Top Mistakes to Avoid as a Customer Success Leader

Have you ever ended a quarter exhausted, certain you did everything right, only to realize your team still missed the mark? You’re not alone. Many Customer Success leaders find themselves stuck in reactive mode, unsure why their strategic impact feels invisible. In this week’s episode of The Customer Success Pro Podcast, host Anika Zubair unpacks the biggest mistakes CS leaders make and how to shift from overwhelmed operator to strategic executive. Whether you’re a first-time leader or a seasoned VP, this episode is packed with actionable insights to help you lead with clarity and confidence.

The Five Most Common Mistakes CS Leaders Make

Leadership in customer success today is not what it was five years ago. It’s no longer about managing accounts or jumping into every customer call. You are now responsible for revenue growth, cross-functional collaboration, and building scalable systems. But most leaders are still operating like Super CSMs.

Here are five common mistakes Anika sees CS leaders make:

1. Staying in the weeds. 

   Leaders who are still reviewing every QBR, firefighting daily issues, and sitting on every call are headed straight for burnout. Leadership is not about doing the work. It’s about building systems and coaching your team to succeed without you.

2. Not aligning with revenue. 

   If your CS reporting focuses only on churn risk and NPS, you’re missing the executive lens. CS leaders need to tell a revenue story. What expansions did you influence? What product adoption led to upsells? Start speaking the language of the CFO.

3. Hiring for experience, not coachability. 

   Ten years of experience doesn’t mean someone is adaptable. The best teams are built with CSMs who are open to coaching, follow playbooks, and grow with the business. Prioritize growth mindset over rigid experience.

4. Failing to define success metrics. 

   If your team doesn’t know what good looks like, they default to busy work—more meetings, more tickets, more chaos. Create rubrics, clear 30-60-90 day plans, and define what outcomes you expect from onboarding to renewal.

5. Waiting for permission to lead cross-functionally. 

   CS touches every team: product, marketing, sales, and more. Don’t wait to be invited to collaborate. Be proactive. Help shape the customer journey before problems arise, not after.

How to Shift from Operator to Strategic Leader

To break free from reactive leadership, Anika offers three steps to elevate your CS leadership:

1. Delegate with purpose. 

   Stop doing repeatable tasks. Build playbooks for your team and empower them to own the work. Use tools like Notion to create accessible, clear documentation your team can reference anytime. Leadership means enabling, not micromanaging.

2. Build a revenue story. 

   Every action your team takes should ladder up to revenue impact. Track and communicate the value you drive through renewals, expansions, and product adoption. Your exec team wants to see growth. Show them how CS contributes to that.

3. Hire for growth potential. 

   In interviews, focus less on past job titles and more on how candidates learn, adapt, and respond to feedback. Then coach them consistently. Your role is to develop a high-performing, coachable team that scales your vision.

Define and Demonstrate What Success Looks Like

Telling your team to “focus on customer outcomes” is vague. Instead, show them what success looks like in every part of the customer journey:

• What does an excellent onboarding call look like?

• What goals should they hit within 30, 60, 90 days?

• What questions should they ask to uncover expansion?

Document it all. Use systems like Notion to make it accessible and trackable. When your team knows what excellence looks like, they’re more likely to achieve it. And when everyone is aligned, renewals become a non-event and expansions feel natural.

Anika also emphasizes that your success as a CS leader hinges on three core audiences: the executive team, your internal cross-functional peers, and your direct CS team. You must consistently communicate your team’s value to all three to build credibility and drive impact.

Leadership Is About Multiplication, Not Duplication

In one of the most personal moments of the episode, Anika shares a hard lesson from her early days as a CS leader. She thought being a great leader meant being the best CSM. But doing it all led to team underperformance and total burnout. Her former manager offered a powerful piece of advice: “You’re not a leader if you’re doing the work. You’re a leader when your team is doing the work exceptionally without you.” 

That shift changed everything. Anika began focusing on scalable systems, trust, and coaching—not execution. The result? Stronger performance, higher team morale, and true strategic impact.

Now she challenges every CS leader to do the same. Ask yourself: What is one task you’re still doing that your team could own instead? Create a checklist, a playbook, or an enablement doc, and confidently delegate it. That’s how you grow as a leader.

Key Takeaways

• Leadership is not about being a Super CSM. It’s about building systems, coaching your team, and scaling impact.

• Stop tracking vanity metrics. Build a revenue story that speaks to your CFO, CEO, and CRO.

• Hire adaptable, coachable CSMs, not just those with the longest resumes.

• Show your team what good looks like with clear rubrics, documentation, and expectations.

• Be proactive about internal partnerships. Cross-functional leadership starts with YOU.

Listen Now & Build Scalable CS Leadership

This episode is a must-listen for CS leaders who want to scale their impact, avoid burnout, and drive revenue with confidence.

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