What if you interview your future boss before she interviewed you? Now’s your chance. Do lunch (hypothetically speaking) with Kristin Shevis, chief customer officer at Clarifai.
The New York tech company develops advanced image recognition platforms for other businesses. Its services have helped hundreds of businesses ranging from Unilever and Buzzfeed to startups like Architzer and Style Me Pretty.
Shevis oversee all functions of the business that interact with customers including marketing, sales, customer success, support and business development. We recently asked Shevis what her favorite local lunch spot is — and found out what inspires her as a leader:
Where shall we eat?
On the front terrace at Almond in the Flatiron District.
What do you recommend?
The brussels sprout salad and a glass of wine from the Northfork on Long Island.
Do you have professional role models?
Two people come to mind. I wrote my admission essay to New York University for my MBA on Jim Henson. He leveraged his passion and creativity to produce programming to help children learn all over the world. He also broke distribution barriers and beat most of the big media companies in international expansion. Besides being a brilliant and passionate artist, he was also a hugely successful businessman.
The other person is Michael Lock, who is now CEO of Aviso. He was my boss at three companies: Virage, Google and Hearsay. (God bless him.) I trust and admire him infinitely. He has taught me so much and continues to be a mentor, friend and role model.
Describe your leadership style in three words.
Open. Empowering. Results-driven.
What do you look for in a resume?
At Clarifai, we look for people who have sold complex SaaS/PaaS products at early stage start-ups against enterprise companies like Google, Amazon and Microsoft.
What’s one question you like to ask job candidates?
Tell me something about yourself that I won’t find on your LinkedIn profile.
I want to see how the candidate handles a surprising situation and learn more about what makes them tick as a person.
What business books influence you?
The first book is “Grit: The Power and Passion of Perseverance,” by Angela Duckworth. Lots of good advice in this book. She ends the book with: “Grit is not the only thing. Character is plural, and goodness comes first.” In business, you need a strong work ethic, a team to succeed and goodness above both.
The second is “Attitude: Develop a Winning Mindset on and off the Court,” by Jay Wright, because I am a Villanova University alum. He delivered our second NCAA Championship in 2016 (which I attended). His advice on coaching is relevant in the workplace. One of my favorite quotes is: “With every sunset there is a sunrise,” meaning, learn from your mistakes and move on.
Let's toast to that.
Would you like to work for Clarifai? Read about the company here.
