Working: When success is more than a title

When Jay Topper goes to work at language software firm Rosetta Stone, he sees success in a lot of places — even on his business card.

Topper’s title is senior vice president, customer success, and many of the more than 500 full-time Rosetta Stone employees  in his department have success in their job titles, too. They focus on customer success — helping them achieve their foreign language goals by using the services they’ve already paid for.

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Based on a count of LinkedIn members who live within 50 miles of Washington, there are 137 people in these parts who have “success” in their current titles. They hold positions in a variety of occupations and industries — from student success coaches at high schools and universities to client success managers at software companies. There’s a math success coach at the University of Maryland and a chief success executive who doubles as a trainer and motivational speaker.

Experts say the titles are a way for businesses to reinforce behavior they’d like to sere among employees and to brand themselves with customers.

Douglas McCabe, a professor of management at the Georgetown University McDonough School of Business, says something almost cosmic happens when someone is given such an exalted title. “Titles are a form of recognition,” McCabe says, “and research shows that recognition is a motivator.”

Nevertheless, he added, “if overused, giving recognition where recognition is not due would diminish the effect.”

For some people, it’s not enough to be simply a life coach, nutritionist or diet counselor. They now go by the title of success coach.

Count Zenobia Garrison among them. She is a full-time career counselor at Montgomery College and a success coach on the side who helps women launch their businesses while still working. She started on the road to success and self-employment more than two years ago, by taking professional coach training.

Does she worry that so strongly identifying with success will subject her and her clients to ridicule from people who may not consider them there yet?

She acknowledges that the title sets the bar high — after all, it does imply that the person provides insights into winning and achievement.

“Success is an inside-out job,” Garrison said. Yet when you use the word in your title or business name, she said, “it’s important not to use the word flimsily. You really should have some proven results to back it up.”

Garrison said she tries to avoid the question ‘Am I credible enough?’ and focuses instead on staying “a little bit ahead of the person I’m serving.”

Renessa Boley says clients of her success coaching business want support and insights in one of five areas: money, health or energy, love, freedom and purpose or passion. “Success is more than a career — it’s a 360-degree view of your life,” she said. Some of them are surprised that advancement in business does not translate into success in love. Others, she said, attained their dream career and found it was “empty at the end of the day.”

That could be her story: She spent 15 years as a management consultant and “I was utterly miserable” on the inside, she recalled. So about five years ago she quit: “I dove headlong into personal growth for me.” As she discovered she wanted to coach others, her success measures swung from money and prestige to freedom and time to live a full life that includes a boyfriend on the West Coast.

She said she feels some pressure to live the values and approach she espouses. “I make sure my nose is clean before I go out there and wipe someone else’s. You have to be aligned and you have to be true.”

Topper of Rosetta Stone works in what some may consider an Orwellian-sounding Department of Customer Success. Some of its best employees are the most avid users of the language programs. They use that to cultivate relationships with customers.

“We’re focused on your happiness and your usage,” Topper said. Eventually, though, customers who enjoy the online assistance and games happily sign up for more months of tools. “If we keep you happy, it’s easy to fork over $20 a month,” he said.

He savors the notion that he’s in a new niche of customer success departments.

“What an incredible challenge,” he said.

Lessons from the success crew

1. Be very clear about your goals and aspirations — and then understand the path and transitions needed to get there.

2. Know what drives you — and what measures of success matter to you and your team.

3. Sometimes “those little bitty decisions” that take 20 minutes out of your day can keep you going on the right path to success, Renessa Boley said.

4. Consider the trade-offs so you can achieve what’s really important to you. You may live in a smaller house but you will have more money to travel or invest in your goals.