Customer Empathy

At Level 3, customer empathy becomes a core part of your approach. You’re skilled at identifying opportunities to improve user experiences and delivering solutions that align with their goals. You lead by example—demonstrating how to prioritize customer impact in technical decisions and inspiring others to do the same. You may take ownership of complex projects that require deep customer understanding and cross-functional collaboration.

Key Behaviors

  • Identifies opportunities to improve user experiences
  • Delivers solutions that align with customer goals
  • Leads by example in prioritizing customer impact
  • Inspires others to consider user needs in their work
  • Takes ownership of projects requiring deep customer understanding

Common Struggles

  • May face challenges in scaling customer empathy across teams
  • Might struggle to balance competing priorities in complex projects
  • Can find it difficult to maintain focus on user needs in high-pressure situations

Success Indicators

You know you're successful when you:

  • Demonstrate expertise in understanding and addressing user needs
  • Deliver impactful solutions that improve customer experiences
  • Lead teams to prioritize customer impact in their work
  • Inspire others to deepen their customer empathy

Mindset Shift

From:

"I consider customer impact."

To:

"I lead with customer impact."

Questions to Ask Yourself

  • What opportunities exist to improve user experiences?
  • How can we ensure this solution aligns with customer goals?
  • What’s the most impactful way to address user needs?

Build These Habits

  • 1
    Regularly identify and prioritize opportunities to improve user experiences
  • 2
    Lead discussions on customer impact during planning and review
  • 3
    Collaborate with cross-functional teams to deliver impactful solutions

Seek Feedback

  • "How well does this solution address user needs?"
  • "What opportunities exist to improve customer experiences?"
  • "How can we inspire others to prioritize customer impact?"

Signals You're Ready to Level Up

  • You consistently deliver solutions that improve user experiences
  • You lead teams to prioritize customer impact in their work
  • Others look to you as a role model for customer empathy

Focus Summary

  • Lead with empathy
  • Deliver impact
  • Inspire others

At Level 3, customer empathy is about leadership and impact. You’re driving meaningful change for users—and inspiring others to do the same.