Matt Best

And Leslie, how about you?

So thank you so much. And it's interesting you say around the childhood piece. I was listening to Simon Sinek on the High Performance podcast recently, and he was talking, you know, in order to help people find their why, it always starts with a childhood memory because it's such a guiding principle in life. Who we become and how we become that way.

So thank you so much. And it's interesting you say around the childhood piece. I was listening to Simon Sinek on the High Performance podcast recently, and he was talking, you know, in order to help people find their why, it always starts with a childhood memory because it's such a guiding principle in life. Who we become and how we become that way.

And I think it's a really interesting thing to reflect on. I think it's that time away, right? It's that time out of the day to day. And like you said, out of the numbers and out of the data and out of conversations about specific accounts and specific situations and into something that's a little bit freer and allows everyone to be their self a little bit.

And I think it's a really interesting thing to reflect on. I think it's that time away, right? It's that time out of the day to day. And like you said, out of the numbers and out of the data and out of conversations about specific accounts and specific situations and into something that's a little bit freer and allows everyone to be their self a little bit.

It's just great to get to know people like that. And yeah, thank you for sharing that story with us, Leslie. That's fantastic. And I mean, as we go into the heart of today's conversation, really what we'd hope to get your perspective and insight on. And as Johnny said, you've already dropped a couple of insight bombs, if you like, on us and the audience, which is fantastic.

It's just great to get to know people like that. And yeah, thank you for sharing that story with us, Leslie. That's fantastic. And I mean, as we go into the heart of today's conversation, really what we'd hope to get your perspective and insight on. And as Johnny said, you've already dropped a couple of insight bombs, if you like, on us and the audience, which is fantastic.

But we know that, again, going back into that sort of looking at your career, that you're passionate about sort of customer centricity and how important that is to a business. And that's really what we're looking forward to diving into in a little bit more detail with you.

But we know that, again, going back into that sort of looking at your career, that you're passionate about sort of customer centricity and how important that is to a business. And that's really what we're looking forward to diving into in a little bit more detail with you.

Before that, though, it would be really great, I think, for the audience and for Johnny and I just understand a little bit more, hear a bit more about your journey so far. You know, you've held some incredibly senior roles in a really competitive market and a really competitive space. Could you just talk us through your journey so far?

Before that, though, it would be really great, I think, for the audience and for Johnny and I just understand a little bit more, hear a bit more about your journey so far. You know, you've held some incredibly senior roles in a really competitive market and a really competitive space. Could you just talk us through your journey so far?

You're never leaving. You heard it here first. I'm sure the rest of your team are thrilled to hear that, Leslie. Thank you so much for sharing that history with us. Again, some really great insights. I think there's this one key thing that jumped out to me as you were talking about SaaS. And I think it's such a... I have a background in SaaS as well and in delivery.

You're never leaving. You heard it here first. I'm sure the rest of your team are thrilled to hear that, Leslie. Thank you so much for sharing that history with us. Again, some really great insights. I think there's this one key thing that jumped out to me as you were talking about SaaS. And I think it's such a... I have a background in SaaS as well and in delivery.

And one thing that SaaS did to the market was...

And one thing that SaaS did to the market was...

to really throw the challenge back to the vendor when it comes to that customer centricity because it gave the end buyer options right the days of huge monolithic change that was involved in in swapping out between technologies where you had like deployed implemented you spent a whole bunch of money in data centers and stuff just to host particular technology sas kind of tore up that rule book and sort of turned the spotlight back at the vendors to say what are you going to do

to really throw the challenge back to the vendor when it comes to that customer centricity because it gave the end buyer options right the days of huge monolithic change that was involved in in swapping out between technologies where you had like deployed implemented you spent a whole bunch of money in data centers and stuff just to host particular technology sas kind of tore up that rule book and sort of turned the spotlight back at the vendors to say what are you going to do

to make sure that your client values this? What are you going to do to drive that important customer centricity? How much do you care about your clients? It's something that really resonates with me. And you see those organizations, I was in an organization going through that transition from that sort of deployable into SaaS. And it's a big transition and it's quite eye-opening.

to make sure that your client values this? What are you going to do to drive that important customer centricity? How much do you care about your clients? It's something that really resonates with me. And you see those organizations, I was in an organization going through that transition from that sort of deployable into SaaS. And it's a big transition and it's quite eye-opening.

So yeah, and clearly why you've been so successful since then in understanding where customer centricity comes from, why that's so important. So customer centricity, what is it? Well, I mean, Forbes defines it as the ability of an organisation to understand and meet customer needs and expectations. But what is it to you?