Women in Business Q&A: Liza Landsman, President, Jet.com

Women in Business Q&A: Liza Landsman, President, Jet.com
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Recently named President of Jet.com, Liza Landsman leads the firm’s Management Committee and is a member of Walmart’s US Ecommerce leadership team. She was previously Jet’s Chief Customer Officer, responsible for driving growth through marketing, advertising, and the smart use of data and for ensuring that Jet’s end-to-end customer experience is compelling. Prior to joining Jet, Ms. Landsman was Chief Marketing Officer and a member of the Executive Committee at E*TRADE Financial, where she was responsible for marketing, advertising, and insights and analytic functions, including the evolution of the firm’s consumer-facing brand. She had previously held the position of Global Head of Digital at BlackRock, where she was responsible for firm-wide digital marketing strategy and operations. This followed a decade in senior management positions at Citigroup. She has also held leadership roles at IBM, Flooz.com, and Writers House, Inc.

Ms. Landsman graduated magna cum laude with a B.A. from Cornell University. She joined the Board of Directors of Choice Hotels International (CHH) in Q4 2014 and Veritiv (VRTV) in Q1 2017. Since 2012, she has served on the Board of Directors of GO! Project, a New York City-based foundation that provides educational opportunities for children in need.

How has your life experience made you the leader you are today?

I waitressed through college and it taught me the value of great customer service, kindness to others and a very intense work ethic.

How has your previous employment experience aided your tenure at Jet?

Across previous roles at IBM, Citi, BlackRock and Etrade I acquired a keen appreciation for the smart use of data and the importance of thoughtful collaboration, developing a real passion for understanding the consumer, having previously learned how to drive and leverage scale. I also began to recognize how important it is to balance the right and left brain in many types of work. What probably best prepared me for joining Jet, though, was understanding how to recognize what a great collection of talent looks like.

What have the highlights and challenges been during your tenure at Jet?

The launch itself, launching something disruptive at scale in an insanely short period of time, is truly one of the highlights of my career; it was sort of like pulling a sequoia out of the ground with your bare hands. But the amazing team we’ve built — and the personal fridge my colleagues gave me for my birthday this year (I’m a Diet Coke fiend!) — are the real cappers. On the challenge side, it’s not unique to Jet, but driving growth while still maintaining a strong customer focus and staying true to our internal culture of trust, transparency and fairness is clearly going for a dismount with a higher degree of difficulty than usual.

What advice can you offer to women who want a career in your industry?

Don’t be afraid to fail, and definitely learn how to code (at least passably) even if you don’t want to be a dev.

What is the most important lesson you’ve learned in your career to date?

To ask for the things you want. Your career doesn’t happen to you, you have to make it happen — so ask for help, roles, advice, money, support, or whatever it is you want. You can rest assured your male colleagues are doing that. But equally, be generous with your time, knowledge and insight when others need help. Learning comes as much from providing as receiving counsel and I’m a big believer in the karmic boomerang.

How do you maintain a work/life balance?

I don’t. I think balance is a myth made up about impossibly perfect women who only live in the pages of novels; it implies a condition of stasis which I don’t believe is achievable in real life. What I do believe in, though, are choices. There are days, weeks, moments, or seasons when work takes center stage, but you still want to (and have to) lean toward your real life and family and others. The hard part is being willing to make conscious choices about when to do each and letting go of other people’s expectations so you can focus on what matters most to you and your family.

What do you think is the biggest issue for women in the workplace?

The dearth of women in leadership roles, which poses issues on a host of fronts: having appropriately diverse points of view involved in driving significant strategic decisions for an organization; ensuring that those determining promotions, assignments and compensation can see and value the contributions of individuals whose style or approach may be different from theirs; and the lack of obvious role models who would give women a glimpse at what their future selves might look like.

How has mentorship made a difference in your professional and personal life?

I’ve had several great mentors throughout my career, and still do. These are the people who encourage you to step out of your comfort zone, challenge your thinking, help you understand what you still need to learn, let you ask stupid questions and sometimes just remind you of what you love. For me, they’ve helped me get comfortable quickly taking risks, which I probably would not have done if I’d only listened to my internal pragmatist.

Which other female leaders do you admire and why?

There are so many, but a few whose impact is very personal: Dr. Virginia Dugan, my second grade teacher, a brilliant and kind woman who imparted the great gift of love of learning; Indra Nooyi, for bringing her whole self to work and giving the rest of us permission to be the flawed humans we are; and Sally Ride, for owning her inner math geek and going where (mostly) only men had gone before.

What do you want Jet to accomplish in the next year?

To continue evolving our strong culture and hyper-growth trajectory, double our mobile penetration, and maintain a meaningful connection with our customers and brand partners.

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