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The Thread Podcast
The Thread Podcast explores the future of enterprise sales in the era of AI.
Hosted by Justin Vandehey, founder of Thread, we bring together top sales leaders, enablement pros, and innovators shaping how go-to-market teams grow and win.
Each episode dives deep into what’s changing in sales—from real-time AI coaching to modern revenue systems of action—and features actionable insights from CROs, RevOps leaders, startup founders, and the technologists building the next generation of tools. Whether you’re scaling founder-led sales or leading a global GTM team, you’ll walk away with new strategies to improve seller performance, accelerate deal cycles, and leverage AI for growth.
If you’re ready to think differently about sales execution and the future of GTM, follow The Thread and join the conversation.
The Thread Podcast
The Scarcity of Being Human: Catherine Blackmore, Oracle's Group VP of Customer Programs and Employee Success on CS in the Age of Agents
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Catherine Blackmore has spent nearly two decades building the programs that wrap around technology, from the early days of customer success in 2007 to her current role as Group VP of Customer Programs and Employee Success at Oracle. In this episode she sits down with Justin to unpack what the discipline got right, what it got wrong, and what survives the shift to AI.
Catherine makes the case that the high touch model was right all along. It buys a company time to build its moat. But the obsession with the golden record, bridging every data silo, and the red, yellow, green health score was a costly detour, because customers live in their own tools and every account ends up yellow anyway.
From there the conversation turns to the question on everyone's mind. If agents can scale the work, what is left for humans? Catherine's answer is that human connection becomes the scarce, valuable thing, and the next generation of CS leaders will manage teams of agents while doing the relational work no agent can fake. She also reframes customer advocacy as the true end state of customer success, the double funnel where your strongest customers become your most believable salespeople.
She closes with the career advice she is giving her son as he enters a reshaped workforce. Adaptability beats raw talent, the sum of your experiences equals your existence, and you should always watch the game within the game.
What we get into: The high touch model and defending the moat Why the golden record and the red, yellow, green health score never delivered Human connection as the new scarcity model The CSM of the future leading a team of agents Customer advocacy and the double funnel Outcomes over seats and consumption Career advice for the next generation entering an AI-shaped workforce
Guest: Catherine Blackmore, Group Vice President of Customer Programs and Employee Success, Oracle
