Salesforce’s Retail VP & GM on His 3 Mentors Who Changed Everything — But Didn’t Know They Were Mentors

Why having a mentor is so important:

• Feedback from others is a gift. Not only is it a gift to get, but a gift to give.
• Receiving outside perspectives from people you trust is critical for everyone.
• A mentor’s insight offers a special opportunity to be a better person.

Rob Garf, Vice President and General Manager of Retail at Salesforce, is responsible for product and solution strategies and industry insights at the tech giant.

Garf says he has sat on all sides of the retail table — as a practitioner (at Lids, Marshalls, and Hit or Miss), industry analyst (AMR Research), strategy consultant (IBM), and software leader, (Demandware and Salesforce). In all his posts, he says, the insights gleaned from his mentors — from his father to the head retail analyst at AMR Research to the CEO of Demandware — are what have made him the leader and mentor that he is today.

Garf tells CO— in rich detail how he has mixed and matched the real-life mentorships of these three people (whom, he says, didn’t even know they were his mentors), to evolve into becoming a global expert in working with executives at leading brands and startups from around the world to accelerate digital transformation.

CO—: Who is your mentor and why?

RG: I wouldn’t say that I’ve had formal mentors in my life. There is no single ‘mentor’ with a capital M, but a select few who have influenced me in meaningful ways professionally and personally. To me, mentorship has been an implicit exercise rather and an explicit structure. Early in my life, my father, Allen Garf, who ran distribution and supply chains for large retailers, was a mentor to me. Then, during my days at AMR Research, an independent analysts firm since acquired by the management consulting company Gartner, my mentor was Greg Girard, who was a research analyst for retail. And at Demandware, CEO Tom Ebling was a mentor who put a very special imprint on me.

CO—: What were your mentors like?

RG: My father, Allen Garf, spent five decades in retail. I grew up in retail because of that and worked summers in the distribution center that he ran in Massachusetts.

Greg Girard was never my direct manager but working with him gave me the bug about wanting to become an analyst.

Tom Ebling was CEO of Demandware when I was VP of industry insights. He always made the people aspect of his job part of his day.

[Read: Accenture’s Head of Retail on the Imprint of Her Mentors]

CO—: What have you learned from them that’s key to your career?

RG: My father never sat me down and gave me a lecture or formal advice, but it was [through] observing his style that I learned about operational efficiency.

I learned three key things from Greg Girard: how to have the right bedside manner with clients; how to create cogent frameworks and formats that would benefit me, particularly when I became head of retail strategy at IBM; and how to tell stories.

Tom Ebling taught me to always put the person first. He made you feel special. He did that by always asking anyone — not just me — about themselves.

CO—: Show us your mentor’s imprint in action.

RG: My father’s influence in my early days in those distribution centers has stuck with me. At Lids, for example, I rolled out one of the country’s first buy online, pick up in store retail initiatives.

From Greg, I learned [that] a successful presentation is not just about throwing a lot of data on a slide but talking about what it means and what the actions and potential outcomes [are].

Demandware had an annual holiday party in New York City with all of [its] customers. Tom would memorize every customer’s name and something about them. He took the time to thank every customer personally and acknowledge each of them.

[Read: Microsoft’s VP of Worldwide Retail on the Imprint of Her Mentors]

CO—: How does your work at Salesforce reflect your mentors’ imprint?

RG: From my dad, everything we talk about during holiday at Salesforce reflects my dad’s operational efficiency.

Greg taught me to always ask: ‘What’s the headline?’ and ‘What’s the story?’ I always challenge my team at Salesforce to ask those questions.

At Salesforce, one of our largest programs of the year is around holiday. Tom taught me how to be a trusted advisor and friend to every customer, not just during holiday but throughout the year.

CO—: Complete this sentence: If not for my mentor, I would likely have never…

RG: If not for my dad, I would likely have never had the understanding that I do of the operational implications of the decisions I make.

If not for Greg, I would likely have never learned how to tell stories.

If not for Tom, I would likely have never fully appreciated the people aspect of my role as a leader and as a peer.

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