Reinventing culture for a collaborative, scalable, and risk-aware future with Dan Zugelder of Dynatrace  

Dan on building customer-centricity into the culture: “A big push of ours is to better understand what's resonating with our customers: where do they see the value, what feedback do they have, what are their needs, how are their needs changing, and how can we be positioned to help them? Remember, product development is not something you turn on in a matter of days, weeks, or months. It sometimes takes years to do product development. You want to make sure you understand where your customers are going and what their needs are in advance.”  

Dan on prioritization based on business impact: “One thing about all the decisions a CRO makes is that it can distract you from your focus. Typically, we start our year with a business plan signed off by the board. We're saying, ‘These are the major things we need to accomplish this year.’ Now, you have a new opportunity to come across. Do we lose our focus on the existing things? If we don't look at new things as things change, are we missing an opportunity? I find that to be one of the hardest things I do.”  

Dan on collaboration and cross-functional teamwork: “Whether it's marketing, product, or customer success, you need to be in it with them. That's where you achieve outcomes. I sometimes get focused on my own organization and what we're supposed to deliver, but  ultimately, the best is when it's highly collaborative. We'll achieve a lot more that way. Everybody has their targets that are put in for good reason, but getting too heads-down and not picking your head up enough could be a mistake.”