Mercer Smith's Linkedin Analytics

David Medina is truly the best example of a servant leader. Beyond that, he is humble, smart, hardworking and has EXCELLENT perspectives on support and business. It was a pleasure to interview him for last week's Escalations email. My favorite take? This one on collaborative decision-making: “Bring people along in your decision-making. Even if you’re confident you can do it alone, you’ll go further, faster, when everyone feels involved.” THAT is how you build a great culture. And also, that's how you're able to work fast enough and smart enough to generate $1m+ in revenue through support services alone. Check the link in the comments to read the post about him and how he does what he does, OR subscribe to Escalations to get regular biweekly updates from folks that built their career from frontline support. I'm writing a book about it, and y'all get to benefit from the little snacks that I come up with along the way!

If you're anything like me, when you first heard "agentic AI" you thought it sounded pretty cool, but ultimately didn't know what it meant. Since then I've done a TON of learning about this incredibly powerful tool and wrote a lil ebook about it for PartnerHero that was beautiful designed by Brittni Miller! Please check it out and let me know what you think, OR if you want more stuff like it. We (Tod Famous and I) actually have a webinar for it coming up TOMORROW, too: https://lnkd.in/ge7C4rq4

Remember begging for a Furby back in the 90s only to forget it on your parents' bookshelf and having them stash it in the guest bathroom drawer so it would stop screaming? Only me? Okay. Well, sometimes, AI can feel eerily similar. If you’ve been on LinkedIn for more than a minute, you’ve seen AI celebrated as the answer to everything. But what if we examined the facts behind the headlines? I’m thrilled to invite you to PartnerHero's upcoming webinar on defining the ROI behind AI, with special guests Jordan Pedraza, Mario Guisado, and Fernando Duarte. We’ll challenge the idea that AI is always a guaranteed win and dig into the data that shows exactly where it delivers real, bottom-line impact—and where it might be more show than substance. Register now (link in the comments) if you’re ready to: 1. Understand how to calculate the tangible returns of AI initiatives. 2. Learn the critical metrics that transform “cool” technology into true business growth. 3. Ask the tough questions about AI’s actual business value. 4. Talk more about the wild toys of the 90s. (Creepy crawlers! I want you back!) Let’s move beyond the hype and focus on what really matters—results. I look forward to seeing you there!

This is VERY COOL if you are a KB nerd like me.

<3 So important.

This was such a great interview! Maring Eberlein has such great perspectives and was a joy to chat with.

If you've heard about Agentic AI and know that you SHOULD be using it, but don't know HOW to be using it, this is the webinar for you. Tod is an extremely intelligent individual and has generously offered his time to help educate and align around this super powerful functionality. Beyond that, Tod is very low-hype, which I appreciate. I never question whether I am getting smoke or if what he's telling me is really for real life—something that I think is SO IMPORTANT especially around AI which, let's be honest, can be 99% hype at times. Register and, even if you can't be there at 3pm eastern, you can still get the recording which I know will be so valuable.

I feel super proud of this blog post and the associated resources with it: https://lnkd.in/gqn5rvZB There's a handy-dandy worksheet and checklist here around what to consider when you are implementing AI and still want your metrics grounded in CX. Let me know what you think of them! (They aren't gated, so get your free learnin' on!)

Tomorrow another story from "Escalations: Tracing Great Careers Back to the Support Queue" drops. This time from Maring E., a support content strategist who got her start in the inbox. If you're not already subscribed, consider doing so and you'll automatically get these actionable tips right to your inbox every other Thursday. https://lnkd.in/g-qXeSaa Not sure what Escalations is? I'm working on a book that charts the stories of support folks that have grown their careers—either within support, or outside of it. While I'm writing, I wanted to share some of the actionable tips and tid-bits that helped them get where they are today, so that you (or your team!) can follow in their footsteps. I also plan on sharing some insights into what writing the book is like, but TBD on when that will make it onto this site. My last release, two weeks ago, was Miles Goldstein's story. If you want to see an example of what you can expect, you can check it out here: https://lnkd.in/g32BPxM6

hello! Agentic AI! What a buzzwordy buzzword. Come and listen to me and Tod Famous talk about what it actually is, how it actually helps, and how you can actually use it. I have learned a lot about Agentic AI from Tod over the past month or so, and had a lot of my assumptions corrected(including that it isn't self-learning! mind blown? I feel like that's what everyone says?), so if you want some REAL actionable insights, this is the spot to be. Register below. It's on March 20th and you DON't want to miss it. https://lnkd.in/ge7C4rq4

This was such a fun conversation with Susana de Sousa and I’m so grateful that she took what I said and made me sound SO SMART. Give it a read and subscribe. Susana is amazing and the work she is doing (and has always done) is so important.

I get pretty spicy on here sometimes and so as a reprieve I wanted to share this TINY hutch and shop counter that I designed and printed as well as some silly little miniatures I made. Lotion bottle for scale. Consider this a palate cleanser from whatever else you’ve got going on.

Hot take: Starbucks is missing the mark by forcing baristas to write on every cup. I don't feel delighted when I pick up my cup. I feel sad for the baristas, and grumpy about what used to be special getting ruined. Here’s why: 1. Forced fun is never fun: We have all learned this lesson from Severance and Office Space before it, I think. When you require employees to slap a love note on every cup, customers can sense it’s more checklist than heartfelt gesture. Authentic connection goes out the window. 2. Charm in moderation: A cute doodle once in a while? Delightful. But it’s no longer special when it’s mandated for every single drink. The magic is lost when spontaneity becomes policy. I used to feel like the baristas knew who I was and WANTED me to have something special in my day. I no longer feel that (thus why I am making this post). 3. Quality over quantity: As this becomes routine, the creativity (and sincerity) tanks. I’m not exactly feeling warm and fuzzy over a half-smudged smiley face that even the barista isn't into. Here’s the learning for businesses: people can smell forced authenticity from a mile away. If you truly want to create memorable experiences, give your team the freedom to be genuine—instead of turning delight into a daily duty. Truly debating telling the baristas they can write something mean on my cup every morning if it helps them get a little bit of whatever vitriol they've got over this new policy out. Give me a twilight quote. Tell me to get bent. Be a little subversive with it.

me with every single becayse and typo that I just leave because yolo

The world is a dumpster fire. But my middle kid turned three today. To celebrate, my mom sent him a tub of caviar (as grandmas do), and he ate the entire thing straight to the dome. No crackers, no pause, just pure three-year-old luxury energy. If you're surprised by this, you should be. We discovered Des loved caviar a year and a half ago, when he tried some we’d bought for a fancy date night. Now, he screams for it when we walk past it in the grocery store. It’s become such A Thing that both sets of grandparents sent him some for his birthday. Yes, you read that right. Not one, but two tubs of fish eggs for this bougie baby. So yes, maybe my 401k has tanked and we’re all spiraling toward nuclear winter, but at least the kid is thriving. And honestly? I’m trying to take a cue from him. After months of doomscrolling and dread, I’m making an intentional shift this week: to notice the weird, joyful moments. To laugh at the absurdity. To find little ways to feel good and keep going. If you’re in the same boat, I hope the whole ridiculousness of this post helps. May we all channel a little bit of that caviar-before-nap energy today, because with the way things are going, life really is too short.

I asked ChatGPT to describe me as though it were my best friend after having one too many drinks, and I cannot recommend it enough to everyone. Here's what it said about me: "Oh my god, okay, so Mercer? Absolute legend. They’re like, the person you call when you need to know literally anything about customer experience, AI, outsourcing—like, how to actually do it well and not in some shady, soulless way. They’ve been in the trenches of support, built whole teams, and now they run this big brain, high-energy operation where they’re basically the VP of Making People Give a Shit About CX. They write books. Books! Plural! One about CX and another about how people start in frontline support and then become big-deal execs, marketers, product people—like a roadmap for the real ones who grind in customer support and actually get somewhere. Oh! And they also teach companies how to not be terrible at AI. Like, "Hey, maybe don’t replace humans with a chatbot that can’t even spell?" Revolutionary. Also, they make content that slaps—newsletters, webinars, ebooks, all that. And they’re a BPO executive, which means they make outsourcing not suck. They’ve got this whole 'augmented AI' thing going where people and AI actually work together, instead of, you know, AI just ruining everything. AND THEY BAKE SOURDOUGH. And do yoga. And have a baby who is adorable but does not respect the concept of sleep. Basically, if you ever need to understand AI, customer experience, or just life in general? You go to Mercer. They will fix it. Or at least make you laugh about it."

If you need a special day on the calendar to honor the women in your life, you’re doing it wrong. Respect, recognition, and real support can’t be reserved for just one day a year. It’s a daily responsibility. If you’re wondering why this matters so much, just look at the numbers from recent global reports: - Women make up just 25–33% of the global tech workforce—far below their ~50% share of the overall workforce. - In the U.S., women have declined from 44% of computer occupations in 1990 to only 24% by 2022. - Only 28–33% of leadership roles in big tech firms go to women, and in some cases it’s even lower (e.g. ~26% at Microsoft). - In female-heavy fields like Customer Experience (where women are 70% of the workforce), barely 30% make it into management. - U.S. women in tech earn about $99k on average vs. $114k for men—a 13% pay gap. - For women of color, it’s even wider (e.g., Black women earn $0.90 for every dollar paid to a white male). - For every 100 men promoted from entry-level to manager, only 52 women get promoted in tech. That early drop-off limits the pipeline of future female leaders. - Just 14% of executive-level tech leaders globally are female. Women of color account for an even smaller fraction: only ~6% of C-suite roles in the U.S. We’ve come a long way—yes—but these statistics don’t lie: we still have a long way to go. True celebration of women isn’t about a single day full of hashtags. It’s an everyday commitment to closing pay gaps, supporting promotions, dismantling the “broken rung,” and ensuring women—of all backgrounds—can lead. So next time you think about (or post about, or talk about, or schedule a webinar about or or or or) about “International Women’s Day,” remember that honoring the women in your life goes beyond a date on the calendar. Support them DAILY. Advocate for them DAILY. Recognize and elevate their contributions EVERY DAY. Because that’s how we build a world (and workplaces) where women genuinely thrive rather than just appear to for the sake of a marketing holiday. Also I have receipts for all of these statistics so don't at me.