Take a look at Customer Experience roles and you’ll see descriptions ranging from frontline customer support, managing teams of on/off shore support representatives, and community advocates that monitor and engage… Read more: My Experience in Customer Experience

After years of analyzing millions of support contacts and Voice of Customer inputs across solopreneurs, SMBs, mid-market, and enterprise customer segments, I want to share a hard truth that often… Read more: Architecting a Holistic Customer Journey Strategy

This post is for you to learn more about my operating principles, a brief view into who I am as a person and a professional, and examples of my work.… Read more: Getting to Know James

It’s May 2026 and we’re all currently facing an uncomfortable tension driven by the current exuberance related to AI. Nearly every industry is under pressure to incorporate AI into everyday… Read more: A Human-Centric Strategy for Incorporating AI

Lately, I’ve been connecting some dots from things I’ve watched or heard in my formative years with what’s going on today. Maybe it’s my way of making things easier for… Read more: What Rachel Green taught me about AI

Being a mentor has been one of the highlights of my personal and professional life. It’s not just about sharing experiences, but challenging each other to think differently, fostering an… Read more: Drexel University Power Lunch Interview

No spoilers here. I went to watch Fantastic Four: First Steps this weekend and had an out of this world experience at Regal Theaters in Dublin, CA. I won’t be… Read more: Regal Theaters Is One To Watch

No one cares more about your own career than you. It can be difficult to garner support beyond your immediate sphere of influence (e.g., going beyond yourself and first degree… Read more: Being Your Own Cheerleader

Immediately after an international flight that my daughter and I took on Emirates we were served with the following survey… I’ve been extremely fortunate to have been able to travel… Read more: Emirates Airlines Post Flight Survey

We’ve all done them at some point or another. They go by names like Meyers-Briggs, Style of Influence, or even the errant “which sandwich are you” quiz on your social… Read more: Learning More About Myself

I’ve been out of the ad/mar tech industry for nearly 6 years, however I’m still a fan of authors like Avinash Kaushik, so much so that I subscribe to his… Read more: Measuring Success Along the Customer Journey

Over the past few years I’ve been fortunate to have been part of mentorship opportunities. Some of them have been informal, like those with co-workers or ex-co-workers (a.k.a. friends), and… Read more: Mentoring As A Service

I was asked to come back to speak to a class at Drexel by professor Jillian Hmurovic and couldn’t be happier with the level of engagement before, during, and after… Read more: MKTG 201 Guest Lecture June 2023

Mindful Ways to Make an Impact 303 with James Varughese Thanks again to MG Hodge for inviting me back to her podcast! I loved our new format where we incorporated… Read more: Mindful Ways to Make an Impact

Leading with Empathy & Understanding the Customer Experience: Small Business Edition with James Varughese For around the last 18 months I’ve regularly met up with my friend MG Hodge to… Read more: Leading with Empathy & Understanding the Customer Experience

The following is from a LinkedIn post that I made after having read an article from Chartr. Having recently spoken to undergrads recently I thought this article was timely to… Read more: Knowing What I Know Now…

The following is from a LinkedIn post I shared after my first speaking engagement with Professor Jillian Hmurovic’s Marketing 201 class at Drexel University in March 2023. The future is… Read more: MKTG 201 Guest Lecture March 2023

UPDATE: WE DID IT! After 15 months, countless emails with Alameda County policy makers, +50 Google form and in-person signatures, multiple traffic surveys and architectural designs, and one unexpected rain delay, we’ve… Read more: Successfully Slowing Things Down (Traffic Calming)

Here are the products I’ve used over the past year as we transitioned to 100% WFH. This is my first post using Amazon Associates program, so to make sure this… Read more: Making the Most of Working Remote

A few months ago I started to write a series of blog posts designed to help impart the knowledge I’ve amassed through years of interview preparation, real world work experiences,… Read more: Giving Good: Volunteering with Global Mentorship Initiative

I don’t know if it’s the late nights of working, the steady flow of trance music, or the working out, but my brain recently unlocked a vivid flashback and thought… Read more: “Do You Have Everything You Need?”

It has been some time since I participated in a speaking engagement (Adobe Summit, 2014?!?), but this past week I was invited to join CX leaders from Cisco & Wild… Read more: The Customer Voice Chain of Custody Panel

Ah, the resume. A collection of carefully crafted bullet points that sum up your professional existence in the hopes of convincing someone that you’re worthy of a role. How important… Read more: Resumes in the Past, Present, and Future

I’ve been toying with the idea of a series of posts (which is what “Giving Good” refers to) dedicated to navigating the process of interviewing and securing a new job.… Read more: What I’ve Learned After 20+ Years of Interviewing

Just about a year ago I got laid off from MediaMath. I received a 9AM meeting on my calendar as I was getting off the BART at 2nd Street around… Read more: What a year…

Over the past 3 months I’ve been devoting between 3-4 hours a week to one of the two Peloton bikes at my work’s fitness center. When I’m on the bike,… Read more: So, I Joined a Cult

While baking may not be one of my strongest skills, I could not turn down the chance to support my friend, Rosette Kalajian, in her new venture, Rosette’s Baked Goods.… Read more: I got that Cake, Cake, Cake

One of our family goals is to volunteer our time on a regular basis to help both local and global communities. This past weekend we participated in a Rise Against… Read more: Rise Against Hunger

If there’s one question that I had the hardest time answering it’s “tell me about yourself?” It could be at an interview, or with clients before/after a meeting, or even… Read more: Q: Tell Me About Yourself? A:?

It’s been over a decade since I graduated from Drexel University with my Bachelor of Science in Marketing & Finance. I’ve been fortunate to have held 9 different roles at… Read more: The Best Decision I Ever Made (When I Was 17)

Is it even possible to fit in the last 7 8  years of my life in a blog post? As you can already see by the title, I’ve taken some… Read more: 7 Years in California

I’ve owned this domain for many years but have never really done much with it. All those years ago I believed it would be a place for me to mark… Read more: Why Build A Site?