Maria Kallergi is an award-winning Customer Experience (CX) leader with extensive experience spanning Telecommunications, Retail, Consulting, Shipping and currently Logistics and Supply Chain. A Certified Customer Experience Professional (CCXP) since 2018, she has a proven track record in boosting customer engagement, loyalty, and satisfaction. Maria actively contributes to the industry as a speaker and judge at international and local CX events, passionately advocating for aligning business strategy with authentic human experiences.
Recently, in an exclusive interview with CXO Magazine, Maria shared insights on what fuels her passion for CX and EX, insights on authentic leadership, her secret to striking a work-life balance, future plans, words of wisdom, and much more. The following excerpts are taken from the interview.
Hi Maria. What drives your passion for customer experience (CX) and employee experience (EX)?
Every one of us shares a fundamental “attribute”: we all are customers. We have needs, make choices, hold expectations, and shape our behaviors based on the experiences we encounter through various interactions. Having the ability to harness this universal aspect, decode its intricacies, and strategically align it with business goals and operational practices is truly compelling.
In my view, no other area in either academic disciplines or business reality resonates as closely with real-life experiences as Customer Experience Management does. CX provides the unique opportunity to create meaningful impact and immediately observe the tangible outcomes of your efforts. Moreover, from an executive standpoint, it empowers you to view an organization holistically, breaking down silos inherent in other roles.
Complementing this, employee experience (EX) adds significant value by highlighting the critical role individuals play in shaping customer experiences. It ensures that organizational strategies integrate not only customer expectations but also the needs and aspirations of employees.
I firmly believe CX and EX represent two essential pillars, strategy and culture, in perfect synergy. It is an exciting and profoundly meaningful field, inherently people-centric, enabling deep and seamless connections across all organizational levels and functions.
What do you love the most about your current role?
Throughout my career, I’ve had the opportunity to work across various industries, including Τelecommunications, Consulting, Shipping, and Retail. For the past five months, I’ve been part of the OB STREEM team. OB STREEM represents an exciting new endeavor that carries a significant legacy, strategically based in Greece with operations spanning across Southeast Europe. We provide comprehensive solutions for seamless and uninterrupted cargo transportation, driven by innovative, sustainable, and globally recognized reliability. That’s what STREEM stands for: Sea-Truck-Rail-End-to-End Mobility.
What fascinates me most about my current role is the stimulating environment OB STREEM offers. The company’s rich heritage, coupled with the dynamic challenges of technological advancement and international expansion, creates a fertile ground for creativity and innovation.
For me it is a captivating journey into the supply chain and logistics sector, the connector and often the orchestrator of different yet interdependent industries. The genuine multifaceted nature of the supply chain, combined with the opportunity to manage Customer Experience across B2B, B2C, and B2B2C relationships, is both challenging and interesting. This broad spectrum allows me to fully explore and influence the multitude of factors shaping customer experiences, which is great.
How do you prioritize and manage competing priorities in a fast-paced environment?
Personally, I don’t favor the term ‘competing’ because it implies opposing interests, whereas in any organization, the overarching interest should always be unified and shared. However, it’s clear that in dynamic environments, speed, agility and often limited resources naturally create challenges in prioritization.
My approach is highly data-driven. I strongly believe in leveraging data, thorough analysis and assessing impact, as reliable guides in decision-making. Although the importance of data is widely recognized, analyzing the true impact of each decision – strategically, financially, culturally and from a human relations perspective- is critical, even if not always immediately apparent. By carefully considering these dimensions, I believe you lay the foundation for successful decision-making, especially nowadays, when technology acts as a powerful accelerator, significantly shaping and influencing the decision-making process.
What role do you believe technology plays in supporting CX and EX efforts?
Technology significantly impacts both customer experience (CX) and employee experience (EX) from dual perspectives: Αs fundamentally human-centric disciplines and as integral parts of the broader business environment. Ideally, technology should address clearly identified customer and employee needs, solve specific problems, and enhance overall experience.
For instance, time is a critical challenge today. Customers increasingly value efficiency and convenience. Τhey prefer not to wait in queues, endure long phone holds, or repeatedly provide information they expect businesses -they frequently interact with- to already have. In such cases, technology provides powerful solutions to meet these expectations effectively and elevate the overall experience.
However, this benefit is conditional. Technology must be strategically implemented to address genuine customer and employee needs while also delivering broader business benefits such as cost reduction, increased efficiency and improved resource allocation. Unfortunately, we have all experienced instances where technology has been inadequately or poorly integrated, resulting in dissatisfaction for customers, employees, and ultimately the business itself.
Technology is not the ultimate goal; rather, it acts as a catalyst and enabler, for gaining substantial competitive advantage, provided that its adoption is well-planned, thoughtfully executed, and motivated by the right objectives.
Do you notice a lack of women in CX? If so, why do you think that’s the case?
Indeed, there is an imbalanced representation of women across various sectors, including CX. Unfortunately, we still seem far from a time when such a question would be unnecessary, and this imbalance would no longer be noticeable. As a mother of two teenage daughters who are close to stepping into the next stage of their lives as professionals, I genuinely feel disappointed that my generation has not managed to achieve greater progress in this area.
Perhaps what’s the most discouraging thing to notice is the realization that inequality is a global phenomenon, transcending local cultures, societies, and histories. It underscores the need for continued efforts and meaningful actions to foster gender equality in all professional fields, including customer experience.
Looking back, which women in your life have had the most influence on your career?
Without a doubt, my daughters have had the greatest influence on my career. Becoming a mother and understanding the responsibility of raising two future women in a world still marked by patriarchal characteristics has profoundly shaped my belief that no matter the decision, my attitude should positively influence and inspire them. Every professional choice I make aims to set an example for them. From an early age, I openly shared details of my professional life, career decisions, priorities, and core values with them. My intention has always been to demonstrate that, in certain situations, there are no dilemmas—certain values must remain non-negotiable.
Striving to be the best possible version of myself each day for my daughters has significantly influenced my professional journey, and I believe this impact will only grow stronger as they mature.
What does the term “authentic leadership” mean to you?
Given that the term “authentic” originates from Greek, it’s interesting to note that in Greek, the words “authentic” and “authority” share a common root in a word (which cannot be directly translated into English) meaning someone who is master of oneself, fully in control. Despite their shared origin, “authority” refers to expertise and unquestioned knowledge or capability in a particular area, while “authentic” implies being genuine, real, and trustworthy.
To me, authentic leadership means consistently being there for your people with genuineness and reliability, bringing on the table your personality, the authentic you. Listen with empathy, celebrate the team’s successes, support the team in failures, share knowledge, foster development, be honest and fair. By cultivating these traits, you naturally become someone whose leadership is respected and beyond doubt. Authentic leadership is not something you can declare about yourself; You can’t simply state “I am an authentic leader”. Rather, it’s something others recognize in you through their experiences with your actions and character.
What is your secret behind striking a work-life balance?
Successfully balancing professional and personal roles is undoubtedly challenging, and I must admit, I don’t always manage to maintain this balance perfectly. However, the approach I previously mentioned -making decisions based on evaluating the expected impact- has significantly helped me manage guilt when balance is not possible.
At one point in my life, I consciously took a break from corporate life to be fully present, when my daughters were starting school, which was a milestone for them. It was a choice, I’ve never regretted. Currently, I’m at a demanding stage in my career while simultaneously pursuing a Master’s degree. Although this means I’m away from home more often and have less energy in my personal life, I don’t feel guilty. This was a decision deeply rooted in my personal aspirations and thoroughly discussed and agreed upon within my family before saying “off we go”!
Ultimately, if the overall impact is positive, temporary sacrifices of balance can be justified and worthwhile. If there isn’t a clearly positive impact, then perhaps something needs to be reconsidered and changed.
Where do you see yourself in 5 years from now?
Continuous growth on a personal, professional, and academic level has always been very important to me. While I can’t say exactly where I’ll be five years from now, I am sure I’ll have evolved into an improved version of who I am today. My main aspiration is consistent self-development and progress in every aspect of my life.
Hopefully I’ll still be happy, creative—and of course, a bit older!
What advice would you give to someone looking to break into the field of CX or EX?
Working in CX and EX is an incredible journey with many diverse areas to specialize in.
Βe comfortable with uncomfortable : It is not always comfortable to become a mirror for an organization, openly reflecting both strengths and weaknesses. The challenging part is encouraging an organization to acknowledge its vulnerabilities and, even more so, prompting it to systematically address them.
You will need both theory and hands on: I would strongly advise aspiring professionals to pursue both academic knowledge and practical experience. No theoretical model can be truly evaluated until it’s practically implemented.
Focus not only on customer journeys but also on those who will deliver them: it’s crucial to recognize that improving customer journeys goes hand in hand with enhancing employee journeys, especially ensuring that employees actively participate in the transformational process driven by CX strategies. Both CX and EX require a collaborative approach, so be inclusive, engage with your teams, and foster participation. And of course….
Grow to be as unbiased as possible!