Connected

Subscribe to The INSIDER, our exclusive monthly newsletter, and get a first look at what’s new, what’s next, and what’s only shared with our inner circle.

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August 10, 2026 | 7 Mins Read

Is Mentoring an Underutilized Aspect of Your Field Service Workforce Strategy?

August 10, 2026 | 7 Mins Read

Is Mentoring an Underutilized Aspect of Your Field Service Workforce Strategy?

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By Sarah Nicastro, Founder and Editor in Chief, Future of Field Service

We talk a lot about the future of the service workforce. And we’re going to do so again here, because it’s one of the biggest challenges the leaders I speak with face.

While the questions are infinite, we tend to focus on a few specific (and somewhat short-sighted) ones: How do we attract younger generations to careers in service? How do we compete for talent when the skills we need are increasingly scarce?

In last week’s article, I reflected on the reality that, while these questions are certainly important, we need to dive deeper if we want sustainable outcomes. As such, we need to explore questions like how do we retain experienced technicians long enough to transfer their knowledge? How do we create an employee experience compelling enough that people choose to build a career in service rather than simply passing through it?

There are many pieces that will play a role in solving the puzzle, including strong leadership, technology, career pathing, flexible work, better compensation, skills development and more.

But in last week’s UNSCRIPTED conversation with Samantha Campbell, Senior Director of Field Services at Brightstar Lottery and a 2025 Stand Out 50 leader, offered an additional puzzle piece that is both remarkably simple and, perhaps, more strategically significant than we give it credit for: “I don’t think we’re going to recruit our way out of this talent gap. We really have to mentor our way out of it.”

That statement stuck with me.

Because it acknowledges an important truth about the workforce challenge facing field service: we don't just have a talent acquisition problem. We have a talent development, knowledge transfer, belonging, and retention problem.

And mentoring has the potential to address all of those things at once.

Mentoring is More Than Developing Individual Talent

Samantha shared her experiences in mentoring from both sides of the relationship.

Throughout her career, she has had three mentors and a sponsor who profoundly influenced her development. What struck me was how she described those relationships—not simply as sources of advice, but as connections that ultimately gave her greater confidence, empathy, and perspective.

Like many find, those relationships didn't necessarily end when the formal mentoring arrangement did.

Her mentors became people she could continue to call for guidance. Some became friends. In other words, the value wasn't confined to a six-month program or a particular set of objectives.

We can approach mentoring as another box to check in a talent development strategy: Match people together. Establish some goals. Schedule meetings. Complete the program.

But the real power of mentoring is much more human than that.

It's having someone who knows your potential, challenges your thinking, helps you see possibilities you may not see yourself and gives you the confidence to take the next step.

And for field service, where experience and institutional knowledge are so valuable, that relationship can have an impact far beyond the individual.

Mentoring as a Tool for Knowledge Transfer

One of Samantha's most compelling observations was the opportunity for mentoring to serve as a mechanism for both knowledge transfer and confidence building.

One of the most significant challenges with the aging field service workforce is that many experienced employees have decades of knowledge that can't simply be captured in a manual or transferred through an online training course.

They know how to troubleshoot the unusual problem. They know what questions to ask a customer. They understand the nuances of a particular environment. They've developed judgment through years of experience.

The Best Mentoring Isn't Necessarily Top-Down

And that brings me to another lesson from Samantha and I’s discussion.

She shared a really fascinating and I think unique experience, in which she and a colleague were asked to mentor their CEO.

The objective was initially to help the CEO better understand the changing expectations of Millennials and Gen Z in the workplace. But the relationship evolved into something much more meaningful.

They researched what other companies were doing with emerging talent, explored how Brightstar could better leverage that talent and ultimately helped create an employee impact group called Next Gen, which continues today.

The experience reinforced something Samantha considers fundamental to effective mentoring: The best leaders remain curious.

Mentoring isn't simply about an experienced person imparting wisdom to someone with less experience. It can—and perhaps should more often than it does—work in both directions.

That is particularly relevant in field service today. The people closest to the work may have perspectives that leaders desperately need to hear. They may understand changing employee expectations, customer behaviors, or technology adoption in ways that aren't readily visible from the executive level.

A frontline employee doesn't need to have 20 years of experience to have something valuable to teach a leader. When mentoring is viewed in this mutually beneficial lens, there’s even more to gain.

If You Want Mentoring to Work, Prioritize and Protect It

When Samantha was mentoring the CEO, the COVID-19 pandemic began, and she assumed the program would be one of the first things to disappear as the business dealt with unprecedented operational pressure.

Instead, the CEO told them the mentoring session was the most important meeting on his calendar; that it would be protected regardless of what else was happening.

Think about the message that sends.

We talk constantly about employee engagement and whether people feel valued. We ask whether employees feel that their voices matter.

There may be few stronger ways to communicate that than to consistently show up.

If mentoring is always the meeting that gets moved when something “more important” comes along, we're telling people exactly where they sit on the priority list.

Samantha's experience was that protecting that time created loyalty and a deep sense of commitment, and she’s protected that time in the same was in all of her mentoring relationships since.

So there’s an opportunity with mentoring beyond launching a program. By protecting it, treating it as crucial, you send a message about how much you value your employees and their perspectives.

Structure Creates Accountability, Humanity Creates Impact

Samantha has been fortunate to work within a fairly structured mentoring program at Brightstar, and she identified several elements that have made it successful:

  1. Establishing a defined timeframe. For external mentoring relationships, she has found six to nine months to be an effective window. A defined endpoint gives both people the opportunity to establish goals and smaller milestones rather than allowing the relationship to become vague or perpetually deferred.
  2. Brightstar also builds in progress notes, feedback and check-ins that are driven by the mentee.
  3. Confidentiality is established from the beginning. That creates the psychological safety required for people to be honest.

But structure alone isn't enough to make mentoring successful.

Samantha's advice to mentors is remarkably simple: turn off the distractions, listen, and be vulnerable. Her phone isn't in the room during mentoring sessions. She makes a deliberate effort not to jump immediately to an answer. Instead, she tries to help the mentee work through their own logic and arrive at their own conclusions.

That distinction matters. The objective of mentoring isn't to create another version of the mentor. It's to help someone become a stronger version of themselves. And sometimes that means resisting the temptation to solve the problem for them.

Samantha highlighting vulnerability is important, because it’s something I think we underestimate in leadership generally.

She tries to demonstrate it early in mentoring relationships because it gives the other person permission to be honest and open as well.

That makes sense. It's difficult to ask someone to share what they're struggling with, where they lack confidence, or what they don't understand if you’re presenting yourself as someone who has everything figured out.

Mentoring works better when it feels like a human relationship rather than a performance review. And in field service, where many employees are accustomed to being measured primarily by operational outcomes, creating space for that kind of conversation can be especially meaningful.

Mentoring as a Broader Workforce Development Strategy

Perhaps the biggest opportunity for organizations isn't simply what happens between mentor and mentee. It's what happens because of those conversations.

At Brightstar, Samantha shared examples of mentoring relationships contributing to changes in communication across the field, culture, talent development, and career mapping.

Emerging talent gains visibility. Ideas move upward. Leaders gain perspective. Employees see that their experiences can influence the organization.

Brightstar has a process for anonymizing themes emerging from mentoring relationships and sharing those themes among mentors and leaders. That means the organization can learn from what employees are saying without compromising the confidentiality of individual mentoring relationships.

But if multiple mentoring relationships begin surfacing similar themes around communication, career progression, tools, culture or workload, the organization should be listening. Mentoring is an incredibly valuable listening mechanism.

And when employees see that something they raised ultimately contributes to positive change—even if their name is never attached to it—that creates another layer of value.

The company is listening to us.

That is where mentoring begins to move from an individual development initiative to a broader workforce strategy.

It’s been said by countless leaders on this platform: there is no future of service without people. We simply must undertake the hard work of determining not just how to attract new talent, but how to build fulfilled employees with long careers.

I loved Samantha’s take on the role mentoring can play in this process.  “Mentoring is one of the most human ways we can build a stronger business,” she said.

As we race to keep pace with technology and changing customer expectations, there is a risk that some of the practices that seem less “innovative”—mentoring, coaching, listening, relationship building—get pushed down the priority list.

But perhaps those are precisely the practices we need to protect.

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August 3, 2026 | 9 Mins Read

5 Frontline Insights That Should Shape Your Field Service Talent Strategy

August 3, 2026 | 9 Mins Read

5 Frontline Insights That Should Shape Your Field Service Talent Strategy

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By Sarah Nicastro, Founder and Editor in Chief, Future of Field Service

"Getting 300,000 people into a training program is not the same thing as getting 300,000 people into a career."
— Andrew Brown, Founder and CEO of Trades Media LLC

There have been numerous recent headlines about significant investments geared toward addressing the massive need for more skilled workers. Google recently announced a $50 million investment to help prepare more than 300,000 American workers across more than 20 states.

Maggie Johnson, Global Head of Google.org says, “Building and maintaining the infrastructure for America's future requires a massive, coordinated workforce of skilled tradespeople — from the welders and pipefitters securing complex cooling systems, to the electricians and fiber technicians powering advanced network grids. These jobs offer high-wage careers that can support local communities. There are hundreds of thousands of skilled trade roles currently open across the U.S waiting to be filled.”

Around the same time, Meta announced its America’s Workforce Academy (AWA) initiative in which it’ll invest $115 million in the first year. The program, which will launch in Louisiana, Ohio, Indiana, and Texas as the 2026 pilot locations, not only provides free training but also offers a guaranteed job for graduates.

Earlier in 2026, BlackRock’s Future Builders initiative was announced as a $100 million philanthropic initiative to reach 50,000 Americans with training and support to address urgent labor needs and promising to build long-term financial security for workers.

“Throughout our history, tradespeople have built our country,” said Larry Fink, Chairman and CEO of BlackRock in the release. “America needs an estimated $10 trillion in infrastructure investment by 2033 to modernize aging systems and build new energy, digital, and AI infrastructure. Capital alone is not enough – people are central to building our nation’s future. By bringing policymakers, corporate leaders and labor champions together, we’re helping ensure this growth delivers shared prosperity and greater economic mobility for more Americans.”

Recruitment is Only One Piece of the Puzzle

While it’s great to see programs like those outlined above being introduced, Andrew Brown, founder and CEO of Trades Media LLC, makes an excellent point in this Contractor Magazine article. He cautions, “Getting 300,000 people into a training program is not the same thing as getting 300,000 people into a career.”

Not only do I agree, but I’d take that point a step further – it isn’t the same as getting 300,000 people into a career, but even if it were – what will we do to keep them there?

BlackRock, Google, Meta and the like have a vested interest in the creation of programs like what’s outlined above. And that’s OK – to the extent they expand awareness of the career potential of many of these roles, in addition to the individuals they’ll directly help, it’s a win/win.

But there’s a sustainability piece of this puzzle that needs to be considered; recruiting more frontline workers only solves one part of the problem – arguably the easier part. Retention – the responsibility of the future employers of this talent - deserves equal, if not more, attention. This is a complex challenge because the expectations and desires of new talent entering the workforce differs from that of the talent aging out.

Companies don’t have an easy task at hand in shaping a strategy not only to create an employee experience that will flow over to the customer experience, but also to keep strong talent engaged, nurtured, and satisfied. But they must.

Tapping into the Voice of the Frontline

While the solution is individual to each organization, I do think there’s a wealth of insight that is often overlooked – the voice of the frontline. If leaders were to want to understand what matters most, what challenges are most difficult, what the organization does especially well, or what is lacking from the employee experience – they could unlock a treasure trove of perspective by simply asking.

This isn’t to say leaders don’t listen to the frontline – I think the good ones do. But when it comes to creating a talent strategy that’s fit for purpose in the future of service work, I think many avoid asking the questions because they’re unsure what to do with the answers. While I can empathize, ignoring the problem won’t make it go away.

In March we introduced a new monthly series of our weekly UNSCRIPTED podcast – Frontline UNSCRIPTED. After years of interviewing service leaders, I’ve learned so much after just a few short months of interviews with frontline talent. And it’s made me realize how much knowledge they hold, not only related to the problems they are responsible for solving each and every day, but that leaders could tap into to determine what’s likely to be successful in keeping employees happy and effective.

Understanding What Matters to Your Target Talent

As I look back through the four episodes we’ve released so far, there are already numerous insights to influence change. Here are five truths shared by our initial guests that send a strong signal to leaders about what matters most (which should influence how the talent strategy evolves):

  • A sense of purpose matters – and it motivates. In episode number one, Phil Manchester, Service Team Lead at AirTight FaciliTech spoke about what he loves most about his work. “I mean, it’s never good that someone has a problem, but it’s always a good feeling when you go in there and help. When they're sweating because it's 95 degrees out or their business is about to shut down, and you go in and you figure out what's wrong and fix it,” he explains. “You’ve made their day – they’re always so happy. You know? And that’s such a good feeling. Like, I didn’t save the world – but I definitely made their day better, which makes me feel better, and it makes me proud of what I’m doing.”

This sense of accomplishment – of making a difference – is appealing. And, as Phil mentions, it doesn’t have to be on the grandest of scales – service keeps the world running in a variety of ways; it’s the sense of fulfillment that comes from helping others that is significant, not necessarily the type of job being done.

  • One-size-fits-all leadership is out. Another really insightful point that came up during my conversation with Phil is the reality that today’s leaders must put in more effort to meet people where they are. In his team lead role, he’s learned a lot about communication preferences and has taken the onus to tailor his approach.

“With the older age group, people are a little bit more blunt a lot of the time, and you can just be straightforward to the point. Like – alright, let’s get off the phone – we don’t need to be talking all day. Which I like. With some of the younger guys, things have to be set a little nicer and maybe tiptoed around a little bit, which is not a problem. Everybody’s just a little different and learning that is the hardest part,” Phil explains. “If you're set in the ways of being too blunt and too honest and just here's your information, bye; it's not going to work for the younger generation. They want they want a little bit more of the why behind things. The younger guys on my team, I tell them to go do something and they ask why; why am I doing that? They don’t know why – so, I’ll show them, we’ll go over it, and I’ll explain why we do what we do. You can take this as someone talking back to you, or you can take it as them wanting to learn. They don’t want to just be told what to do, they want to understand. It presents its challenges, but it’s a good thing – it means they’re hungry for knowledge, and I love that.”

  • A path for growth is crucial. In our second episode, Jacob Brumbelow, a service technician at MaxAir Mechanical, spoke about the fact that having opportunities to grow are something he prioritizes in any career decision. “Growth my number one in terms of what’s important. If there's a ceiling, it’s a no for me,” he says. “In this industry, it feels like there's so many different opportunities for growth to develop myself to be the best me that I can be. And that's something that I really value, and which pulls me forward, that personal growth. Of course, how the company treats their employees, how they value them, matters too. The company I’m at does a great job of making you feel seen, listening to your thoughts and opinions, and including you.”

There’s plenty of data that supports this desire is widely shared. What I think companies should try harder to understand is how progression is a motivating factor. Often leaders assume this drive is a delusional ‘race to the top’ or tied directly to seeking dollars, but in reality, progression offers a sense of achievement, development, and accomplishment. This emotional fulfillment isn’t the only objective, but it would be worthwhile to consider it further.

Further, companies need to determine a path for growth that isn’t dependent on promoting each field engineer to supervisor to manager to director and so forth. Not every frontline employee that desires progression wants to manage a team – and not every service leader who’s been given a team to lead should have been. Quality of leadership is so important in today’s ever-changing landscape; companies need to adapt accordingly.

  • Flexibility and work-life balance need to be reimagined. In our third episode, I spoke with Fernando Ferreyra, Service Engineer for the Technical Solutions Center at QuidelOrtho, who used to be a field engineer and then took his current remote role. “This role has the benefit of work-life balance. Now I get to work from home, which was really appealing to me,” he says. “I was already in this position when my wife decided to go back to school to become a nurse practitioner. Now that I'm working from home, it's easier for her to go back into her career.”

Companies will be well-served to put more time and effort into considering how to leverage today’s digital capabilities to offer greater flexibility to the frontline. Individuals want to feel some autonomy – there are plenty of options to provide that sense in a way that’s aligned to what the company needs to achieve. Tomorrow’s talent will demand it, in my opinion.

  • In the AI era, the impact of the soft (or human) skills of the frontline are magnified. For our fourth episode, I talked with Marina George, who at the time was a Field Service Engineer at Oxford Instruments, about her path into field service and what she’s learned in the role. She came in well-prepared technically, but less so from a soft skills perspective.

“So, I came in, and I know the technical details. And I know how academia works, but everybody has so many different personalities and different goals. There is a really large range of personalities and also priorities from customers,” she says. “The biggest piece of advice that I got was to just be myself. You don't need to perform. You don't need to have a specific way to work with customers. If you just come to the customer as yourself, like another human being and say, okay. Number one, I’m listening. I hear what you're saying. This is our plan. And then following up on the plan. That was really important advice, because in our tool belt we have all of these sophisticated skills, but I wasn’t really sure how to act or what to say.”

Marina’s experience is food for thought when we consider not only the historical tendency to not provide enough soft skills training, but how the frontline role will evolve as a result of AI and automation. I’d venture to guess those human skills become the priority, and companies should be both seeking and supporting talent in ways that align.

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July 27, 2026 | 3 Mins Read

Investing in Service-Led Growth

July 27, 2026 | 3 Mins Read

Investing in Service-Led Growth

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By Sarah Nicastro, Founder and Editor in Chief, Future of Field Service

Last week, Otis reported its Q2 earnings. Via LinkedIn, Chair and CEO Judy Marks credited “strong momentum in our service business helped drive a solid second quarter.” She also shared that “as we look to the second half of the year, we are taking a measured approach while remaining confident in the durability of our service-led growth model. Continued investments in service quality, pricing initiatives and digital technology are strengthening execution across our global operations and creating a foundation for sustainable growth and long-term value creation.”

On the company’s website, the news release states that for Q2, net sales were up 7% and organic sales up 6%, driven by service net sales up 11% with organic sales up 9%. In the release, Marks also states, “We remain confident in the long-term growth opportunities across our service portfolio. An aging installed base and our customers' increasing focus on reliability, uptime and service quality are driving favorable demand in both modernization and repair, contributing to drive sustained growth and value creation."

The Delta Between Service Potential and Execution

Reading this news took my mind right back to the findings of the joint research we conducted in late 2025 with Simon-Kucher. That research, worth digging into if you haven’t, illustrated the following:

  • The positive sentiment about the opportunity for service-led growth
  • The gap between the potential that exists and the services being delivered today (only 2% of respondents currently offered outcomes-based services)
  • The challenges that exist in bridging that gap, which range from business identity and digital sophistication to workforce woes and commercial immaturity

That research acted as a springboard for a variety of discussions on the themes throughout, including a series of podcast conversation where leaders across industries weighed in and shared insights from their businesses:

Understanding Common Challenges

While it’s been really interesting to learn more about how different companies approach service-led growth, it’s particularly insightful to understand where the common challenges lie. In a leadership summit at Simon-Kucher’s NYC office in February, the conversation homed in on a major one: defining the field technician’s role in the sales process.

This topic became the premise for a workshop that the Simon-Kucher team ran at our Future of Field Service Live event in NYC in June, again sparking strong engagement from the leaders in attendance and a variety of ideas on what works best (and what won’t work at all). The Simon-Kucher team recently published this article on how to design field service compensation that drives value without breaking trust.

While the role the frontline plays in sales growth is a big decision, it’s far from the only challenge to solve. Foundationally, a business has to agree and align on the service potential and what service-led growth will require and entail. The research also showed how businesses who are lagging in digital sophistication will struggle to achieve growth goals without a modern and capable tech stack in place.

What More Motivation is Needed?

Let’s revisit the quote above from Marks:

We remain confident in the long-term growth opportunities across our service portfolio. An aging installed base and our customers' increasing focus on reliability, uptime and service quality are driving favorable demand in both modernization and repair, contributing to drive sustained growth and value creation.

She speaks directly to what customers are seeking: reliability, uptime, and service quality. Those demands are not unique to Otis’ industry. Nor are the long-term growth opportunities that she references.

I’m not sure what more motivation businesses need to seize the service potential – to invest in service-led growth. While some continue to ponder the opportunities or the path or the play or let strong emotional ties to the business’s product legacy prevent forward progress, companies like Otis are doubling down.

And there are very clear cues in Judy’s wording to what it takes:

  • A measured approach
  • Continued investments
  • Digital technology

See, service growth doesn’t come without proper investment. Of mindset, vision, strategy, digital capabilities, change leadership, workforce development, and so on. The businesses of tomorrow will reap the seeds they are sowing today - what will your service investment yield?

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July 20, 2026 | 4 Mins Read

6 Specific Superpowers of Stand Out Service Leaders

July 20, 2026 | 4 Mins Read

6 Specific Superpowers of Stand Out Service Leaders

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By Sarah Nicastro, Founder and Editor in Chief, Future of Field Service

Last week, Berend Booms of Future of Assets published a podcast with guest Brianna Sylver, author of the book Leading Through Freefall, How Innovators Turn Turbulence into Trust. The episode centered around how leaders can find their superpower(s) and it was excellent food for thought.

Their discussion left me thinking about the superpowers I’ve witnessed among service leaders and what commonalities exist. Of course, each individual person, and leader, has superpowers all their own – leaning into your own unique authenticity I believe is an important superpower in and of itself.

But having spent time with hundreds of service leaders who I respect and admire, there are some other specific superpowers that seem to surface time and again. Or perhaps the better way to put it is that these seem to be practices and behaviors that nurture or even foster their leadership superpowers. In my observation, it’s the following actions that stand-out service leaders not only embrace but honor and protect.

#1: Non-Negotiable Investment in Facetime

These service leaders don’t take part in ride-alongs as a check-box exercise or during a once-a-year PR field trip. Rather, they understand that any leadership superpower they have is cultivated by the relationships built with in-person interactions and the understanding gleaned from spending ample time amongst the real-world experiences and challenges.

#2: Assiduous Problem Solving

Sure, all leaders (at least hypothetically) are problem solving. But service leaders problem solve tirelessly and in a multi-faceted context.

In one of my all-time favorite podcast quotes, retired service leader Tim Spencer said, “Staying put is the same as moving backwards. I tried to find something, always, that needed a fix. And I looked to others to help me figure it out. Then you iterate or innovate on that or find the next business problem to solve. A leader is always on the hunt for the next problem to solve, because every business has a problem somewhere. If you think you don’t, well, there it is.”

This is true in solving customer problems, in solving the challenges your teams face in servicing your customers, and in ensuring technology investments are made that align to the real-world problems that need addressed.

#3: Persistent Perspective

All that problem solving could weigh on someone, right? Not these leaders, they are built differently. There’s a relentless perspective they have; a deep understanding that at the root cause of each problem lies opportunity.

Rather than become burdened by the constant flow of problems to solve, they are energized by what lies beneath. Today’s customer challenges are tomorrow’s value proposition; today’s frontline woe is tomorrow’s chance to improve performance and retention.

#4: Expert Stakeholder Translation

 Service leaders have a unique position of context – intimately understanding business objectives, customer needs, and frontline sentiment. Those who hone expertise in translating among or between those viewpoints see the greatest success.

A leader who can not only articulate customer needs but shed light on how the company could better meet those needs positions service as potential for growth. A leader who can communicate the company’s need for a certain change in terms of a “why” that the frontline grasps yields better acceptance and engagement.

#5: Deeply People-Centric

“Service is a people business,” is a statement that these service leaders not only say but truly believe. Yes, they are looking at how to incorporate AI and embrace the next levels of digital sophistication – but to amplify the talents of their people, not to replace them.

Service leaders know that customers build relationships to and loyalty with individuals, not systems, products, or a brand. They reflect this understanding in how they maintain relationships with their team, how they encourage relationships among teams, and how they empower teams to serve customers with not only efficiency but personality.  

#6: Master Multi-Taskers

Finally, these leaders are master multitaskers. They hold the company objectives and customer view in parallel. They optimize today’s business while owning a vision for the future. They manage today’s workforce while reimagining what tomorrow’s needs. They execute using existing tech stacks while modernizing to better meet today (and tomorrow’s) demands. And so much more!

These reasons (and more) are why we’re proud to celebrate service leaders each year with our Stand Out 50 leadership awards. Nominations close this Friday, July 24th so if you think of a service superhero when you read this article, recognize them today here: https://www.futureoffieldservice.com/stand-out-50/

You can listen to the conversation with Berend and Brianna that inspired this article here.

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July 13, 2026 | 4 Mins Read

Striking Out: What a 12U Baseball Team Taught Me About Leadership, Failure, and Culture

July 13, 2026 | 4 Mins Read

Striking Out: What a 12U Baseball Team Taught Me About Leadership, Failure, and Culture

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By Sarah Nicastro, Founder and Editor in Chief, Future of Field Service

I’ve just got home from watching my son Evan’s second-to-last baseball game of the season. He’s played soccer/football and basketball for years but decided just last fall to try out baseball – this is his second season, on a 12U team named the Mighty Ducks. Game after game we’ve watched him try with all he’s got to get a hit, but all season long that hit has eluded him.

He’s been walked numerous times (if you’ve not witnessed it, kid-pitch baseball at the 10–12-year-old age isn’t always smooth) but has struck out plenty. Striking out is hard, but I’d argue watching your young son strike out is even harder. Every game he goes in hopeful he’ll make it happen, but thus far he’s not had success (he did have a couple hits his first season, so I’m not quite sure what it’s all about).

As he heads up to bat, I hold my breath hoping for him he cracks one – just one! And tonight, with the season winding down, I was reflecting on a few things.

Staying Positive

One is how I handle “striking out” – how any of us, as individuals, deal with our shortcomings. I’ve been really proud of how Evan has stayed committed, focused, and generally positive.

Last week I recorded a podcast that I’m excited for you to listen to next month (if you didn’t see, we’re taking the month of July off from publishing new episodes) with rockstar union plumber, nonprofit founder, and tradeswoman evangelist Judaline Cassidy. She said to me that one of her mantras is, “today’s no is tomorrow’s yes.” But she was also clear that having that mindset doesn’t mean a no (or a strike out) is easy or doesn’t hurt. It does hurt, but she keeps going.

We talk often about how much there is to learn from failure – but in many instances, that learning isn’t automatic; it requires effort. It’s far easier to blame external factors than it is to look inward. Owning your strike out, reflecting on what you can do differently, and trying just as hard the next time takes character.

The Impact of Strong Leadership

But as I watched Evan’s game unfold tonight, I couldn’t help but think about the impact of how coaches (or leaders) handle failure and what that does to the morale (or culture) of the team. Leadership sets the tone, and the Mighty Ducks coaches have set the bar high.

They’ve stayed steady, offered constructive feedback, and have always maintained a positive tone. They’ve encouraged risk-taking and, when some risks inevitably fail, have celebrated the effort over the outcome – building confidence among these young kids to keep aiming high. Perhaps most importantly to my mama heart, they’ve offered endless, genuine encouragement.

Their leadership has had a ripple effect across the team that has been amazing to watch. These boys cheer each other on at every at-bat; Evan’s teammates have not once shown frustration at his striking out. Even when the bases are loaded and he’s the third out, they tell him good try and give him a high-five. They all do this for one another, celebrating each other’s successes and supporting one another through moments of failure. The result is a team where every individual feels they belong and an environment where everyone is comfortable trying their best.

While we talk a lot about it “being OK to fail,” leadership in action often doesn’t back up the words. In this podcast with Gyner Ozgul, CEO of Fortis Fire and Safety, we explore some of the “untold truths” of service leadership. We discuss the risk of avoiding failure, but also how some leaders inadvertently create more anxiety among the workforce with failure-is-ok platitudes.

Gyner says, “If you don't define the boundaries as a leader for that employee, you may think you're empowering them to go do something cool and, you know, do it on their own and learn. But what you're also doing in parallel is you're creating a lot of anxiety for that person.” Your team needs to know how success is defined, what parameters around failure will be tolerated, and how you’ll support them along the way.

While it’s been challenging for me to see Evan struggle to get a hit this season, it’s been heartwarming to see how the support of strong leadership has helped him grow.

Speaking of strong leadership, one of the initiatives I’ll be putting time into during our podcast sabbatical is the Stand Out 50 Leadership Awards. Nominations are open until July 24th; get yours in before it’s too late!

We’ll announce this year’s winners live from our London event on September 24th – we’ve booked a wonderful venue and will publish the agenda soon; save your spot to join us.

Stay Connected

Subscribe to The INSIDER, our exclusive monthly newsletter, and get a first look at what’s new, what’s next, and what’s only shared with our inner circle.

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June 29, 2026 | 5 Mins Read

Service Organization vs. Service Business: The Mindset Distinction that Defines Opportunity

June 29, 2026 | 5 Mins Read

Service Organization vs. Service Business: The Mindset Distinction that Defines Opportunity

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For years, service leaders have focused on optimizing their own operations. Improve response times. Increase first-time fix rates. Drive technician productivity. Improve customer satisfaction scores.

Yes, those priorities remain important—essential, in fact. The challenge is that they are no longer enough.

Not long ago, operational excellence was a competitive differentiator. Today, it's table stakes. Customers expect providers to deliver efficient, reliable service. They expect organizations to leverage technology, improve productivity, and continuously enhance performance.

Businesses who are leading the way in service today and that will excel in the years ahead understand that success doesn’t hinge on who can optimize their own businesses best but is won by those that help their customers optimize theirs.

This topic was the focus of a recent conversation I had with Brad Haeberle, EVP of Services for Smart Infrastructure Buildings at Siemens. Throughout our discussion, Brad shared a perspective that I believe represents an important evolution in how service leaders think about growth, innovation, and value creation.

The Shift from Internal Service Metrics to Delivering Customer Outcomes

One of the most impactful observations Brad shared was how his perspective has evolved over time. Like many service leaders, he spent years focused on optimizing service delivery. But a defining moment during the 2008 financial crisis changed the way he thought about customer value.

As organizations faced budget pressures, customers began asking difficult questions. "What am I actually getting from this contract?" The answers, Brad recognized, often centered on tasks being performed rather than outcomes being achieved.

That experience fundamentally changed his approach.

Today, he believes service organizations need to begin with a different question entirely: "What is the KPI that your customer is using to run their business? And how is that affecting the mission of their business?"

We’ve all heard “outside-in” countless times, and it sounds simple. But many service organizations still spend the majority of their time discussing internal metrics. Utilization. First-time fix. SLA compliance. Cost reduction. Productivity.

Again, these metrics matter. But customers don't wake up each morning thinking about your utilization rate. They wake up thinking about their own objectives.

They think about reducing costs, improving efficiency, managing workforce challenges, minimizing risk, achieving sustainability goals, or driving revenue growth. The more closely service organizations align their offerings to those priorities, the more indispensable they become.

Customer Centricity Requires Curiosity—And Aligned Action

Another point from our discussion challenged a common assumption about customer-centricity. Organizations often talk about listening to customers, gathering feedback, and responding to requests. Those activities are important. But Brad made an important distinction.

"Customers can't tell you what they want,” he said. “They can tell you their problems."

When you think about the most transformative innovations in any industry, customers rarely design the solution themselves. What they articulate is the challenge.

It’s the responsibility of the service organization to understand those challenges deeply enough to envision new possibilities.

This requires more than surveys or quarterly business reviews. It requires observation. It requires curiosity. And it requires combining customer insight with domain expertise and emerging technological capabilities.

And Brad offered an important reminder as he described how some of the most meaningful innovations emerge from frontline interactions—a technician solving a customer problem in a unique way or a salesperson recognizing an unmet need.

Those moments may not immediately appear groundbreaking. But when organizations create mechanisms to capture, scale, and refine those ideas, they often become the foundation for entirely new service offerings.

The Difference Between a Service Organization and a Service Business

While I often use the terms service organization and service business interchangeably, Brad’s insights illustrate the clear difference between the two.

A service organization focuses on delivering services efficiently.

A service business focuses on creating growth through services.

The difference is significant, first in mindset and then in the results that follow.

Organizations focused solely on operational delivery often spend most of their energy improving existing offerings.

Service businesses are constantly looking beyond what exists today.

They ask questions such as:

  • What customer challenges remain unsolved?
  • What adjacent opportunities exist?
  • How can we create entirely new sources of value?
  • What markets could we serve differently?

As Brad explained, sustainable growth requires organizations to continuously place calculated bets on new ideas and opportunities. Growth doesn't happen by maintaining the status quo.

It comes from identifying opportunities that competitors haven't recognized yet and creating solutions that help customers achieve better outcomes. That mindset becomes increasingly important as technology accelerates and customer expectations continue to evolve.

Digital Is Most Powerful When It Multiplies Human Expertise

No conversation about the future of service would be complete without discussing digital transformation. And for service businesses, the next era of digital intelligence offers an expanded opportunity to scale customer outcomes.

Brad views digital as a multiplier. At Siemens, significant effort has gone into building digital capabilities that allow teams to monitor systems remotely, analyze performance, identify issues proactively, and generate recommendations before a technician ever arrives onsite.

Instead of spending valuable time gathering information and diagnosing issues, technicians can focus on solving problems and creating value. As Brad described it, technicians increasingly arrive onsite already knowing where issues exist and what actions are most likely to resolve them.

The result is faster outcomes for customers and more impactful work for employees.

Staying Relevant Requires Constant Learning

Perhaps my favorite part of the conversation came toward the end when we discussed change fatigue.

Every organization is navigating tremendous transformation right now. AI is evolving rapidly. Customer expectations continue to rise. Business models are shifting. And leaders are under pressure to keep moving forward.

Brad acknowledged that maintaining momentum isn't always easy. But he also shared a perspective that I believe is critical for service leaders: Organizations that continue learning are organizations that continue growing.

That learning doesn't happen exclusively through formal programs or strategic planning sessions. It happens through customer conversations. It happens through peer discussions. It happens through industry events. It happens through experimentation. And sometimes it happens by simply paying attention to ideas that originate outside your own industry.

Throughout our conversation, one theme remained consistent: curiosity creates opportunity. Organizations that stay curious are more likely to spot emerging trends, identify unmet customer needs, and recognize new paths for growth.

The organizations that will thrive in the years ahead will be those that combine operational excellence with deep customer understanding.

They will move beyond optimizing their own businesses and focus on helping customers optimize theirs.

Because in a world where operational excellence is increasingly expected, creating customer outcomes—not simply delivering service—becomes the true competitive advantage.

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June 22, 2026 | 7 Mins Read

What If Your Future Best Technician Doesn't Know Field Service Exists?

June 22, 2026 | 7 Mins Read

What If Your Future Best Technician Doesn't Know Field Service Exists?

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By Sarah Nicastro, Creator and Editor in Chief, Future of Field Service

One of the themes that has come up repeatedly in conversations throughout my career is how many people serendipitously end up in field service. That includes myself – I wrote about my foray into field service here.

The elusiveness of how to describe the vast potential within the breadth of industries that make up ‘field service’ is a massive challenge. This challenge at least in part explains how rarely these careers are modeled to young talent and how often individuals “land” in field service without ever even knowing it existed.

On last week’s episode of Frontline UNSCRIPTED, Marina George, a Field Service Engineer at Oxford Instruments, she shared her own story that perfectly illustrates the narrow view of career paths we offer to students and young adults. As a child, Marina wanted to be a doctor. She loved science, and in her mind, as it is for so many young people interested in science, healthcare represented the obvious path.

"There really only seemed to be one career trajectory available with my love of science, which is being a doctor," she reflected. This summarizes well the way we generalize entire fields that represent hundreds of career paths into one of a handful of options kids know to consider or select for their future.

Years later, after pursuing undergraduate research, earning a PhD, completing a postdoctoral fellowship, and managing advanced microscopy technologies, Marina discovered field service.

A technology provider she had built a relationship with while setting up a laboratory suggested she consider a role within their business. Until that moment, Marina hadn't realized that a career existed that would allow her to combine her passion for science, technology, problem-solving, and helping people.

That conversation changed everything.

Today, she spends her days supporting researchers and scientists using some of the most advanced imaging technology available—while building relationships with customers and helping shape future product innovation.

Her story emphasizes an important question: How do we change the reality that much of the talent we seek aren’t aware that careers in field service exist?

The Visibility Problem: Painting a Narrow View of Career Opportunities

When we ask children what they want to be when they grow up, the answers tend to be remarkably consistent: doctor, teacher, firefighter, police officer, athlete, veterinarian.

There's nothing wrong with any of those careers. But they represent only a tiny fraction of the opportunities available. The challenge is how we help young people also see the diverse careers that sit adjacent to those familiar professions.

As Marina pointed out, every iconic profession has an entire ecosystem of supporting roles behind it. "I feel like all the careers that we see are these different icons, and kids don't realize that they have a whole team supporting them as well," she said. "Doctors, nurses; lawyers, paralegals—there are all of these extra careers that are part of that one piece."

Field service is an example of this that reaches across countless industries.

A student interested in science may never learn that they could spend their career installing, maintaining, troubleshooting, and optimizing cutting-edge scientific equipment. Someone fascinated by technology may never discover a role that combines technical expertise with customer engagement, travel, problem-solving, and innovation.

Yet these are precisely the types of careers many organizations are struggling immensely to fill.

I don’t have the answers on how, but I do believe that to adequately address talent shortages and create workforce sustainability, we need to expand awareness. We need to help young people understand not only the professions they recognize, but the countless opportunities that exist around them.

The Frontline Role: Technical Skills are Just the Start

What’s so interesting about Marina's story isn’t just how she found field service, but also what she discovered once she got there.

Like many people entering technical roles, she expected technology to be the primary focus. What she didn't anticipate was how much of her success would depend on relationships. "The biggest part that I love about my role is building that relationship with the customer," she said.

Working with highly sophisticated microscopy systems, Marina often finds herself spending hours alongside researchers in laboratories, helping them solve problems, navigate challenges, and maximize the value of their equipment.

Those interactions create something far more valuable than transactional support; they create trust. And trust creates insight.

Because field service engineers are often present during critical moments, they hear things customers don't always share through formal channels. "They really tell you what they want," Marina explained. "There's something special about that in-person, face-to-face human connection."

It's a reminder that while organizations continue investing in customer experience programs, surveys, and analytics, some of the richest customer intelligence still comes from the people closest to the customer.

The frontline doesn't just solve problems, they intimately understand them in a way that can help refine, improve, and expand your business if you harness that knowledge.

The Simplest Advice That Unlocks The Human Side of Field Service

While Marina has come to really enjoy and value customer relationships, she first had to overcome a challenge many frontline professionals face: developing confidence in customer interactions.

She admitted that when she first entered the role, the technical side felt comfortable. The human side felt less certain. She worried about how to communicate with customers. How to handle difficult conversations. How to interact with senior leaders and highly accomplished researchers.

The advice she received from leadership was surprisingly simple. "Just be yourself," she said was the encouragement she received.

At first glance, maybe that advice could seem almost too simplistic. But the more I interact with professionals across all levels of organizations and within various industries, the more I believe that authenticity is one of the most powerful relational skills anyone can develop.

Customers don't expect perfection. They expect honesty. They expect empathy. They expect someone who listens. We are best equipped to exhibit those characteristics when we aren’t expending energy trying to perform our role in the way we believe we’re supposed to, but are empowered to fulfill our role as our genuine selves.  

Marina described how transformative it was to stop viewing interactions as performances and instead approach them as conversations between people. "Remembering that they're just people as well" became a mindset that helped her build confidence, whether she was working with researchers, executives, or laboratory leaders.

We know that today’s demands of the frontline extend far beyond technical skills; in fact, most leaders I speak with agree that the most impactful frontline capabilities are fundamentally human. Marina’s story about the advice she received and how it gave her the confidence she needed to build such deep customer relationships should prompt leaders to consider the value of trusting the talent you’ve chosen to do the job you’ve chosen them to do in a way that fits who they are.

What’s the Future of Career Growth in Field Service?

Another topic Marina and I explored was one that continues to surface across the industry: career progression. Historically, field service careers followed a fairly predictable path. Engineer becomes supervisor, supervisor becomes manager, manager becomes director, and so on.

But today's workforce increasingly wants progression and growth, which makes that traditional path an issue. Some talent wants a path to growth but don’t necessarily want to move into leadership, and organizations can’t simply promote everyone to a sea of leaders.

Marina believes organizations are missing opportunities if they fail to create broader career pathways for frontline talent. After all, field service professionals develop unique expertise that combines rich technical knowledge with an immersion in real-world operating environments and deep customer intimacy.

"Field service engineers are with the product every day," Marina said. "They're seeing things maybe the factory hasn't even seen."

That knowledge can create tremendous value across organizations—in product development, quality, applications, customer success, training, innovation, and beyond.

The challenge isn't finding career paths, but rather intentionally creating them—and adapting the organization to a model where frontline talent is farmed to various parts of the business rather than expected to stay in that role for 10, 15, 20 years (which simply isn’t realistic today).

The Opportunity Ahead

What I appreciated most about Marina's perspective is how her personal understanding of what field service is and what it represents to the business mirrors what we discuss often from a business standpoint:

Field service isn't simply about fixing equipment. It's about enabling outcomes. It's about building trust. It's about helping customers achieve what they're trying to accomplish.

Through this lens, the opportunity that exists for service businesses is exciting, but so too is the incredible potential for fulfilling careers. The challenge is articulating that potential and finding new ways to help talent see all that field service offers.

Because somewhere right now is a student just like Marina once was who also loves science, technology, problem-solving, and helping people but who has never heard of field service.

Yes, that is one of our biggest challenges, but it’s also one of our greatest opportunities.

Stay Connected

Subscribe to The INSIDER, our exclusive monthly newsletter, and get a first look at what’s new, what’s next, and what’s only shared with our inner circle.

Related Content

8 Traits the Next Era of Service Transformation Will Demand from Leaders

Building High-Performing Field Service Teams: From Technical Skills to Transformational Behaviors

From Crisis to Innovation: How Authenticity and AI Are Reshaping B2B Publishing and Field Service

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