Hopin Questions:

► General:

1. ABOUT YURSLEF

- For the better part of last decade, I´ve specialized in driving brand loyalty for Backroads, a
Berkeley based company offering luxury travel events in 60+ destinations to American
customers.

- 100% BR employees are distributed globally and masterfully aligned around company´s
customer obsessed mission.
- I was with the company through their period of high growth holding two demanding
customer facing roles, one of which was strategic and involved engaging leadership of
multicultural teams.
- One of the biggest achievements in my career was serving a full cycle as a Product Manager.
During my tenure:
o I developed a top performing product from inception, using market- and product
knowledge, customer data, user cases and company best practices
o Stood up operations and internal processes
o Built and aligned 30+ long term partnerships
o Onboarded and enabled high performing teams scaling customer experience
o In the first year, my region generated ca. $2.6M gross revenue, attracted over 500
customers, and exceeded its performance goal and became one of the best sellers.
- In the following 4 years, I continuously refined my product and lead high performing teams
through enablement, positive empowerment and inclusion. I am proud to say that I
managed to increase my products performance from 9.20 to 9.43 in 3 years, and my teams´
performance from 9.57 in 2017 to 9.89 in 2018 and contributed to BR reaching 89% NPS in
2019.

- As I am now looking at making a bold career pivot. I am really excited to enter SaaS FAST
growing start-up, because
o I know I perform best in a high paced environment
o SaaS unlike any other industry gives the opportunity to work with meaningful and
instant customer data and take proactive decisions and move FAST
o
2. HOW DID YOU MAKE A DESIGN /Road Map?
Road map – way of communication with stakeholder, big initiatives, big picture, strategic goals, communication tool
(trade-offs, opportunities and risks) no specifics; long term, prioritization based on customer value, competitive
differentiation, development effort, business goals
Backlog – more granular, tasks, focused on execution, specific, short-term, detailed, prioritization based on customer
value, story points, available resources

ROADMAP CREATION:
1. Define WHY? WHAT? We doing and how it aligns with the core MISSION (to draw interest &
boost brand loyalty of most loyal clientele, who already checked most other EU destinations high luxury and
adding diversity
2. Do Customer research (done; stories)
3. Decide on features and rough dates  prioritize significant themes to be addressed
- MUST HAVE: 5 days, 3-4 hotels, biking, spring 2015 launch
- OPTIONS: hotel2hotel in Sweden (the simpler the better), but better 2 countries (logistical trade- offs,
busy, stressful, dependencies, BUT variety and high luxury)
- VALUE/ COST MATRIX  include them in road map
- DISCUSSION  instincts, personas, delight etc.
 - HIG LEVEL APPROVAL
ME+RM: EXECUTION 
- BREAK DOWN to themes (launch, improvements) 
- FOCUS ON LAUNCHING BACKLOG
- DESIGN ALL FEATURES (3 hotels, 5 dinner and 6 lunch venues, routes, logistics,
suppliers):
o Prioritizing:
- KANO MODEL (funkcja zaleznosci delight od feature  to find right features 1.
Threshold features (must have), 2. Performance features (linear) 3. Excitement
features)
- MoSCoW analysis 
- BUILD PROCESSES AND ENABLEMENT (STORY MAPPING)
- GO INTO DETAILS  Cross functional
o STANDING UP  finance, operations
o RISKS  logistics? How to design trade-offs?  marketing, sales, RM, teams
- MINIMUM VIABLE PRODUCT

3. WHAT DO YOU KNOW ABOUT HOPIN?

- one of the fastest growing on the planet, and only 1+ year old
- 1st all-in-one virtual venue for running hybrid & online events
- It´s different than anything we´ve seen before because it mimics the in-person event feel:
o It features 6 interactive areas which attendees can enter and exit anytime they want
(reception, stage, expo, breakout sessions, networking). Sessions allow instant
networking, chiming into panel discussions, and interacting with speakers, sponsors or
anyone else present in the space. What´s great is that it also has a comfortable
backstage for the speakers
o Features a growing no. of innovative add-ons and powerful marketing and sales tools
(polling, Q&As, access management, ticket segmentation, on demand content,
tagging, easy scheduling, real time engagement analytics) and long list of integrations
(Miro, Vimeo, GoogleSlides, YouTube, Vistia, and Social Media, translations, Mobile
App, Slido (polls) and Miro (collaborative whiteboarding, swag).
- It´s easy, inclusive and democratic. You can engage up to 1M participants with HQ content
and video interactions. - Nothing that any of the current webinar software offer!
- I personally see Hopin as an energetic global community of proactive visioners who hear
customer voice and simply race to meet their current and future needs.

4. HOPIN EVENTS
- I participated in Hopin 2021 KickOff and I loved the content. It was great to see the
true passion and grit in Hopin people (chic, excitement, freshness)
- I loved to see real commitment and hard work – not only in the event but also in
people´s faces
- I also loved how genuine it was and how some things were a little raw.
- I was really excited to listen to your session on Video Producing, but I was unable to
hear you guys. I know that was spotted by others too and was reflected in chat,
- If I could share any feedback: I know how stressfull pulling things together is, when
time is limited, I´d love to see a little more consistency and attention to details,
representing Hopin presents. Some participants were a little casual, some nervous. I
love the GQ&A
- I can imagine how busy everyone must be, but I also think that your image must speak
for the quality you offer to your future an current customers.
-
5. WHAT MOTIVATES YOU?
- Culture of trust and honesty
- Sense of urgency and making real impact with my work
- Working with people who share the same vision and goals

6. WHY HOPIN?
- I have to say that I can´t remember when I was last that engaged following a company
´s story. Hopin first drew my attention when I read that you are one of the best start-
ups to work for, and perhaps the fastest growing company in history; Then I heard
your podcast, Rosie, and the rest was history. I read Hopin´s blog, participated in
some events (eg. 2021 KickOff, Adobe), watched some interviews with Johny, and
reviewed career page.
- I am currently looking at making a bold career pivot. I am determined to contribute to
a FAST-growing SaaS start-up, because
i. SaaS, unlike any other industry, allows to work with meaningful and instant
data and to take proactive high-impact decisions and consciously move
towards and AHEAD of customer – and THAT, along with scaling a high
growth business, is where my biggest expertise is!
- I find Hopin´s growth pace and market timing really exciting. But what makes me
truly want to join you is your culture – based on trust and collaborative autonomy. I
remember reading one of Hopin employees´ testimonials (Jenna, F&BA), saying
that “Hopin is like a global family”. That very much describes the culture I am used to
thrive in and where I want be in in my next job.
- I know that my prowess in driving strategical and tactical decisions from customer
insights, and my long experience in working remotely, and my agility, would be a
valuable addition to your amazing team.
- Needless to say that I love bringing people together through experiences. Whether in
person or through the innovative technology.
-
7. WHAT CAN YOU BRING TO HOPIN?
- Many of my skills and experience are transferable and could add value to your fast
scaling
- After analyzing your career page, it looks like there are 3 skills groups that you are
most often looking for in you candidates:
i. Analytical and decision-making skills  real time decision making, under
pressure, dealing with many issues at once and having customers watch me
ii. Communication and collaboration  I operated in customer obsessed
environment, and efficient communication and collaboration with people at
different levels and backgrounds was a key to stay afloat
iii. Problem solving and learning  I have always been curious and have a
very proactive approach to learning. In my company I was constantly exposed
to new and unexpected situations and environments  from new technology
implementation, equipment updates, through changing processes and best
standards, to learning new regions, and trips, customers and colleagues  my
performance (and my teams´) depended on being resourceful, adaptable and
learning fast, deep and wide.
-
8. HOW DID YOU BUILD BR BRAND LOYALTY:
- Customer is in the centre of the business model
- we gather a very intenttional set of customer insights on every touch point, which gives as a
dripping and 360 degree image of our perfomance, and drive innvoationa nd improvement
- Technically speaking: We survey each customer directly after every experience, asking them
19 CSAT and 2 NPS questions (scaled 1-10), each followed by an open question
 1. one-off OE happiness
2. 13 most meaningful product attributes (LD, Bikes, LocalGuides, 3 Hotels, 5
restaurants, Routes)
3. Marketing+Sales information
4. Value/Price
5. AnotherTrip (NPS)
6. Reccomend (NPS)
7. Additional comments (CSAT, but since after NPS-gives high level comments)
8. Follow up?
- I´ d say that I contributed to boosting brand loyalty through two channels
1. PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT
2. BEING PART OF THE PRODUCT and collecting live feedback and mastering
customer behavior
Ad.1, product backlog to ensure every development cycle is utilized for maximum impact.
- review weekly performance reports (17 elements that spoke to the product I managed) and
synthetize what works and what doesn´t  pay attention and analyzing relevance of anything
8-  usually dag deep into the qualitative feedback  diagnosed “why” and who is
responsible for that touchpoint  if they were one-off incidents (identified what happened and
why, followed up with cross-functional teams)  when I spotted trends  made decisions
on improvements and their urgency  implemented improvements  (team effort!)
tracked the improvement results (in cycles ranging from 1 week to 1 year)
- Ad. 2 when managing events in-person, you make or break customer experience and their
loyalty. You need to be able to read your customer in real time and communicate effectively,
manage expectations and guide their thinking wisely, and show a james bond finesse and
poise when thigs go wrong. On the other hand, you gather an invaluable live feedback from
your clientele and develop a natural instinct of recognizing their goals and can be even faster,
smarter and proactive in running towards them in the moment and in the future.
-
- When managing an in-person events, you become a critical element of customer
experience – you either make it or break it
- Solid preparation and saviness is the key to build instant credibiity (you need to
become an expert of the whole event´s ecosystem every time)
- To make it though – you need to be able to read your customer in real time and
communicate effectively, manage expectations and guide their thinking wisely, and show
a james bond finesse and poise whenthigs go wrong. This way you buy/validate customer
´s trust and create their personal connection to the exceptional experience. This is great
opportunity to cross sell other products.
- My contribution to building BR loyalty was multiplied in a positon of Product Manager,
as I was responsible for many more touchpoints - marketing and sales communication that
ensured setting the expectations on the right level, the regional team´s delivery of
consistent product, product performance, product improvements, communication and
conflict resolution protocols as well as managing high level partnerships. Here I used both
qualitative and quantitaive CSAT data and and collaborated wider across remote cross-
functinal teams to to scale success.

9. ACCOUNT MANAGEMENT EXPERIENCE

- At BR all my customers were Accounts and all efforts to go beyond and above for the
customers were relational and a paid forward in lifetime loyalty (NSP 89%, 75%)
- Yearly, I managed over 200 VIP customers through customized holiday events, onboarding,
setting up expectations, learning goals and guiding their thinking. Even though my personal
interaction lasted only 6 days, I played a key role in my customers coming back.
- Often time, customers would voluntarily seek advise from the leaders on where they should
travel next, so it was a great opportunity to cross sell other products
- All field staff at BR plays a key role in driving brand loyalty and product improvement
beyond their interaction with the customer. Each customers´ feedback and all relevant
information on the customer “persona” provided by the leaders would be written after they
come off trip and later fed to weekly Quality reports (driving agile product improvements) and
to the customer backgrounder, which the future leaders will get access to. that may help to
meet and exceed expectations in their future journey with BR.
-
10. YOUR RESUME
- I have always loved understanding people goals to create emotional relationships. I
wasn´t until I joined Backroads, that I discovered that this is where my professional
potential was.
- My recent employer is America´s leading luxury travel company. Their clientele are
top 3% income earners in US. BR boasts a 89% NPS.
- I started my career with Backroads managing holiday events around the world.
Apart from planning and directing seamless logistics, managing budgets and quality, I
was responsible for onboarding of every customer on each product, setting up
expectations and managing thinking to scale brand loyalty.
- Two years through my career, I was offered an opportunity to develop a new product
from inception, becoming a Product Manager. This was a greenfield project, which
involved doing an extensive market research and trips to the region to assess
feasibility. After presenting my business case to the CEO and the leadership team, I
got a green light and budgets to build and launch the product.
- Using customer insights, user cases and company best practices, and partnering
with cross-functional leaders in US, I built a complete 6 day bike trip itinerary.
o I Stood up complex operations and processes
o Set up and aligned 30+ long term partnerships
o Aligned cross-disciplinary remote teams and in field teams to scale up customer
experience
o Stood up enablement to scale up success of
- As a result, we landed $2.6M new gross revenue, attracted over 500 customers a
year, and exceeding product performance goal expressed in CSAT.
- In the following 4 years, I continuously refined my product´s performance,
optimized processes and continued to lead high performing teams through
enablement, positive empowerment and inclusion.
- All this time, I collaborated regularly with remote cross-functional teams ensuring
success end effective communication in every touchpoint with regards to my product.
- I am proud to say that I managed to increase my products performance from 9.20 to
9.43 in 3 years, and my teams´ performance from 9.57 in 2017 to 9.89 in 2018 and
contributed to company reaching 89% Net Promoter Score in 2019.

11. BIGGEST ACCOMPLISHMENT

- One of my proudest achievements in my career was serving a full cycle as a Product Manager
and achieving highest results
- Developed a top performing product from inception - using market-, customer data, user cases
and company best practices
- Stood up complex operations and processes
- aligned cross-functional teams and partners scaling customer success
- Built and aligned 30+ long term partnerships and trained and stood up enablement for high
performing teams to scale customer experience
- In the first year, my region generated ca. $2.6M gross revenue, attracted over 500 satisfied
customers, and met its performance goal
- In the following 4 years, I continuously refined my product´s performance and continued to
lead teams through enablement, positive empowerment and inclusion. I am proud to say
that I managed to increase my products performance from 9.20 to 9.43 in 3 years, teams
performance from 9.57 in 2017 to 9.89 in 2018 and contributed to company reaching 89% Net
Promoter Score in 2019.
-
12. ABOVE AND BEYOND
- In my recent job the standards of customer experience were so high that going
above and beyond was a standard behavior.
- S: in 2019 I was asked to launch a new biking trip in Poland for BR. After
conducting the last round of pre-launch design, standing up of logistics, processes,
and enablement, I was responsible for leading a few first departures with customers
 Developing aa deep emotional relationship with the first group, I was very
curious about each customer´s motivation of choosing this destination. I learnt that
each one of them had a special connection with that part of the world due to family
roots, WWII. They were all fascinated about the history of Central Europe and
loved hearing me sharing hardship stories of my grandparents  I could see how
this emotional exchange accelerated my customers´ experience  to scale that, after
the project was over, I invited the group to my parents´ house, so they could further
immerse into the “polishnes” and meet my family they already knew from stories 
R: We all enjoyed a really fun garden party, which was a special touch after the
whole event. it reflected in customer´s feedback and boosted brand loyalty and
made Polish BR trip launch an absolute success.
-
13. STRATEGIC THINKING / BIG IMPACT / SET NEW STANDARDS
- S: While designing my product for BR – Stockholm to Copenhagen bike trip  I
knew it was a different product than what we offered so far: usually the itineraries
are limited to a small enough region, so that guests can ride their bikes from hotel to
hotel and enjoy afternoons;  my product would cover two countries and 2 big
cities, which generated lots of new and unmeasured risks (complex logistics and CX
trade-offs)  when weighing all risks and opportunities, I anticipated, that one of the
greatest risks can be the teams´ ability to pull all ends smoothly  field staff
usually enters new field a few days before leading the trip and sometimes they have 3-
5 days to learn, which with this set up seemed like a very steep learning curve  to
ensure that I scale up the success with powerful enablement  I invested extra time
to create additional navigation files and maps for the field staff, wrote additional
training content, created email templates for communication with the suppliers,
public speaking templates, shopping lists and many more  R: As a result, the
empowered team launched and continued to deliver highly successful product;
appreciated by customers and the leadership alike including the CEO himself
who recognized the new trip design as a masterful one after taking a trip. The field
staff was highly appreciative for how all my initiatives set them up for success; and
they were quickly added to the company-wide gold standards, scaling up the
global success
-
- INNOVATIVE: SHADOW FAM!
14. TYPICAL DAY
- It is hard to describe a typical day, as in my recent work every day I´d be dealing with
different problems, different people, in different places, and wearing many
different hats at once.
- To give you an example: On one day I could be in Iceland, managing a crisis situation
in person and in front of the group (diverting a plane in the air, or looking for guest
lost luggage), training a newly hired co-leader; while mediating a conflict between
 unhappy customer, hotels, on-ground trip leaders and BR head office, in reference to
the Sweden & Denmark (the product I was responsible for)
- What was consistent, was that every day, no matter what, I´d be making high impact
decisions under pressure real time, rearranging priorities and communicating
efficiently with distributed teams, and at the end of the day: creating amazing
customer experience.
-
1. TIME / TASK MANAGEMENT
- I like to think of my planning on three levels:
- HIGH LEVEL/PROJECT:
o brainstorm a best, worst, and most likely scenario
o draft bullet point maps and realistic timetables for each (high level
structure and direction)
o easy to adapt when things work out differently (I already have plan B and
C visualized)
- WEEKLY TASKS:
o List of tactical tasks - things I need to do to achieve my goal or complete
my project (build in Mondays)
o I assign my task priority number based on due dates and impact they carry
o I make my meetings and tasks schedule with reminders
o Time locking for all tasks and always locking extra 2h daily for
unpredictable scenarios
o share these with my boss and with project team members
o share progress and updates with everyone involved boss, teams), as
priorities shift all the time
o
- DAILY BASIS:
o In my work – lots of moving parts, adapting and project-based travelling
 Lack of any typical daily routine, important to create some structure to
stay productive, especially that those completely autonomous projects
(pre seasonal research) were of high long-term impact.
o Make written to-do list  assign priority  posted somewhere where I
can always see it (notebook, sticking note, wall, phone, Asana, Outlook)
o add important details to bullets (talking points for meeting, details to
research)
o eliminate tasks that are less important and can wait
o AM: “what do I need to do to not only stay happy but to finish the day in
peace”? (sometimes a small task: email, a piece of information, thinking)
o Make STOP cues (time reminders or between completed tasks)
o Plan break routines (stretch, yoga, walk, eat)  to work smart and
productive and with clarity
o Eliminate distractions (notifications, apps, temptation of browsing – I
write a reminder for later)

15. KEY SKILLS

- Learning skills
- Adaprability
- Analytical
- Decision making
- Managing agile projects and dynamic cross-functional, remote teams and delivering
highest results
- Taking decisions without complete data
 - Cross-functional collaboration
- Product and customer lifecycle management
- Impactful leadership
- Budget management
- Account management
-
16. STRENGTHS
- Adaptability – I thrive in high paced, ambiguous environment and just love pivoting
priorities and tasks
- Resourcefulness
- Ability to think strategically, see the big picture as well as every detail
- Autonomy – ability to work fast, smart and creatively towards the set goal
- Ability to manage expectations, align goals, and scale success
- Collaboration

17. HIGH-PRESSURE SITUATIONS

- In my previous work I held two customer-facing and project-based roles at once. I
was performing against very tight deadlines, and dealing with unpredictable
scenarios, while being evaluated by customers, upper management and colleagues
24/7. That constant 360 feedback was itself a source of high pressure.
- I found that when everyone in the organization is aligned around the same clear and
measurable goal and the communication is transparent, pressure is just another
impulse to evaluate and respond to.
- When I feel pressure escalating, I pause and asses where it comes from and how
relevant and urgent it is in that moment and how big of an impact it has on the big
picture.
- Based on that, I take relevant decisions: I reassess and rearrange my priorities and
imagine best and worst scenarios  adjust strategies  work smarter, think deeper,
delegate, ask for help
- OR address the source of pressure if it´s irrelevant.
- For example: diverting a plane, Presearch, broken train,

18. YOUR LAST JOB – PROS AND CONS

- I loved endless growth when working for Backroads. Every day I was solving different and
unusual problems to meet and exceed customer goals. I thrived working with high
autonomy and responsibility and making impact on the company´s success. I worked with
managers and mentors, whom hands down I could call the most influential people in my life.
- This was all possible thanks culture of trust and alignment around a clear mission.
- Everything has its price though. I didn´t see any more possibility to progress in my career, as
the company has a very flat matrix structure. Additionally, the flexible employment terms did
not guarantee security in unstable times like these.

19. 3 MOST IMPORTANT THINGS IN JOB

- Seeing direct link between my work and company´s results
- Having a clear goal and autonomy to make my own road map
- To gain experience as a manager

20. PERFECT JOB

- I am adaptable and I know that perfect doesn´t exist. However, I perform best in a
positive culture based on trust and transparent communication.
 - I get most productive when things are moving fast towards a big goal and I have
autonomy to adapt strategies and tactics driving success
- I am practically unstoppable, when everyone in the organization is aligned around the
same clear mission and I clear link between my work and the final outcomes
- inspiring leadership, to learn from
-
21. HOW DO YOUR COLLEAGUES DESCRIBE YOU?
- take ownership and make proactive decisions before issues appear
- Critical eye for detail
- Nurture positive and constructive relationships with partners
- Set up my team for success
- I go extra mile for the customer

- Adaptable and composed under pressure

- Supportive
- I let everyone shine on the team
- Flexible and open to different ideas
- Work hard toward towards team´s success
-

22. CAREER PLANS

- I am currently looking at making a bold career pivot. My objective is to:
1. Deepen and expand my experience in taking fast and high-impact
decisions in the high paced environment and moving the business towards
and AHEAD of customer´s goals FAST and INTENTIONALLY
2. I would like to continue growing as a people manager – leading through
alignment, trust and empowerment
- In my next job I would like to be exposed to constant growth and ability to leverage
my agile CX mentality
- I have recently successfully completed a hiring process and I am currently at the point
of making a decision.
-
23. LEADERSHIP STYLE
- Having worked with dynamic multinational teams, I like to think that my leadership
is agile and depends on the situation
- there are three foundations I keep in mind when leading (or working with) people:
- TRUST
i. People deliver their best results when they feel their work is trusted, take
ownership and responsibility
ii. I like to build trust through listening, being grateful for their efforts, and
encouraging ownership
- ALIGNMENT
i. The real key to taking full advantage of the success potential is that everyone
NOT ONLY shares and understands the mission
ii. BUT ALSO understands, how their day-to-day responsibilities translate to big
outcomes and what they need from each other
iii. Clear communication, initiative welcome, decision guidelines
- TRANSPARENCY
i. Clear and consistent feedback is a key and the
ii. Constant and inclusive communication
 - I was lucky to have grown in a consistent 360 feedback community. My colleagues
and boss often described my leadership style being: inclusive, empowering, positive
and always finding time and place to give constructive feedback.
-
24. WORK STYLE
- Having worked with remote cross-functional teams for 8+ years and excelling in 2
roles
- I am comfortable managing multiple projects and juggling priorities in a dynamic
environment. Some time ago, I took a Gallup´s test of talents, which reveals your 5
core characteristics defining the way you react and do things. It confirmed that one of
my top talent is “adaptable” = being able to thrive in a changing and unpredictable
environment and taking advantage of the “unknown”
i. I´m also comfortable taking full accountability for my actions and decisions
ii. I love working independently, as it lets me focus deeply and solve complex
problems), but I value relevant input from colleagues and checking in with
my boss to discuss progress of my work.
iii. open communication helps me complete projects efficiently and accurately
and validates work in the making
- It is also typical for me to go extra mile and invest all my resources to find best
customer outcomes
► Competence specific:

2. ARE YOU A TEAM PLAYER?

- In my previous work collaborative attitude with teams and external partners was a
critical requirement to succeed.
- I really enjoy working with a team aligned around same goals and values, as it
guarantees reaching outstanding outcomes
- While working on a team, I value trust, ownership and communication.
- Exmpl. 2 (GRAF team´s tremendous group effort to improve the launch
impact) S: 2 weeks before my product lunch in Sweden/Denmark I planned and
ran 5 day in-field training for the 8 people team  While their main focus was to
learn the itinerary and get ready to deliver amazing product, to our customers 
T/A: I invited them to brainstorm any improvements as they proceeded  I loved
hearing suggestions coming from the different perspectives, and found most idas
relevant and high impact (all aligned around the same goal)  we generated many
valuable improvements thanks to that brain storm. One of the biggest changes
we made as a team was a change of the routes on one of the days , this implicated
schedule changes, crating new navigation documents, maps, finding suppliers and
updating playbooks and knowledge base for teams entering the field later tyhat
summer. Lots of tasks with a very short deadline. Thanks to a tremendous input
and support of the team, we managed to implement all changes seamlesly
though R: it was one of the most apprecited impacts of team work and idea
sharing I have experienced, as the work we´ve done had a huge impact scaling the
experience of hundreds of guests during and beyond the launch period.
-
3. DIFFICULT WORK SITUATION
- Expl. 1 (broken train in Sweden)  leading a 5.5 day trip in Sweden and
Denmark and on 4th day I was accompanying a group of 20 customers on a train to
Copenhagen the trip is usually a 4h cultural event, when guests relax in a 1st
class car and get excited about Copenhagen and thir dinner plans OYO  that
time the train broke in the middle of nowhere and we were stuck inside the train
with broken AC and toilettes for 5h  as I´ve been trying to comfort the group, I
kept checking in woith the only SJ employee o n board, and stayed in touch with my
 colleague who drove to on Copenhage n with equipment, working out a make-up
plan, I also coordinated with the hotel, negotiated activity and scheduled and
individuals´dinner changes and plans etc  I did my best to maintain positive
spiritis of th group, but the frustration and mass panic was hard to contain  as
we have finally been transfered to a new train and arrived to CPH with 5h delay,
on a some crammed commuter trains, the joy of my customers was victorious 
my colleague greated us in the hotel lobby with champaign, oyesters and pile of
pizza  what was an obvoius failure, turned out to be a bonding experience
finished up with the happy late night celebration  we discussed changing the next
days plans with customers, making sure everyone´s expectations (altered by the
train experienced) continue aligned  me and my colleague worked together with
our vendors to accommodate
- Follow-up commuinication and mediation: with my manager, customer service in
US, Swedesh train company (negotiated ticket refunds)
-

4. CONFLICT
- I have worked with people from many cultures and backgrounds, I´ve experienced many
types and intensity of conflicts. Some of them were creative and fun, some really energy
draining and not adding value.
- With that said I learnt that every conflict is different and requires different approach
depending on situation:
a) My goal unimportant, P&L conflict not worth it; need time to cool down; someone else will
do it faster and better  AVOID
b) When there is a need for quick decision, or incompetent or manipulative party  HOLD MY
GROUND
c) Whenever common ground possible; and the other party is open and positive, or when I´m
cultivating a long-term partnership  COLLABORATE
d) I realize I made a mistake; or maintaining trusted relationship is more important than my
argument; don´t want the conflict to spread  GIVE IN
e) When very different goals, quick resolution needed, when both goals are not so important;
when collaboration didn´t work  COMPROMISE

- Ad. AVOID: often used to postpone for the right time; or when subject was a trivia:
customer complaining about the bike  we drive to storage and get them a new one, to
avoid; Luis –> inflexible and did not expect different ways of doing things 
confrontational about it  his personal values (waste, use of different packaging, even
frequency of change of hotel towels) were not aligned with the rest; he was also not
conscientious of some delicate subjects like money  I did approach him, explained what
it does, listened, asked if we could focus on resolution  NO – “my believes mean more
to me”  no results  I stalled to not spread the conflict and to focus on my priorities;
later constructive written feedback  didn´t work with him, but I know he continued that
behavior and was followed up  R: was not the first or last one, which open a
accountability dial from the company, 1 year later he was not invited back
- Ad. HOLD: Ezra (hold ground, manipulative and affecting the brand image, vendors and
guests)
- Ad. COLLABORATE: Michelin chef (collaborative; long term, open) or Miki: new
colleague  unprepared (Spanish)  he arrived a few days before our trip was starting,
and instead of using a scheduled learning time, he enjoyed the new place  slightly
concerned about this, I approached him and offered tips on how to make his field entry
most successful, but I also trusted his diligence  he came into trip completely
unprepared and with so many moving part and pace – he couldn´t pull it together -->
clearly affected guest experience and made our team work hard  i asked to meet, I
 explained how his behavior results  we talked about an action plan for him  agreed
to prioritize the eras for improvement when we work together again  next time he was
prepared and empowered, bringing his full A game. I appreciated his openness to
feedback in my standard written co-worker feedback, which
- Ad. GIVE IN: D´Angleterre: stopped escalations; saving VIP vendor relationship
became more important than one win)
- Ad. COMPROMISE: Alex: divide and conquer with

- Exmpl 2: offering mediation between two colleagues that didn´t get along

5. LONG-TERM RELATIONSHIPS
- Understanding of and aligning with client goals and ANTICIPATING future needs
and behavior shifts
- Trust and collaboration
- Offering a great product evolving with customer and market needs
- Creating an emotional bond
-
6. ARE YOU A PEOPLE PERSON?
- I have always worked with people and for people and that´s what makes me really
happy and creative
- I have a deep empathy and natural instinct of looking for unique qualities in people
and that curiosity really makes me tick
- No matter what it is that I do I am most creative if I create a real value for others.
- I am equally stimulated by 360 feedback and ideas input from others
-
7. PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT INVESTMENT
- I love purpose driven learning
- My last work provided that every day
- In 2020 I faced a career change and I started to be more intentional I that growth
- I recently started to work with a Career Coach, who helps me to build a roadmap of
my career pivot
- I also actively use LinkedIn learning (and take many of their skill building courses
on Project Management, People Management, Leadership. One of my favorite ones
were “Cross Functional Teams”- showed how empowering my recent work
environment was, and “Influencing others”- made me retrospect on and appreciate
some amazing leaders that I had a chance to work with
- I also follow podcast, news and twitter accounts covering subjects on marketing,
technologies, leadership, general business
- When a subject interest me, I can spend hours researching OmY. That is what I
have done for example preparing for this interview: read the blog, saw events, listened
to some podcasts
-
8. WHEN YOU ALTERED YOUR NORMAL APPOROACH WITH A CUSTOMER TO
FIX AN ISSUE
- While working with customers, there were no real boundaries for efforts to boosting
CX. What was not a common practice nor within good standards for good reason
was extending customer service beyond the duration of the event.
- Now, on one of the trips I lead in Scandi, finishing in CPH, some planned to stayed
in CPH 2 more days after our trip was finished  they booked 2 additional nights in
 the same hotel; but they needed to change rooms  as house-keeping offered to
move them (so that they don’t lose their fun time),  the passport went missing
and the search lasted 2 days  it lead to obvious distress and a long discussion
between customer and the hotel – first about the lost passport search, then about a
compensation of the lost flight, and cost of booking extra nights involuntarily 
customer managed to get some of their requests met by the hotel, but though they
should be compensated more  Since I was responsible for the relationship with that
hotel, I attempted to leverage my relationship with management and escalate the
request  brought positive outcomes (one more night refunded and the plane ticket
upgrade), customer was happy that BR advocated, but went on ecalating more
compensation (moral one)  I had to stop not to damage the valuable relationship.
confidence in managing my suppliers respectively and confidently

9. MOST CHALLENGING CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE

- In my work I wa juggling many different tasks at once, and the unexpected
scenarios disrupting the plan were bound to happen every day.
- I personally love facing urgent challenges and solving unexpeted problems incidents.
The adrenaline makes me see extreme clarity, allows to rearrange priorities and adapt
plans really fast. I like to imagine the Eisenhower´s decision matrix in such situation
and rearrange elements between the 4 boxes.
- S:  Leading a trip in Czech Republic with two very junior colleagues  customer
fell on bike on 1st day  using basic first aid judgement recognized symptoms of a
broken hip and called the ambulance  the customer was extremely SCARED to be
taken to the Czech hospital, didn´t speak Czech  based on that and the possible
complexity of the injury, I offered to go with her  T/A: I explained the situation
to the witnessing group and communicated with my colleagues that this is what has
just happened, assigned a junior “support leader” to take over my role with the
group until we get the urgency under control  I stayed in the hospital until late
night (translating, supporting with resolving her travel US insurance issues, while
communicating with my 2 colleagues and the head office in US about the progress) 
after getting the urgency under control (guest diagnosis complete: she´s broken,
needs surgery, will be transported back to US in a few days, husband by her side) BR
HQ took over the case and our team on the ground readapted our roles again,
prioritizing the group, We also delegated an employee who was off that week in
the region, to continue assisting the injured couple until their journey back to US and
update all involved teams  R: guest emergency was dealt quickly, safely and
comfortable for the guest, thanks to team work and efficient communication. The
group witnessed a confident delegation of task and crisis management, and the
group experience was not affected. BR office could follow up with the guest in the
next weeks and months, and all guests despite the
-
10. DECISION MADE MAINLY BASED ON CUSTOMER INPUT
- CPH recommendations  made a list for customers based on my personal
connection and conversations during the week  our 5*hotel has amazing concierge,
but they usually follow their luxury playbook when recommending things  I shared
some favorite “local” cafes, boutiques with exclusive clothing or jewelry based on
person´s style, different activities and sites to visit, depending on what I thought they
would like)  I loved doing that every time with every customer, as it added value to
their overall experience (even if beyond my duty)  learnt from the past experiences
(when customers got my list but found it hard to find the places) I even designed little
maps  R: I later on made it (one more) document / protocol foe ALL trips (other
leaders) to provide such DETAILED and RELEVANT info, I incorporated that into
field entry training to support and enable them to do so
 - The Halperns S: led a special custom made private trip in Iceland  which had
been developed through a year-long negotiation between BR private trip team in BR
HQ and the customer (a grandmother who as inviting her children and grandchildren)
 BR sales team fed us with itinerary details and emphasize how challenging
working with this client is and that she may have unrealistic requests during the trip
etc.  when I met the family in person, the grandma came along as a lovely, caring
and inclusive lady  not letting my top performance guard down, I developed a
close connection with the whole family and learnt that the GOAL of the grandmother
was to create a “special moment” for each and every family member based on their
interest (kayaking, horse riding, fishing, swimming) and hence a “needy”
development process  getting to know what make each family member tick I
started to think what would make their trip even more special and suggested some
changes on the fly (finding a kayak company in the remote Icelandic fjords, taking
them to a local natural hot pool instead of the town pool; or taking a young couple to
couple to a secrete hot waterfall outside of my working hours; or stopping in  R: I
could see how those moments got them closer together and me to them  last
dinner: everyone shared highlights, tears, and some of them where things I proposed
based on my reading  one of the members wrote a poem!  they submitted raving
reviews about their experience and an email of appreciation to BR Founder and
started to plan their next family vacation with BR  huge satisfaction!
-
11. GOOD AND BAD EXPERIENCE WORKING ON A TEAM
- GOOD: dry run / GRAF – collaboration, goals alignment, positivity and
support
- CHALLENGING: colleague who built a wall and was a pace setter hard to
follow 
-
12. TEAM-MATES VALUED QUALITIES
- Flexible, positive, supportive, trusting, proactive, humble
-
13. ANGRY CUSTOMER
- In BR we used to use a logical algorithm to address customer issues of various
level
- To make every customer satisfied and cared for  LAUGH  it helps solve most
single issue  usually works great
- Sometimes a TOUGH behavior continues after LAUGH  address it gracefully but
directly (been noticed, offer help and solutions since we CARE that they and the
group is having great experience)
- On rare occasions this DIRECT talk does not work either and the inappropriate
behavior of the guest becomes DISRUPTIVE and have a NEGATIVE impact our
ability to work, other guests and vendors  in such instance I would adopt a very
direct communication of: calling the continuous behavior, refer to previous
conversations; this is not OK; explain the impact on others; NEEDS TO STOP. We
ask that you refrain from now on.; do you understand?

- S: On one trip I France I had 10 guest on a group of 14, that checked all the boxes
for the tough guests from D1 (late to meetings, monopolizing leader time, and
escalating unreasonable requests, manipulative and exclusive towards other 4, making
negative comments about the experience, company and staff, and disrespecting our
local vendors  me and my colleague went through the whole process from using
LAUGH to requesting the change of behavior multiple times and connected them
directly with the leadership team in US 
 - this brough no result!  others´ experience was ruined, although they saw how hard
we worked to resolve the issue  we addressed that, apologized and promised a
follow up from the head office side  R: long story – after extensive report and
follow ups  all 10 DISRUPTIBVE customers were banned on future Backroads
trips; for us - a tough and reassuring lesson on how empowering company
alignment and effective communication is; how to draw the line when customer cross
lines of reason; the incident created a new precedence in the company: e new chapter
was included in training, empowering leaders to take a decision to remove disruptive
guests from the trip
-
14. DIFFERENT OPINIONS
- In my recent work teamwork and flexibility was crucial, as a team we were making or
breaking customers´ experience. S: on a project with a friend who has a different
workstyle and way of aligning her priorities around the goal. I like to always like to
start the day much earlier, as there are always unexpected issue to deal with or
customers questions and requests to cater to; discuss the game plan, my friend liked to
sleep in and would not commit to that idea would always turn up late; it made me
and the third colleague rush around, and we didn’t make an impression of the team
that is unorganized; A: I asked that we converse about it once more, and explained
why it doesn´t work; we agreed to take a “divide and conquer approach”: assign
individual tasks the night and take responsibility of our own tasks, and then meet
where we need to work together. R: It allowed for a much smoother cooperation,
meeting everyone´s needs and work style and less tension. From there on I always
invested time to sit down with my team-mates before a project and apart from
discussing technical things, ask how each like to work, and how we should plan to
make the team-work effective and happy
-
15. PROBLEM SOLVING WITH INCOMPLETE INFOMRATION
- I´m typically very comfortable making decisions with incomplete information and
used to a dynamic environment and I´m always excited to discover great opportunities
while doing so
- My approach depends on the urgency, complexity and impact of the decision, and I
always try to imagine the best and the worst scenarios
- When problem is urgent and fairly uncomplicated, I gather as much information as
I can from immediate environment, and with best situation picture available – I asses
if it requires rearranging priorities; if – how (eg. get the most competent team member
on most important task)- then I make sure a big picture is not affected and use any
resources to ensure that. Overall - any decision is better than no decision
-
- If a more complex problem requiring research and data analysis, I first review all
available resources and data, I then ALWAYS look for alternative resources to get a
wider angle (affiliates? Senior colleagues? Peers in different regions? Suppliers?)
- ALWAYS apply best practices, product and customer knowledge and historical cases
that may be transferable
- Analyze potential risks  best/worst case scenarios
- Brainstorm with aligned team members
- Intuition
- SHORT LIST OF DECISIONS  Consult with my manager
- Exmpl. S: BDSI design  greenfield project in Scandinavia  young manager with
no formal training  different approach to design: usually the itineraries are limited
to a small enough region, so that guests can ride their bikes from hotel to hotel and
 enjoy afternoons;  my product would cover two countries 700km distance, and
cover 2 big cities 
i. which generated lots of new and unmeasured risk factors (how will we
transport guests and equipment from Sweden to Denmark? How will
customer respond to so much commuting on a seemingly active holiday? How
will the trip work with 2 big cities? How Michelin star restaurants work with
our groups? How will the field staff logistics work to make the trip work?)
ii. made it impossible to apply best practices or historical cases
iii. challenging weighing risks and opportunities
iv. A: Knowing my customer profile, I tried to apply best practices, and product
knowledge as much as I could  assigning weighs to brainstormed with
other PMs (ppl better than data!)  limited my decision options  consulted
with my functional manager  comfortable with taking decision, trusting
intuition and TESTING in the first R: achieved a great success in the
launch phase with, tested different improvements in the nest years
- Exmpl: S: Plane in Iceland (I didn´t know how long we will need to wait in Dest B
but I knew there was nothing to do and no transportation, I didn’t know if waiting in
R. would save anything, A: I decided to board the plane, had the team go to Hopf - B,
and hope , meanwhile I escalated in private with the pilot, that we board, but please
keep checking about the A conditions; I continued to check with the pilot while we
were flying and 20 minute before landing in B he said he got a green light in A, and if
we; R: it´s in the absence of data that some of the greatest opportunities emerge from
-
16. +/- WEIGHING
- Make a complete list of +/-
- Assign weighs to different factors (1-10 or 5)
- Limit Your Scale: levels of importance you need, but no more; don’t be precise, it´s
subjective anyway
- Assign Highest & Lowest Weights First
you can compare, maybe some should be bumped up or down a level
- Mark your highest and lowest weights first
- Ask Why you are assigning the ratings you do
- +/- are not all  just a framework for thinking about your decision
-
-
17. YOUR PROCESS OF TROUBLESHOOTING
- Understanding the situation (Who what when)
- Identify the cause
- Determine urgency of the problem
- Worst/best scenario
- Repeat your thinking/brainstorm
- Find solution
- Follow up on results
-
18. USED LOGIC TO MAKE A DECISION
- Plane
-
19. DISCOVER A MORE EFFICIENT WAY TO DO THINGS
- Public speaking talks, to do lists for teams, email templates, idea sharing and
knowledge  communicating all update with everyone
- Shadow GRAF
20. Think about a time when you had a number of different choices or directions you could
choose for a project, to solve a problem, or to hold an event. Walk me through the
process you followed to make your decision about the appropriate direction to choose
that had the best chance of a positive outcome.
- designm

21. UNPOPULAR DECISIONS & HOW DID YOU HANDLE FEEDBACK?

- LH move from centre Stockholm to Slagsta
- Trip Design change + Garmin intro  PS  john S.  I delegated to him that he
proofread and polished paper directions  he took up the challeng with resistance,
questioning the relevance of the task in light of changes  I explained that we are not
familiar with this new technology and we cannot risk not being able to navigate our guests
 he completed, but not happy  Garmis did fail  customer DID appreciate paper
directions, morevover, in many reviews they would praise how acurate they were. And
this is du to the proactive effort of team.
-
22. DO YOU MAKE BETTER DECISIOS ALONE OR WITH A TEAM?
- Depends on urgency and importance and the type of decision
- Comfortable researching deep and gathering extensive data needed to assess situation
BUT
- Always collect different perspectives
- Relevant input!
- Consult best decision with someone with wider picture and experience
- I like to ask even when I´m sure of my decisions, because a few times it made me
change my mind;
- When I lack data – brainstorming and different opinions give diversity equally
valuable as data
-
23.  OUTSIDE OF BOX THINKING
- Pelle being VS, taking
- Reliable trusted person
- Shadow GRAF
-

24. MISTAKE
- Timely feedback
- Good enough
-
25.  UNDERPERFORMING COLLEAGUE
- ACCOUNTABILITY DIAL:
- Mention: ‘Hey I noticed [a concrete behaviour] . . . is everything okay?’
Invitation: ‘I’ve mentioned [concrete behaviours] a few times now . . . what’s the pattern
here?’
Conversation:  ‘[Concrete behaviours] are impacting the team . . . let’s discuss how to resolve
this.
Boundary:  ‘If [concrete behaviours] don’t change, we may have to consider [possible
consequences]
Limit: ‘This is your final warning. Let me lay this out for you . . . ’
- ST: Iga co-leading a trip with a friend , who was passive and didn´t have a “leader pace”,
wasn´t proactive thinking one step ahead and she´d usually realize there was a “potential
 issue” long after it was fixed  felt like being the only person working  different goals
 hard feedback, cause its a good friend  A: I asked that we talk: “you need to be more
proactive”  She really appreciated our conv. and asked for tips to improve. She also
explained she sometimes felt overwhelmed by my speed of thinking and acting and was
giving in  And that for me was valuable, because although I always paid grand attention
to making my coworkers shine in front of the customers, I missed that racing to get things
done behind the scenes could undermine inner confidence of my colleagues and backfire
 R: When we worked together again, she showed much more initiative and put
conscious effort to being more present and collaborative, moving forward, made me more
watchful a cared as deep about how my co-workers feel as I did about my customers. We
both wrote our thoughts in the co-worker feedback survey. I later got very comfortable
with giving timely and constructive feedback and finding the right time to do that and
grew into additional high impact function of trainer and mentor in the company.
-
26. WHAT IS YOUR STRATEGY TO PRESENTING NEW IDEAS TO MANAGEMENT?
- Start with high level  strategic goal and the mission of my ides (WHY and WHAT)
- Back with past data, compelling arguments, understanding of mission and knowledge
of customer, explaining how to get there
- Present matrix of value to cost/effort and present high-level features and highlights
- Discus

-
27. KEY TU SUCCESSFUL PUBLIC SPEAKING
- Preparation
- Knowing your audience and their goals
- Compelling content
- Ppl remember first and last minute  Starting with upbeat interesting story that
connects audience personally to the rest of content and finish with a strong point
provoking questions and feedback
- Creating a shared experience to remember
-
28. RATE YOU SPEAKING SKILLS
- I like to say that my PS is somewhere between 8-10, yet lots depends on my
reparation and subject expertise. There I always try to perform prepared and act as an
expect to build immediate credibility.
-
29. HOW DO YOU DEAL WITH THE CHANGE
- Busy schedule (fast learning, preparation)
- Lots of team input and urgency to update playbooks and communicate  priorities
-
30. WHAT DO YOU WANT THE AUDIENCE TO REMEMBER FROM THE
PRESENTATION?
- Connection, shared experience, managed expectations, excitement, curiosity,
invitation to conversation
-
31. WHAT TYPE OF REMOTE SOFTWARE DID YOU USE AND HOW
- In my company 100% staff were globally distributed and often working on different
teams and projects, in different countries every week; while functional teams
(finance, marketing, support and c-suite) were based in Berkeley
- From common communication software, we used Teams, but it wasn´t reliable tool
for an off-site, otdoorsy business.
 - HOWEVER, efficient and instant communication was crucial as we were instantly
solving a wide range of problems instantly and often dealing with urgencies
- We used tools that were most reliable, relevant and easy in this type of work
-  for instant messaging we would typically use WA – switching between regional,
and trip specific groups for instant support
- For discussing high level matters, we would defer to online meetings (Zoom,
Hangout or Teams) and emails
- Apart from all the above, BR ran a complex reporting system that served as a main
engine for knowledge base and reporting, that allowed project management for cross
functional teams but – more relevant for product development, than for collaboration
- Exmpl.: I was once led a special custom made private trip in Iceland  which had
been developed through a year-long negotiation between BR private trip team in BR
HQ and the customer (a grandmother who as inviting her children and grandchildren)
 me and my colleagues received an itinerary that was supposed to be ready  while
doing standard confirmations of all elements in the 10-day itinerary one day before
meeting the group  many reservations not confirmed  it was Saturday  3 of my
colleagues were already driving equipment me meeting group in Reykjavik 
private trip and RM in US were sleeping  using my resources and experience I tried
to clarify and secure as much as I could, but once I picked up guests, my time as
limited  communication and collaboration was a key  we played it by ear WA
with my team  email and calls with teams in US --> using colleagues on the ground
in Iceland to help us secure all missing ends  we succeeded, no one noticed, and we
delivered bigger value thanks to creativity than initially accounted for
-
32. YOUR APPROACH TO MAINTAINING EFFECTIVE COMMUNICATION &
COLLABORATION WITH DISTRIBUTED TEAMS
- I´ve learnt that whether the teams are distributed or not
- It´s about the CULTURE and BEST PRACTICES that make the communication and
collaboration efficient, SOFTWARE comes second.
o everyone aligned around the same mission and goals and know what they want
from each other
o regular meetings strategy (consider time zones)
o inclusive and transparent
o Empower people to take ownership and be independent
- Choose remote work tools that speak to the teams´ working style and business needs, but
they´s typically provide:
o video conferencing (Zoom, GogleHangaouts, Teams, BlueJeans, Skype)
o whiteboards for sprints (Miro)
o instant messaging (Slack, Teams)
o meeting scheduling (Outlook, GoogleCallendar - combines multiple calendars, shows
working hours, has Zoom integration)
o document collaboration (GoogleDocs, DropBox, MsDocs)
o project management (Jira, Trello, Asana, Monday)

33. HOW DO YOU KEEP YOURSELF MOTIVATED AND ENGAGED @ HOME?

- I like to see a purpose in whatever I´m doing
- I’m very comfortable working independently. It allows me to get into deep focus and solve
some complex problems
- I do love collaboration and others´ input
- I like to work with teams that are in regular contact whether in person or over chat or email.
- I also appreciate team meetings or Zoom calls with my manager
- These regular face to face check-ins help validate ideas in the making, reinforce trust,
discuss less priority tasks and validate alignment around common goals
- Scheduled meetings also give my day structure and help keep me on track
- With that said I learnt how important self-care is, especially if your work is home or field
based and you are responsible for making your own schedule and really caring about creating
amazing outcomes
o In AM: “what do I need to do to not only stay happy and be in peace at the end
of the day”? (sometimes a small task: email, a piece of information, thinking)
o Make STOP cues (time reminders or between completed tasks)
o Plan break routines (stretch, yoga, walk, eat)  to work smart and productive
and with clarity
o Eliminate distractions (notifications, apps, temptation of browsing – I write a
reminder for later)

34. COOLEST RECENT TECHNOLOGY?

- iFinca?
- mozna o Hopinie, czy to podlizywanie sie?
-
35. WHAT AND HOW DO YOU WANT TO LEARN?
- Well, I have made a very conscious decision to do a big career pivot.
- Depending on the environment and roile I land - leveraging and expanding my
expertise in CX, ppl management and motivating, project management – in new
industry
- – formal certifications
- Learning, self-educating, practicing, taking relevant courses

36. FAV. WORK CULTURE

- I am adaptable and I know a perfect doesn´t exist. However,

- I perform best in a positive and supportive culture based on trust and transparent
communication.
- I appreciate autonomy a lot, and I enjoy carrying responsibility for my tasks and actions.
- Growth is important. I need to learn and be challenged all the time
- brand or product I that I have a personal connection with and can share it wit others

37. YOUR ROLE ON THE TEAM

- Leader (Activator  tendency to act, or lead people to action  I usually see
patterns, causes and solution before others)
- But I adapt depending on the situation, urgency and my expertise
-
38. YOUR FAV. RELATIONSHIP WHEN WORKING WITH PEOPLE IN GENERAL

- Trust, understanding
- Non-judgmental
- Curios (each other´s unique qualities, motivation, style of creating relationships)
- Autonomous (I go way and beyond in my contribution without relying on others)
- Positive
- Best relationships I´ve built has been aligned around missions, goals, projects (story
about family holidays in Tatras?)
39. NEW SOFTWARE – HOW LONG UNTIL YOU FULLY UNDERSTOOD IT AND
HOW DID YOU LEAR IT?

- I usually learn through seeing and experiencing and reinforce it through results.
- TED – where you input all product data to accurately feed to sales, reservations,
support and field staff.
- Read all available manuals and resource and watch videos, used logic to understand
which segments speak to which segments in reports
- Made dry runs to understand, collaborated with IT to get support and fix bugs

40. DOING SOMETHING 1ST TIME. HOW DID YOU DEAL AND LEARN?
- I love putting myself outside the comfort zone and learning new things as I do them.
That was the essence of my recent work. I have one fear that I cannot overcome: open
water. S: one time I accompanied a group of 24 customers in the snorkeling activity
in the coral reef on a Caribbean island. I am very aware of my fear ow water, but I
pushed, for customers´ sake. I was so miserable and I couldn´t fake it. Guests later
asked me if it was my first time snorkeling. I admitted it.  R: From there on,
whenever there was an activity including water on any of my trips, I made sure my
colleagues accompanied the guests and I took wonderful photos from the land or
“guarded” their valuables from the boat. That made the team look much more
credible, thoughtful and confident.
-
41. DIFFICULT SITUATION

- S: After I decided to finish my tenure of a Product Manager in Sweden, I facilitated

onboarding of a new PM, and I agreed with my boss that I would keep him company
during the pre-seasonal round of research  I hoped to take that as an opportunity to
say thank my suppliers for an amazing cooperation and set my colleague who was
stepping in for success  2 weeks before the project, my spring schedule changed and
instead of that, I was sent to Poland, to finalize a new product design, stand up
logistics and processes, playbooks and run first few departures.  This change came
as a disappointment and excitement to me. In my mind, we didn´t make the Company
look good in front of my old suppliers, nor did it set me and the Polish team up for
success. I had very short to learn the new product design and a very junior colleague
to support me, which all in all made the project high pressure. Thanks to my previous
experience and expertise in company´s best practices, we pulled together and launch a
pretty amazing product  R: We manage to produce amazing customer outcome, I
coached and inspired a future PM (the friend in Poland) and all in all – I understood
that that schedule change made a much bigger impact on the company and let me
proved my agile project management and coaching skills. I learnt that XXXX – you
just bring you’re a game.
-

42. YOU A GOOD TEAM MEMBER?

- I love working with motivated teams aligned around clear goals

- People usually enjoy working with me, since I always:
o deliver on anything I commit to and on time
o communicate transparently and keep everyone on the same page
o am supportive and encouraging to my team
o hold myself accountable
o let my team members make their own decisions (even if I don’t agree as a senior
member, with more expertise aligned around the same goal);
 o welcome feedback and different ways of doing things
o in a conflict: I listen to all sides and strive to positive resolution
- I love creating a team environment where everyone feels included, appreciated and is able to
see the impact of collaboration in creating amazing customer outcomes.

43. WHAT IS CX

= cumulative impact of every touchpoint throughout the customer journey

= the way consumers perceive how your brand interacts and treats them
= how these touchpoints fit into the context of their end-to-end journey with your company
= exceptional CX makes customers happier + drives customer behavior (more purchases, renewals,
more referrals and positive word of mouth)
= great one ensures increased customer loyalty and retention
Ways to measure CX:
- Customer voice program
- NPS (brand loyalty, long term relationship, puls on c. sentiment)
- CSAT (PSAT) (transactional, id attributes most meaningful for c., helps drive improvements
and track results)
- CSAT open ended feedback – “why” and who is responsible for the score
- CES (smoothend the path to desired c. outcome)

44. WHAT IS CS

- process of anticipating customer challenges or questions and proactively providing solutions

and answers to those issues prior to them arising
- helps you boost customer happiness and retention, increasing your revenue and customer
loyalty
- aligns closely with customer support to take customer satisfaction to the next level
- SUPPORT: reactive fulfillment to specific customer requests over phone, email, live chat, and
social media; solves problems when customers raise them; cost-centered; operational efficiency;
problem areas; tech support/knowledge base
- SUCCESS: works proactively in partnership with customers to help them get more value out
of their purchase and share their feedback with you. It drives the customer experience forward
and ensures a successful path into the future; long term; planning; revenue-centered; growth
opportunities; cross-functional collaboration; opportunity areas; CX/product adoptions/cross
sell/up sell
-
-

45. What’s the difference between an operating system and browser?

OS

- software that controls your device’s basic functions, such as:

- running programs,
- controlling hardware like a keyboard
- allowing your device to understand what you want when you tap the touchscreen (touch
screen comp and smart phones)
- most popular: iOS, Windows, Linux (PC), Android and iOS, Windows Phone (smartphones
and tablets)
Bowser:
- program that allows you to use the Internet
 - Chrome, Internet Explorer, Firefox, Microsoft Edge, and Safari
- You can’t run every browser on every operating system

46. Tell me about a time where you used logic to solve a problem.
- 5 year ago, in response to customer needs, BR introduced Garmin navigation on all
their biking trips in all 6000 destinations (Until then, the company was using only
paper directions written without using technology).
- One of my responsibilities as PM was to map all the routes for my 6-day bike trip in
an online planning platform called RwGPS and upload such GPS files onto about 200
Garmin devices that would serve as the only navigation for guests coming to my
region
- Both device-based navigation and an online mapping technology was new in the
company, and tested only in US, and we had no best practices nor user cases in our
global destinations to refer to.
- I mapped all my routes online following new guidelines and went into field to test
them during my pre-season stand-up just a couple of weeks before first groups
arrived.
- I quickly discovered a concerning issue: Garmin device was notoriously showing an
“off course” alert despite being on the correct route
- I reached out to IT team in Berkeley, but they weren’t able to provide me an time
efficient solution. I thought that the problem must be either in the device or the faulty
GPS files.
- I tested a few different route design approaches and discovered that:
- Garmin device is simply unable to process certain types of information from GPS
files. For example
i. 1. any “lollipop loops” or “out and back” shaped routes were not recognized
by G. software
ii. 2. Garmin´s own base maps seemed to not be up to date, so they didn´t
recognize routes mapped online
- I solved 1st issue splitting the routes in segments, so that the were single lines vs. out-
n-back etc. I wasn´t ablet to solve the second issue myself so I just made sure it was
always managed manually by the leaders and guests expectations were set up.
(“ignore the alert, continue on dirt road until paved road, your device will pick up the
route a few minutes after you go back on the paved road”)
47. How You Handle Change- Including a Specific Example from Your Experience'

- You can never fully predict how a change will affect your job.
- With changes in general- I strive to maintain a positive attitude and keep in mind the intended
purpose for the change. This helps me to figure out how to properly adapt in a way that aids in
reaching the set goal.

QUESTIONS TO HOPIN:
 How do you feel about this conversation?
 Would you see someone with this kind of experience and skills could fit into Hopin and
contribute?
 How would see next steps? Would you like me to follow up with you directly?
(I wouldn´t like to take your time for no reason)
 Would you recommend that I gain some specific knowledge to better fit technology companies?