Profiles in Leadership #13 Clara Shih: Bestselling Author Who Thrives In The Boardroom Clara Chung-Wai Shih, California Gamma ’05, CEO and company founder by Alan S. Brown

lara Shih was 29 when few board meetings, they even urged me What does it mean to be a asked her to join its board of di- to speak up more,” she said. leader? In this series “Profiles rectors. She had already written in Leadership,” Tau Beta Pi What really surprised her, however, a bestseller and raised $21 million is exploring that essential was the board’s belief that for-profit com- for her social media startup, yet question through the lives panies have a responsibility to make the cshe was intimidated. world a better place. of member engineers who Why wouldn’t she be? She was replac- attained leadership positions “They were all about leadership, not ing , ’s chief in their fields. just for the organization, but for society operating officer who would soon publish, as well,” Shih said. “I knew they were Lean In, a book that changed the conversa- forward-thinking, but I was surprised how authentic and tion about women in corporate America. Other board how deeply rooted that belief was. For many companies, members were executives who ran multi-billion-dollar corporate social responsibility is more of a PR tactic. At companies, venture capitalists, a former senator, and a Starbucks, it’s the heart and soul of the company.” former secretary of defense. “I was the youngest person there by a decade, and Not a Natural Leader I was incredibly intimidated,” said Shih. “I’ve been Shih, herself, was not a natural leader. She was elected intimidated my whole life. But every time I rise to the to Tau Beta Pi at , where she occasion—or not—I grow from it and shoot for the next graduated at the top of her class with a B.A. and M.S. in thing.” computer science. She had shot up the ranks at The board recruited her because it wanted someone and Salesforce, then launched a business-oriented social who understood social media and digital technology. media company, Hearsay. Her perspective as a woman, an Asian, and a millennial “When I started hiring employees, they expected (which represents a huge chunk of Starbucks customers) me to be leader,” she said. “I had to step up. There’s no was a bonus. forced leadership like being an entrepreneur. It might It was not what she had expected. Members were be your company, but your employees are fully invested. open to new ideas and probing questions. “After the first They’ve taken the full risk. That makes me responsible for them and their families.” That responsibility changed Shih: “I went from conflict-avoidant, growing up to embracing conflict before becoming more of a facilitator. Like Goldilocks and the Three Bears, I’m trying to find the right space in between.” Shih’s story began in Hong Kong, where her father was a math professor and her mother taught art. They emi- grated to Chicago when she was four. The family struggled to earn a living, learn English, and fit into their new country. Her father became an engineer. Her mother returned to school for a degree in special education. Shih went to elementary school. Since it had no program for non-English speak- ers, it placed her in a class of students with speech impediments. The constant repetition of sounds and words is why she has no noticeable accent, she said.

24 Fall 2018 The Bent of tau beta pi Clara Shih giving the commencement address at Stanford University in her senior year in 2005. Her early years molded her thinking. “Growing up in an immigrant family makes you grow up fast,” she said. “My parents didn’t speak the language, it was hard economically, and as I grew up, I wanted to contribute to the famil