Defining a customer leadership role.

Define a role spanning the whole customer journey.

Air New Zealand’s Customer Touchpoints tribe lead covered physical and digital experiences, from booking through to disembarkation. The role reported to the Chief Customer Officer and worked closely with the Chief Digital Officer.

Stakeholders brought different priorities. An internal product/customer leader was covering the responsibilities and remained a candidate for the permanent role.

Search for customer leadership beyond familiar titles.

I interpreted the remit, researched the candidate market and advised stakeholders on possible profiles. Working with the corporate People GM helped us bring the customer and digital perspectives together.

Each tribe already had a digital lead. I focused the search on customer and journey leadership, commercial breadth and digital fluency, rather than duplicating technical ownership. This opened up candidates across aviation and banking.

My preferred external candidate was a US-based leader with airline operations, customer leadership and technology-enabled commercial experience.

Work through remuneration and relocation.

I worked with remuneration colleagues and stakeholders to explore the substantial difference between the candidate’s US technology remuneration and the available package. Her motivation to return to aviation and previous Australian experience also informed relocation discussions.

The process did not reach a formal offer. Personal circumstances prevented relocation and the candidate withdrew; the internal candidate was appointed.

A relevant profile still needs a feasible appointment.

The search reinforced the importance of working through stakeholder alignment, remuneration and relocation alongside candidate fit. I left shortly afterwards, so subsequent appointment performance was not available to me.

Later, at Qantas, I referred the external candidate to the firm running a Jetstar Chief Customer Officer search. She reached its shortlist or short group, supporting the relevance of the profile, but again could not relocate. My involvement in that search was the referral.