Leading with Empathy: From Agent to Mentor in Support

🎙️ Voices of Support — Episode 2

In this episode, we sat down with Andre Linde — a support veteran with over 15 years of experience, from Tier 1 agent all the way to senior manager. Andre has supported everything from on-prem software to SaaS, and he’s built a career grounded in empathy, curiosity, and lifting others up.

Here’s what we unpacked in this conversation:

🧩 Why He Chose Support — and Stayed

Andre started out answering 100+ calls a day. What kept him going? A love for solving problems, healthy competition with teammates, and a desire to make people’s day better — one ticket at a time.

"Support is like a daily puzzle. I kept coming back because it always kept my brain active."

🎯 Gamifying the Work

Whether it was bragging rights for most tickets closed or CSAT scores on the team leaderboard, Andre shared how friendly competition brought energy into the work — especially early on.

"You need something that drives you beyond the ticket queue."

🛠️ From IC to Mentor to Manager

One of the most powerful parts of the episode was Andre’s journey mentoring a peer — first as a fellow agent, then again when that person became a manager. His approach to coaching? Honest feedback, paired with the question: "How can we say this better?"

"It’s not about being technically correct. It’s about helping someone feel good about the answer."

💬 What Soft Skills Really Look Like

Andre’s early manager once told him he was too blunt. That moment shaped his entire coaching philosophy. Today, he teaches new agents how to balance clarity with kindness — a skill that’s often harder to learn than tools or processes.

"Soft skills are what separate a good agent from a great one — and they’re the hardest to teach."

🔁 Why Lived Experience Matters in Leadership

Andre believes the best support managers are those who’ve done the job themselves — who know what it’s like to be overwhelmed on Day 3, or to not know who to ask for help.

"You can’t coach with dashboards. You coach with presence, stories, and shared experience."

📣 Want to be a guest on Voices of Support? If you’ve worked on the frontlines of support and have a story to share, we want to hear from you: 👉 https://tally.so/r/3NPaxb

Thanks again to Andre for the thoughtful conversation — and for reminding us that support is both a skill and a service.

— Thibaut 🦊