The One With Theater, Hedge Funds, and Guest Journeys – Tori Signorelli E229

From the theater to hedge funds to Alaska Airlines...
 Tori Signorelli’s path to CX isn’t typical. And that’s exactly what makes her perspective matter.

Early in her role at Alaska Airlines, Tori’s fresh eyes are helping evolve the guest journey without losing the human touch. This episode is full of practical, honest CX wisdom... plus a few tasty travel moments.

What’s in the episode?

• Why “healthy businesses are not still”
• CX orchestration over ownership
• Visibility as a survival skill for CX teams
• How global living built deep empathy
• Why beautiful design still needs gritty execution

CHAPTERS
 00:00 Healthy businesses aren't still
 01:02 Immersing in airline CX as a newcomer
 05:13 “Do no harm”… CX during operational change
 08:54 Aligning guest experience with business metrics
 11:02 From theater to hedge funds: Tori’s unique CX foundation
 15:37 Global living and building global empathy
 18:51 First Class Lounge
 23:20 Service design isn’t just blueprints
 25:38 CX must be visible to be valuable

Guest Links
https://www.torisignorelli.com/

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I'm Rick Denton and I believe the best meals are served outside and require a passport.

Transcript

Tori Signorelli: 0:00

Healthy businesses are not still in order to have a successful business, you have to change

Rick Denton: 0:06

customer experience wisdom, a dash of travel talk. We've been cleared for takeoff. The best meals are served outside and require passport. Luggage is in the overhead and we're all buckled in. Today's guest is Tori Signorelli, and I knew I wanted her on the show the minute I heard her story. Theater school in New York, life in Florence, a hedge fund service design across Europe. And now she's at Alaska Airlines, helping shape the guest journey with fresh eyes, and given that background, some seriously cool perspective, Tori's newer in the role, which I love. That means she's seeing things before all those filters kick in, those expectations, those baggage that comes when you're at a place for a while, and that theater background. It's not just a fun fact, it shows up in how she listens, she leads, and how she creates better experiences. Tori, welcome to CX passport. Thank

Tori Signorelli: 1:03

you, Rick. I'm really excited to be here, and it's true, I have had quite a squiggly career,

Rick Denton: 1:10

right? I cannot wait to get into that squiggline. And thank you for joining us today, early, bright and early out in the Pacific Northwest, it is going to be fun to go through that background and what you're doing today and what you're doing today. I know it doesn't feel like it, but you're still relatively new there at Alaska Airlines. What's it been like stepping into that new CX role while the team is honestly still figuring things out and the business keeps moving?

Tori Signorelli: 1:38

I am quite new. Yes, I'm still I think I just hit five months. So congratulations. It doesn't feel like it, but it is quite new. I have a tendency to be attracted to these high growth companies are in high growth moments, so it feels a lot like moving on to trying to jump onto a moving train. Yeah, yeah, it's, it's challenging. It's not the first time I've been in that position. And, you know, I've really learned to to go in with eyes open ears open to to lead with curiosity and try to suspend judgment, because there's usually a lot going on, a lot of complexity, to get your head around and your hands around, and at the same time, just be ready to jump in and contribute as quickly as possible, because there's a lot that, a lot that needs to be done. That's

Rick Denton: 2:32

a really difficult balance for any company you coming in and you've got experience, you know things, but you really, you don't want to come bowling china shop to cliche this a bit, there's something though about the airline industry that one attracts me because I just love it, and it's so complex, right, to think that you're dealing with an experience that involves everything from baggage handling to a digital app to safety in The skies. How have you achieved your sort of almost internal learning program as you're trying to keep this experience moving forward.

Tori Signorelli: 3:08

It is complex. It is and airlines that it was an incredibly large scale operation at play. And it's not even just the operation, like you mentioned. There's the digital aspect as well, which is a whole system in itself. So it's a lot about I mean, you can model it on paper, you can model it in your head, but it's like building that model, right? You've got to build the model and see how all the pieces fit together. And the best way to do that is to get out and immerse yourself. So one thing that I find is great about the onboarding into the airline industry is that it's a physical and immersive environment. Yeah? Make it a little easier than some others I've been through, like E commerce, which is global logistics that I couldn't see, right?

Rick Denton: 3:52

I had to, we're getting on container ships out in the Pacific.

Tori Signorelli: 3:55

Exactly. They don't, yeah, they don't send you around like a package when you're on boarding commerce, right? So, you know, it's at least in airlines. And what I love about it is so service oriented that you can go and experience the service. And Alaska is one of the warmest, most inviting environments I've ever been welcomed into. And so that's really helped a lot. It's also really cool to go into airports in a new way. And I've been under the airport in baggage and seeing all of the how the bags move around, and I've been out on the on the ramp, and so, you know, it's really been a cool and immersive experience. You

Rick Denton: 4:35

just ensure that anybody listening to this is thinking, the next time that I see an airline, CX roller knows somebody there, and it's opening up, applications are going to come flooding in. It is cool, yeah, yeah. And I know that I would love to have that kind of immersive experience. Well, let's talk about that experience, because one thing you did say to me when we were talking before the show, it stuck with me. It's this idea of do no harm to the guest experience. Yeah, and I want to get out of the poster version of this and into what it looks like in practice, especially during these moments of integration or operational change.

Tori Signorelli: 5:13

The concept of doing no harm is, I think it's baked into any CX role, there's a lot of focus, and there's always a focus, and kind of the most exciting elements of customer experience tend to be when you're doing transformation and you're designing and you're building from scratch, and it's like, that's so cool. But the truth is, like that design, whether it's whether it's actually triggered by the design team and what your team is trying to change within the organization, or it's driven by other business decisions. That change creates disruption. It has to change is messy, right? We can't actually avoid that, so it means that we really have to have a practice in place to have our eyes on the ground and understand what that change means to guests, to customers, as they're moving through the experience. Because what you don't want is for that mess to be their problem, right? We want that mess to remain behind the scenes and under the surface. So in practice, there's a need to have a have dedicated eyes on the journey at all times, from what you might call a journey management point of view, or from a continuous improvement point of view, but basically dedicated resources that are looking at the journey, and myself included, on a daily basis, looking at the signals coming In from all of your listening posts, and ensuring that you know what is actually landing. And some of that is is, is that day to day, and some of it's proactive. So you really have to know your business. You have to know your journey. Mapping. It helps. But there's lots of ways to map out a journey, but knowing the journey and knowing where your kind of sensitive areas are and where, and really understanding the business as well as critical so you know when a business decision or when a design decision is going to impact what part of the journey right. And then you can prepare with the data that you have and have an eye on it on a regular basis and be looking for any signal that your your your message showing Right, right. So I think you know for us, on a day to day that looks like monitoring dashboards. It looks like monitoring touch points and like aligning those you know, all of our dashboards align to the actual journey. So we are we have our touch point level point of view on our journey, on the day to day, week to week, and we are surfacing any proactive concerns where we might say, hey, this change could influence the journey in this way. XYZ. This is what we recommend we do to protect it. Or it could mean, hey, we've taken these steps, these mitigations, and we're still hearing a little bit right, something we need to change. And it's a matter of continue, like being ready to adapt, collaborating with teams that will have the on the ground, hands on, influence over that moment and finding solutions, really in the moment. So it's very dynamic. It's

Rick Denton: 8:25

reminding me of something that I've talked about a lot, and that is the idea that, well, customer experience is very outside in you just described, we're listening to the signals. We're trying to get that outside in, especially at an airline, so much of it is inside out, the business process, the operational, the execution. How are you blending those two worlds together to make sure, like you said, do no harm. Well, a lot of the do no harm is make sure that this process doesn't break. With the introduction of a new loyalty program, I'm making that up, but a new something that comes in to make sure that the basics don't break.

Tori Signorelli: 8:54

Yeah, new technologies. I mean, there's things, I mean, there's things that have to be done right. Healthy businesses are not still right? And so in order to have a successful business, you have to change. The only safe place is nothing. Is not to change at all. But without change, you don't have growth. So it's an inevitable part of the job, and it's it requires, it just requires a system to manage and navigate it. That system requires, not only that outside end view. And this is where I think, you know, my team is currently evolving, and where I, you know, I think the push has to be, even in the industry itself, is not just about reporting what customers are saying that's not enough. You've got to be integrated into the organization. Have those relationships with business owners, business leaders, and then drive for change. So that means sometimes, you know, it can look different depending on the culture I've learned. Not to assume that one way is going to work in every single business, but in a business like an airline, where there's an operation and there's there are metrics that are being monitored every day, you've got to tap into the systems that exist and link the guest experience. Those guest experience metrics to the business metrics so that the leaders understand how what they are driving influences and connects to the guest, and sometimes it's not a straight line. So there's some storytelling to be done.

Your CX Passport Captain: 10:36

This is your captain speaking. I want to thank you for listening to CX Passport today. We’ve now reached our cruising altitude so I’ll turn that seatbelt sign off. <ding> While you’re getting comfortable, hit that Follow or Subscribe button in your favorite podcast app so you never miss an episode. I’d love it if you’d tell a friend about CX Passport and leave a review so that others can discover the show as well. Now, sit back and enjoy the rest of the episode.

Rick Denton: 11:03

you talked about that, I think, in your words, the squiggly background that you had, and I gotta tell you, I don't usually see theater and hedge funds in the same resume. What about those two worlds taught you about people and operations that you now use today in your customer experience work.

Tori Signorelli: 11:24

It's such a good question, and one that I love to talk about, because I am aware that not everybody has gone that exact path. I've yet to meet somebody else actually. So, yeah, so you know, when I think back to theater, I know why I was attracted to it. I think there's a thread of just wanting to welcome people into a world. And so for me, I can understand from that point of view, like why it connects. But I think what I took away from it is even the more important thread, which is really, I kind of think of it as super teamwork. There is, there is no role in the theater that isn't critical, right? Extra can influence the leading performance and can steal the show. And they say always, there's a kind of cliche, there's no small roles in the theater, only small actors or and it's really true, but it's not just in the theater that that's true, right? I look at it in all teams, that every role is critical, every it's and it's not about hierarchy. It's about connectivity, okay? It's about trust between team members, and it's about everyone showing up and doing their part and without it like it doesn't go right. And so linking that to customer experience, I mean, in a role like mine, where I own very little of the experience orchestrate it all. It's kind of like being a conductor of an orchestra or like the or the orchestra or a choir, where I don't really touch the instruments Right, right? I don't get to decide how the instrument is played that is for the musicians to do. It's for the business leaders to own. It's for the front line to deliver every single day. But I'm the eyes and the ears, and I'm the one that can help connect all of those musicians to actually make music together. And so for me, it's a very personal and very kind of visceral connection to the work, because I lived it, and I know, like in my bones, that that's what works, and that's what we're really doing here. And so it's had a really incredible influence. I

Rick Denton: 13:56

can really see that, and that idea of the conductor and the orchestra and the idea of the no small roles, that makes a ton of sense to me. I am curious. What about the hedge fund side of it?

Tori Signorelli: 14:09

I was in an HR role at the hedge fund, so it was definitely more of an attraction to the people, people, systems, right? How do all how does this organization fit together? How do you get the right players? So I learned, and I sat on a trading floor. It was intense, but I sat on the trading floor with some incredible business leaders, very high power, high status business leaders that really knew what they were doing, and I learned an incredible amount from them, including how to get the right people in the right roles, and the critical nature of getting the right talent and the right place, and how to harness energy. There's a tremendous amount of energy on the trading floor. We've got high power, big egos. How do you harness that for the good of an organization? And I got to see that live, and it's had a great influence. Once as well on the way that I lead.

Rick Denton: 15:02

Yeah, I can imagine, and as you said, the high power, the high energy, I'm actually visualizing an airplane engine, and there's some harnessing of that as well. I realize now I have taken the metaphor and stretch it just a little too thin here. And so I want to ask you something different, and that is this idea of living away from your home country for a period of time. I've always fantasized about doing that. I've only lived it through travel, never truly, deeply expatting. You lived across Europe, Florence, London, Portugal. How has that global perspective shaped the way you think about customer culture? Now I

Tori Signorelli: 15:37

will tell you it was really formative, really formative years. You know, I spent almost seven years in Italy, so Wow, yeah, and I did not speak the language when I arrived. Okay, that's a challenge. Yeah, it was a real challenge, and it definitely taught me. I mean, when you don't speak the language, you have to find other ways to communicate and observe your surroundings and figure out what is going on. And so it definitely helped me build skills in reading non verbal cues and reading a room and understanding and really being hyper sensitive to the emotional state of what is happening, what's happening around me and different and all the different dynamics, I think that's a skill I still use today, as I know, reading a situation we're bringing in new information from a guest point of view, which may be somewhat disruptive, or it may be, you know, something people are not excited to deal with on a day to day basis, As they're busy working on other things, and so understanding and having empathy for those in those moments is really critical. And the empathy part, you can't really leave your country, leave your culture, and not be forced, in a way, to take on and really, really roll around in someone else's point of view. Yeah, you get to see. You get to kind of zoom out and rise above these kind of constraints of boundaries and culture and my background or my, you know, my nation and your nation, and my country, my city, and you really see things at their foundation and like who we are as people and what we want and what is driving our behaviors are all very, very similar, and it really forces that into perspective. When I later lived in London and was working very closely and spending a lot of time in Portugal, that ability to really see the point of view of a different culture and not make assumptions that everyone is thinking like you, it's critical to driving change and really bringing other people with you through change you

Rick Denton: 18:04

Corey, I think you encapsulated in those last few minutes why travel is the birthing ground of empathy. Why I would almost joke that when people say maybe you can't learn empathy, you're born with it, but I guarantee that shove anybody in a culture like you're describing and have them experience seven years starting without understanding the language travel and living abroad, that really develops empathy. You know, one thing that traveling also develops is fatigue, and some of those flights and trips, I imagine you have had some significant fatigue, and it has been nice to stop off in the lounge when you've had that opportunity, and I invite you to do that with me. Today. We're going to move quickly here and have a little fun here in the first class lounge. What is a dream travel location from your past?

Tori Signorelli: 18:51

I took an amazing road trip with my husband while we were living in London, because Europe was so close. We went to the Bosque area of Spain, and San Sebastian Yeah, and road tripped through Spain, through the north of Spain and into France. And that was incredible. It was just a food and wine best like, that's a small food and wine tour that went on for a couple of weeks, it was incredible. We we're

Rick Denton: 19:22

done here. Episode over everybody, get in your car and head out to boss for food. I highly recommend it. Yes. Well, I haven't been to that region yet. So what is a dream travel location you've not been to yet?

Tori Signorelli: 19:34

Japan? It is the top of my list. It is a culture that I have been fascinated and interested in from a service point of view for a very long time. I am really fascinated by their their service culture, their design ethos and their food coming back to the food. So much about travel for me is about. Food. Really have an incredible, incredible cuisine. So

Rick Denton: 20:06

it is again, long time listeners, you know, you saw me if, even if you're listening and you're not watching, you saw me smile because Japan continues to come up. And there's a reason why Japan can continues to come up, because it is such an amazing place to go. And you're right about the food? Well, Tori, since you brought it up, what is a favorite thing of yours to eat?

Tori Signorelli: 20:26

Always hard for me to pick one thing. But of course, oysters are my favorite food. I've been saying for a long time. Oh, and now that I live in the Pacific Northwest, it is I am in like, oyster heaven here. So, yeah, I love oysters. Any possible way. I love them. Raw. Cooks,

Rick Denton: 20:52

baked, fried. You chose a food that I think would be the answer to this question for many people, and that is, what is something growing up, you were forced to eat, but you hated as a kid. So I don't

Tori Signorelli: 21:05

remember being forced to eat anything, and I don't remember really not liking very many things, but I do remember eating a lot of broccoli, and I used to, it's I didn't really want to eat the broccoli. And even as a kid, most kids don't, and so I would eat the butter off the top of the broccoli. I don't have any butter on my broccoli, and then, like the broccoli as much as possible.

Rick Denton: 21:43

Oh, that's spectacular. Butter is a Brock or broccoli has a butter delivery system. That's the way to handle it as a kid, I love it. Well, Tory, it's time for us to leave the first class lounge. What is one travel item not including your phone, not including your passport, that you will not leave home without? I

Tori Signorelli: 21:59

always travel with a journal and a pen, because I find one. I like to journal no matter where I am. It's like for my mental health. It's a creative outlet. It's very important. But when I travel, I get really inspired, and I want to remember those stories. And I find, you know, there's more space, there's headspace when you're in a new place and time on the plane, and I get that's when I get my most, like most of my inspiration. So I always have a journal and a pen.

Rick Denton: 22:41

Story. I love the what you said there about you get more headspace. There's something, heck we do it, even just in our own little worlds, that if I'm creatively blocked, just walking around the house, walking around the block, can unlock that. The idea of travel, giving you that headspace, and making sure you've got the journal and the pen to capture those creative thoughts coming in. Imagine a lot of that is part of service design. And I want to talk to you about service design. You've had that opportunity of building from scratch. You've also had the opportunity of redesigning something major. When you're doing either of those, how are you bringing the rest of the organization along with you?

Tori Signorelli: 23:20

It's a great question, and it goes back to that orchestration, the relationships. One I think you've got to have the relationships. You've got to have the trust with the leaders, and not just the leaders, with the teams around you. Right? Know that you are bringing a perspective that they can't see themselves because their heads down in their own work as they should be, right? So focus a lot about bringing data to the table. Guest perspective and guest voice to the table. Customer voice to the table. So that and I use a lot of visuals and connection tools like blueprints and maps, so they can see how their part influences the other teams, how their part influences the total guest experience. And in doing that, it allows people to occupy a space of ownership, so that you can co create, because it doesn't matter how well you design. You can design the most beautiful service in the world, but without the the lower half of your service blueprint being healthy, without those teams being bought in, and without their processes running smoothly, that service will never fly. So that sense of ownership, not just of the design of their part, but of the execution, yeah, and that ownership, it starts. It starts at the design phase, and it starts with that connectivity and that investment in building and understanding and kind of a common, a common view of the total experience.

Rick Denton: 24:57

I'm really glad you brought it back. Is not as the same words, but in that idea of execution and process, because that the upper half, if you will, of the graph does look to be, the sexier part, the more exciting part. All of that falls completely flat on its face if the gritty stuff doesn't actually take place. Corey, you've got an experience at a prior company, Farfetch, where you built a team from the ground up you're now in this new environment at Alaska Airlines, thinking back to your past, knowing where you are today. What are you bringing with you from that experience and well, just as importantly, what are you not bringing with you?

Tori Signorelli: 25:38

Yeah, so building from the ground up in a high growth global environment. Definitely. You know, it was an incredible experience where I learned a lot about leading through complexity, creating clarity for teams, for not just teams, but stakeholders. And when things are very hectic and it's very hard to see the bigger picture. I do bring that with me. The number one thing, I think that's kind of a learning from that experience, is that dot connecting work of customer experience is very easy to live in the background as kind of invisible glue. And I don't think that's a bad thing, but it is a tough thing for maintaining your value and sharing value of the work, because invisible is hard to sell, right? So that's one thing I learned. The one thing that I'm carrying away, that I'm doing differently, is actually kind of forcing the work into the spotlight, which is speeding up in bigger venues, taking the opportunity to walk into the spotlight, bring the guest feedback for the good, the bad, the ugly, into the bright white spotlight for all to see and for the work to be done in a much more kind of public forum With a lot more ability, which I think is, it's healthy for the CX team and the CX practice, but it's also it, it's creates a forum and a place for more collaboration and for more people to get involved, which is, I think what the work really needs, right? It can't be done in a vacuum. It has to be done in collaboration with a lot of other teams, and so pushing for that visibility means that you catch things faster when in a direction that could be risky and you just wouldn't know without the input of another team. And it forces it forces collaboration, it forces accountability, and it brings the work from under the surface and into a more critical business role.

Rick Denton: 27:54

That's it. We're stopping right there. I love how you capture that, and certainly I love that part about, hey, don't be afraid of the limelight. Sounds just like someone who came out of theater, right? Because it doesn't matter. Well, I guess it does matter to some degree that there was a victory, but it's not sustainable if folks don't know about it and aren't going to celebrate it and use that as motivation to take it forward. Tori, that was absolutely spectacular. If folks wanted to get to know a little bit more about you and your approach to customer experience. What's the best place for them

Tori Signorelli: 28:23

to find you? I have a website if they want to find me there that it's Tori, seniorly Calm, and I'm always available at my email address as well, at hello@torresinorelli.com

Rick Denton: 28:35

Awesome. I will get the website there in the show notes. Tori, it was a great flight with you today, if I will. It really is helpful to understand what it is to really chew on building an experience both the design, the outward looking, but then the inward, the execution, and then closing it there with the idea of, yeah, but make sure that folks know about it. It's pretty important. I enjoyed it today. Tori, thank you for being on CX passport. Thanks so

Tori Signorelli: 29:01

much, Rick. It was really fun.

Rick Denton: 29:08

Thanks for joining us this week on CX Passport. If you liked today’s episode I have 3 quick next steps for you Click subscribe on the CX Passport youtube channel or your favorite podcast app Next leave a comment below the video or a review in your favorite podcast app so others can find and and enjoy CX Passport too Then, head over to cxpassport.com website for show notes and resources that can help you create tangible business results by delivering great customer experience. Until next time, I’m Rick Denton and I believe the best meals are served outside and require a passport.