Women in Industry – Shari Altergott
November 22, 2020
Company: The CX Edge
Title: Chief Experience Officer
Years on Job: One
I left my former organization about a year ago to start my own Customer Experience Consulting Company focused specifically on providing solutions for the Material Handling Industry in the four primary areas of the Customer Experience; people, product, process and feedback. As the CEO of a startup company my responsibilities range from Sales and Marketing to HR and IT. However, my primary responsibility is to ensure the best possible customer experience for our clients and team members.
Day-to-Day
The current Covid-19 pandemic has dramatically changed what a typical day looks like for me as it has for millions of other working parents around the globe. With my husband and 9-year-old daughter both at home during the day my personal life and work life have merged in a way I have not experienced before. However, we have started to settle into a routine that works for us. Most days start with reviewing my daughter’s work for the day and making sure she has all the tools she needs to be productive. Then it is off to a quiet room to make client calls which I usually schedule for the morning hours. At any given time, the three of us are in three different rooms with the door closed to have a quiet place to Zoom! In between calls I am checking in on my daughter to see if she needs any help as well as working on executing client projects. Lunch time offers a much need break from the computer for all of us. After lunch if I don’t have any client calls scheduled it is back to developing business growth strategies, checking in with various team members for project status, continual learning initiatives, creating quotes, etc. My daughter is done with her school day around 3:00. I check and submit her work and we discuss anything she needs extra help on. Because of the number of interruptions that I usually get in a day I typically go back to work again after she goes to bed.
Women in Industry
I knew nothing about material handling when I entered this industry 20 years ago. I have grown to love this industry because of the value to provides to the world. Additionally, because of its strategic importance it is ever changing which is great for people who like to keep things interesting! We often talk about material handling being male dominated however that has dramatically changed over the last 10 years. I now see women in every position within this industry. However, there is still work to do, as women are significantly under represented within senior and executive management positions. To me this represents a fantastic opportunity for women looking to enter this industry.
Communication
Strong communication is extremely important not only in my day-to-day job but in my day-to-day life! Without communication you have nothing. However, communication is much more than communicating information you believe people need to know. Communication is also a way to discover new ideas and new ways of doing things. It is just as important to keep in touch even you have nothing to specifically communicate. Some of my best ideas have come from casual conversations. That is something I am worried we are losing with so many people are working from home.
