UNSCRIPTED — EPISODE 369 • EVENT RECAP

In this solo episode, host Sarah Nicastro recaps the Future of Field Service Live event in New York City — surfacing the key moments, sharpest insights, and ideas worth carrying back from a day spent with some of the most forward-thinking service leaders in the industry.

There is still no real substitute for in-person community. That’s the takeaway Sarah Nicastro returns to time and again after the Future of Field Service Live events — and the New York City edition, the first FoFS Live since 2024, was no exception.

Held at Glass House Chelsea on a sunny morning with three walls of floor-to-ceiling windows overlooking Manhattan, the event brought together a select group of senior service leaders for a full day of sessions, conversations, and the kind of candid debate that only happens when you take people out of their inboxes and put them in the same room.

This solo episode is Sarah’s recap of the day — five sessions, five sets of insights worth bringing back to your organization.

Leading People Through Change Starts With Understanding What Motivates Them

The day opened with keynote speaker Sarah Aviram — author of The Scenic Route and a speaker who has worked across 12 countries in twelve months — setting the tone with a question that sounds simple but rarely gets the attention it deserves: why do you do your job?

Her point wasn’t philosophical. It was practical. If you can’t answer that question for yourself and for the people who report to you, you’re not equipped to lead them through change. Aviram’s remotivation method — built on six core drivers of fulfillment at work — gave the room a framework for thinking about motivation that goes well beyond the surface. Her distinction between freedom and agency was a particular standout: more freedom, she argued, doesn’t automatically produce more fulfillment. The right kind of agency does.

“If you don’t understand what truly motivates the people around you, you will not be able to effectively lead them through change.” — Sarah Aviram

Customer Intimacy Isn’t a Strategy. It’s a Commitment.

Natalia Schuman, President and CEO of MISTRAS Group — recently named Frost & Sullivan’s 2026 Global NDT Field Inspection Services Company of the Year — joined Sarah for a conversation about what it actually takes to deliver award-winning customer outcomes.

Her answer was rooted in something deceptively simple: listening. When Natalia stepped into the role in early 2025, she spent her first ninety days talking to a hundred customers. Not to pitch, not to reassure — to listen. That discipline shaped every strategic decision that followed.

She also spoke to the underutilized power of frontline knowledge — a theme that ran through the entire day. The technicians closest to customers hold a wealth of insight that many organizations never tap. And when it comes to digital transformation, Natalia was clear: it’s not a shift away from human skills. It’s the combination of both that creates genuine differentiation. Her guiding principle for the organization’s evolution? Not revolution — evolution. Moving at a pace customers can navigate alongside you.

Are You Measuring What Actually Matters?

Matt Tice, VP of Global Services at QuidelOrtho, built on his earlier UNSCRIPTED conversation with a session on what it takes to reposition service as a competitive edge. His insights were grounded, direct, and earned.

One of his sharpest observations: in service, the metrics we watch most closely aren’t always the ones that tell us the truth. At QuidelOrtho, that meant moving away from transactional NPS — where strong service relationships were masking a more complex reality — toward customer effort and satisfaction scores that gave lower numbers but far more actionable data.

Matt also reinforced a point he’s made before: data gives you credibility. Storytelling creates urgency. You need both to drive executive buy-in. And when you’re making the case for investment, don’t just show what you’ll gain. Show the cost of doing nothing. Model the gap. Make inaction visible.

The Frontline Is a Commercial Asset. Most Organizations Aren’t Using It That Way.

Dave Clement and Eric Flato from Simon Kucher led the afternoon workshop, anchored in joint research on commercial growth opportunities in field service. Their central argument: despite more pressure than ever to drive revenue, many organizations are sitting on an underutilized asset in their frontline technicians — and don’t realize it.

The workshop covered where service growth potential sits and what stands in the way of realizing it, the different approaches organizations are taking to technician enablement and incentives, and practical tactics for helping field teams identify and influence revenue opportunities in the moment.

A question from the audience connected the session back to Natalia’s morning keynote: the best way to motivate technicians to engage in growth is to frame it around customer outcomes. When the goal is genuinely to serve the customer well, it fits naturally with how technicians already see their role. When it’s purely about the numbers, it doesn’t.

Three AI Myths Worth Retiring

Nick Vandeveer, Chief Innovation Officer at IFS Nexus Black, closed the day with a think tank designed to cut through the noise on AI. Three myths, three honest conversations.

Myth one: AI is a strategy. It isn’t. AI serves the business strategy you already have. Leaders being told to “go do AI” without a clear strategic foundation are setting themselves up to fail.

Myth two: AI is a panacea. Once you identify a problem and look carefully at what it would take to solve it, some aspects of the solution may be AI — and some may be process changes, organizational shifts, or other tools entirely.

Myth three: data readiness is a prerequisite before you can begin. This one was the most nuanced. Nick was clear that advances in LLMs have made it possible to do more with unstructured data than was true even recently. But — and this matters — that does not mean the state of your data is irrelevant. You can work in parallel. You cannot afford to ignore it.

The day ended with drinks, views, and the kind of conversations that continue long after the formal agenda wraps. The next FoFS Live event takes place in London on September 24.

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