Movers and Shakers: Claire Hughes Johnson, Vice President, Global Online Sales, Google

By Melissa J. Anderson (New York City)

“My job at Google is to represent the customer,” explained Claire Hughes Johnson, Vice President, Global Online Sales at Google. And Johnson is enthusiastic about the ability for technology to improve business for her customers. “In terms of impact that grows a business, tech has the ability a lot of business sectors don’t.” In fact, Johnson recently penned a blog post announcing Google’s Economic Impact report for 2009 – revealing that the company “generated a total of $54 billion of economic activity for American businesses.”

Johnson energetically discussed the reasons she enjoys working in the technology field – the exhilarating rate of change, and the collaborative nature of her job. “What’s exciting about technology is that everything moves very fast. You have to watch the space constantly.”

She continued, “It’s exciting – and threatening. It’s going to look different in a few months.”

From Public Service to Customer Representation

“My career path is not a direct route, I would say,” she began. “My parents were both teachers. In college I vacillated between academics and law, as well as being interested in government and policy. I wanted to have an impact on the world.”

After graduating from Brown University, Johnson said, “I went with the politics bug, managing state and local campaigns in Massachusetts. At the same time I was applying to law school and getting in, and not going,” she joked. Reflecting on her political work, often with attorneys, she realized, “The study of law is important, but practicing it was not what I wanted to do.”

After reexamining her skill set, Johnson explained, “I took a last minute detour to business school and shifted from the public sector path. Politics is essentially leadership, marketing and project management skills – motivating people for a bigger cause than themselves.”

After receiving her MBA from the Yale University School of Management, Johnson began working in consulting. “This was during the boom phase” of the tech bubble, she explained. “I worked for a small consulting company. We worked primarily with Fortune 500 companies. I helped devise customer growth strategies.”

She continued, “It was great training for Google. I realized that the biggest distraction – and opportunity – for most of our customers was the technology.”

Eventually, however, Johnson decided to leave her consulting company in New York, explaining that she wanted to take more ownership over her work. “I was interested in delivering and being accountable.” So, she explained, she packed up her car and drove west to California with her then-boyfriend, now-husband. “We thought, ‘if we don’t leave the East Coast now, we never will.’ Our families were appropriately appalled – but we got some of those travel juices out of our system.”

That’s when Johnson began her career at Google. “It was a lucky break to know people at Google when it wasn’t very big. My job was unclear at the time, but I loved the projects, culture, and capabilities. I did a series of moving around in sales and operations, including the launch of the Google Apps offerings for enterprises.”

Now Vice President of Global Online Sales with a focus on growing the mid-size advertisers, Johnson says, “I have the opportunity to lead teams here at Google of 1,000 to 2,000 people. I love being able to know and connect with each team around the world. I’m proud of the feedback I get – that I’m a leader who knows and celebrates what our team does.”

She continued, “My team is the only contact that these advertisers have with the company – I really believe that we’re an economic development engine. Jobs are being created through the work my team does [with mid-size businesses].”

Looking forward, Johnson joked, “Five years from now could mean many different things. I never thought I would be at Google for six years!” She continued, “Executives need to know where they’re heading in a role. To be CEO or CFO of Google is not for me. But to be CEO, COO or CMO at a smaller company – I’m a builder. I imagine it would be in technology probably, because of the impact you can make.”

And, she continued, “Never count anybody out who starts their career in public service, that they won’t return to it. But that’s a little bit out there right now.”

“Life is long, as it turns out!”

Johnson discussed passionately her excitement over a new project her team is working on – a new assessment of which of Google’s advertising products have the most impact on business ROI for their clients. “It could provide amazing insight into which products are most important for individual customers.” She explained, “This is why I know I’m in the right job. A project to figure out customer ROI is exciting to me.”

Marrying Passion and Skill-Set

Johnson extols the importance of building awareness of one’s work style, to build a career that connects one’s skills with their passion. She said, “I wish I had spent more time early in my career building self awareness. Everybody has strengths and weaknesses in the workplace. How you operate in your company involves a work style skill set. What you do with [your skills] and how you effect change is how you work.”

She remembered hearing Condoleeza Rice speak about her next steps after leaving her career with the Bush administration, and moving to the academic world to take a position at Stanford. “She said, ‘I wanted something where I was not just passionate, but good.’ You need to marry those things to effect change and make an impact.”

Regarding career planning, Johnson explained, “I always give the advice to have three plans. In the next six months, ask yourself, ‘what am I going to learn?’. In the next eighteen months, ‘where do I want to be and how will what I am learning now get me there?’. And then a three year plan, ‘what will my job look like? What will success be for me?’.”

Johnson says she also gets asked a lot about work/life balance by her younger female employees. “And it’s getting to be more of a question by the men in my group, too.” she said. “What I would say is that there is no silver bullet. It’s a lot about how your priorities shift. There are decisions you have to make as a couple with your partner – ask, ‘what does it mean for us as a family unit?’.”

She continued, “I have so much admiration for single parents. You really need a support network. I travel a lot, and that limits what my husband does in his career.”

Johnson also cited the need to be open with staff about work/life issues. She said, “I’m very transparent with my team, especially my staff, when I have family priorities. I send out a weekly email with snippets of what I’m up to. And if I’m attending my sons’s birthday at daycare, I mention that too. I hope it also invites everyone to be more transparent.”

She continued, “I don’t have a lot of time for my friends. Most of my time is my job and my kids. But they understand. We’re all going through the same thing.”

“If you’re at a job that’s not working for you, make a shift. I feel so lucky to be at Google – they show so much understanding and support. I’ve had two kids in the last two years. I have done a lot of advancing at the same time and I know that’s unusual. If companies want to know how to retain people – this is it.”

Women in Technology: Building the Pipeline

“I was at a dinner earlier this week. We had a big debate about women in Silicon Valley, the differences between financial services and technology (and it’s not usually very fair to generalize about technology – there’s a very wide continuum [of roles]). But the rapidity of change [in technology] means more opportunities for everyone, women included.”

She continued, “That said, there are not a lot of women in engineering, and that is a problem. Every business is its pipeline. We need to engage more women in science and math really early. People think engineering is a very solitary pursuit and that can turn people off. But in fact, it’s very collaborative. We need more women at this level.”

Johnson explained that the lack of female engineers early on is one reason there are not as many women in the C-suite. “It’s the reason I’ll never be CEO of Google – I’m not coming to Google with an engineering background.”

Johnson cited several programs Google is undertaking to get girls interested in science and technology early on, as well as mentoring initiatives the company is participating in. “I’m really proud of us,” she said.