A Conversation with the CCO of VMWare, Scott Bajtos – CB36

One of the most interesting things about this episode to me is where Scott began his pathway to the CCO role. Namely: Human Resources. You don’t see as many CCOs come from HR, but it makes sense. One of Scott’s first key roles, for example, was building out an employee retention strategy. Employees are essentially internal customers, so the tie to working with — and providing value for — external customers isn’t as big of a leap as we sometimes think. In fact, engaging employees en route to customer advocacy is a major way Scott has driven growth in his career. If you take anything from this episode, I would take that aspect: a relentless focus on your employees and internal stakeholders can be just as effective (or more) than a focus on KPIs and external stakeholders. (Obviously you want a focus in both areas.)