The Journey: 18 Status Quo Syndrome

Over the years, I’ve learned what questions to ask during the interview process to set myself up for success.

I got clear on what I needed, budget, headcount, alignment, support, executive buy-in, and a shared philosophy around Customer Success.

So when I joined one company as their first VP of Customer Success, I felt confident. I’d asked all the right questions. I had the green lights.

They told me they believed CS was the future of their business. They said retention was key to long-term growth. They said all the things I needed to hear.

But once I arrived, it was clear: this was a company comfortable with the status quo.

And I was a threat to it.

Despite the title, the team, and the tech, what I met was a wall of resistance. Most employees had been there for years. Some didn’t even know what Customer Success was. Many didn’t care to learn. My first 6–8 months were spent just educating the org on what we did and why it mattered.

Yes, I was allowed to hire. Yes, we rolled out tools and processes.

But that’s where it stopped.

The moment we tried to talk about goals, enablement, or engagement, the message was loud and clear:

Sell, sell, sell.

Everything else? Optional. Delayed. Dismissed.

They didn’t want transformation.

They wanted translation, someone to dress up old habits in new language.

When Change Isn’t Welcome

If you’ve ever been brought in to change the game but found yourself benched by legacy thinking, you know how frustrating this feels.

You didn’t sign up to babysit outdated processes. You were hired to move the needle.

But in organizations where the status quo has become part of the identity, change is seen as disruption, not evolution.

Here’s what I’ve learned:

If leadership doesn't model change, the org won’t follow.

If employees are rewarded for maintenance, not growth, innovation dies.

If you’re constantly justifying your function, you’re not in a supportive environment — you’re in survival mode.

Here's what you can do ...

If you’re in an org that’s resistant to change, here are a few things that have helped me stay sane, strategic, and when necessary, prepared to move on:

Document the gaps

Don’t just talk about what’s broken, show it.

Track things like churn reasons, engagement rates, onboarding delays, ticket volume trends, or NPS feedback. Paint a picture with evidence. The goal isn’t to blame, it’s to build a case. Change is a lot easier to justify when the problem is visible.

Find allies

You are not the only one who sees the cracks.

Whether it’s someone in Product, Marketing, Support, or Sales, find the people who care about customer outcomes and want to improve. You don’t need a title to lead change, but you do need support. Start small: share your ideas, ask for input, and work together to push one thing forward.

Win small

Don’t try to boil the ocean.

Pick one initiative you can fully own, a new onboarding checklist, a customer feedback loop, a more strategic Business Review framework and show results. Proving that one change worked builds confidence and credibility. It also gives you leverage to ask for more.

Repeat the mission

Connect Customer Success to the business constantly.

Don’t assume people understand what CS does or why it matters. Reframe your work in terms of revenue, retention, and risk mitigation. Share customer stories. Quantify your impact. The more you evangelize your function’s value in the language the business speaks, the harder it is to ignore you.

Know when it’s time to go

Not every organization is ready for the kind of change you’re meant to drive.

If you’ve tried everything made your case, won your allies, shown progress and still face roadblocks at every turn, it’s okay to walk away. Staying too long in a status-quo culture can erode your passion and confidence. You’re not quitting, you’re protecting your ability to lead somewhere that wants to grow.

At the end of the day ...

You can’t change a company that doesn’t want to change.

But you can change where you invest your energy.

The status quo isn’t just a comfort zone, it’s a growth killer.

And if you’re a builder, a fixer, or a leader who gives a damn, the only thing worse than resistance is resignation, watching your impact erode under the weight of “we’ve always done it this way.”

So if you’re feeling stuck, ask yourself this:

Are you in a place that supports your growth or suppresses it?