Obsessed with growth + brands + psychology and behaviour change + motorbikes 😁 It works.

I dropped out of university to travel solo through Asia, then went back to finish what I started. Along the way, I worked, built small businesses (I shopped for execs before internet shopping was even a thing and taught spinning classes), paid my way, and learned how im😁portant it is to take responsibility for your actions.

I went on to build a career in tech (even worked for South Africa's first Facebook Marketing Partner, I mean Meta), while studying psychology and later earning a counselling degree. 

I’ve spoken to global brands about resilience, written for international publications (including Oprah), and even scaled a Whale (check out www.usewhale.io). I even upped and moved to a country where I didn't speak the language and have always chased the impossible. 

Are you ready to build the impossible?

Lisa Steingold

🏳️‍🌈 | Head of Customer Success @Whale 🐳 | Top 100 Strategist in Customer Success 2024🏅 | Podcast host 🎙️ @Your First... | Top 25 Creative CS Leader '23 | Biggest cheerleader you’ll ever meet 🤩 |

Hi 👋 My name is Stino! 

I’m the Head of Customer Success @Whale & host of the Customer Success Hotline & the We Fucked Up So You Don’t Have To Podcasts 🫶

Strategic CS runs in my veins & I love to help other CSM’s unlock their full potential. Only together as a community we’re one step closer to the Holy Grail! 

Welcome to my page - I hope you love the content as I love getting it all out there! Sassy, bold, and a little insane 😂

See you around 🙏

Stijn Smet 🐳

First fuck-up of 2026 is officially in the books. 🎉

And honestly? Classic Customer Success moment.

A customer ticket got escalated. The complaint: “Your team keeps cancelling our calls.”

My immediate reaction? Hmmm. That doesn’t sound right.

So I did what any well-meaning, slightly too-efficient CS leader would do. I checked the records. Pulled the timelines. Looked at every single call that did happen. And I replied with facts. Dates. Receipts. A neat little overview asking where that perception came from.

Very logical. Very correct. Very… not what the customer needed.

He got mad. Not because I was wrong, but because I went straight into rebuttal mode. He didn’t want to be corrected. He didn’t want a timeline. He wanted to be heard.

And that’s when it clicked (again, because apparently this lesson needs repeating every year): in Customer Success, it doesn’t matter whether the customer is objectively right or wrong. What matters is that their experience is real to them.

The perception is the problem.
And the solution isn’t proving a point, it’s creating space like Cynthia holds the finger of Ariana.

So we jumped on a call. I shut up. He talked. He vented. He felt heard. And surprise surprise… the tension disappeared the moment he felt listened to.

Lesson (re)learned: the customer isn’t “always right,” but their perception is always valid. And sometimes the most impactful thing you can do as a CS leader is resist the urge to defend your team for five minutes longer.

2026 already out here keeping me humble.
First fuck-up done. Lesson logged. Onwards 😌

#CustomerSuccess #FirstFuckUpOfTheYear #PerceptionMatters #CSLessons #StillLearning

🏳️‍🌈 | Head of Customer Success @Whale 🐳 | Award-winning Customer Success Leader | Host 🎙️ @Your First... Show & WFUSYDHT & The CS Hotline | Biggest cheerleader you’ll meet 💙

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The Battle

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