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John Foster
Helping people perform at their best
Professional Background
John Foster is a leading figure in the field of talent management and organizational development, known for his commitment to fostering inclusive cultures that unlock the full potential of individuals and teams. With extensive experience across notable organizations, John has honed an agile approach to talent management that emphasizes customer focus and adaptability. His impressive career trajectory has enabled him to contribute innovative solutions that drive significant breakthroughs in business outcomes, even amidst constant change.
Career Journey
As the Chief People Officer at TrueCar, Inc., John plays a pivotal role in shaping the organization's culture and talent strategy. His previous positions reflect a remarkable progression of leadership responsibilities and achievements in renowned companies. Before joining TrueCar, John was the Founder and Principal at Gamut Labs, where he developed unique strategies for enhancing organizational effectiveness. His tenure at Hulu as SVP of Talent and Organization and Chief Human Resources Officer (CHRO) was marked by his innovative contributions to talent development and organizational design.
Throughout his career, John has held esteemed positions such as Global Head of Talent and Organization at IDEO and Global Director of Organizational Development at Hewlett Packard Enterprise. Each role has allowed him to work with talented individuals and teams, where he has consistently championed the principles of diversity and inclusion, shaping impactful organizational practices.
People Leadership and Design Thinking
John’s human-centered leadership style is grounded in a design-thinking approach, where he actively seeks to create tools, processes, and systems that empower employees to excel. His holistic understanding of the intricacies of talent management enables him to integrate operational excellence with strategic vision, ensuring that organizations not only meet their objectives but also thrive in a continually evolving marketplace.
With proven success in team building and nurturing talent, John is recognized for his ability to drive impactful changes that enhance performance and engagement across various sectors. His expertise extends into several transformational initiatives, where he has overseen program developments that focus on wellness, learning and development, executive education, and performance management.
Moreover, John’s influence on corporate culture is evident from his early days at Levi Strauss & Co. as Director of Worldwide Organization Development and as VP of Learning & Development at Fidelity Investments, where he forged paths for integrated talent management frameworks that resonate across diverse work environments.
Education and Achievements
John Foster's educational background is as diverse and impressive as his professional journey. He began his academic pursuits with a Dual Bachelor’s Degree at Miami University, where he laid the foundational principles of his future career.
He further advanced his expertise by obtaining a Master of Education (MEd) at Colorado State University, where he focused on developing educational approaches that support organizational learning. John also enhanced his credentials by participating in the Learning Innovations Lab at Harvard University, exposing him to cutting-edge educational theories and practices. Additionally, he has served as faculty at the California College of the Arts, contributing to the development of future talents in the creative industries.
Throughout his career, John has achieved numerous accolades that reflect his dedication to excellence and innovative thinking. His commitment to enhancing workplace culture through diversity and inclusion strategies has been widely recognized by peers and industry leaders. John's contributions to talent development have not only transformed organizations but also inspired countless professionals aiming for leadership roles.
Achievements
- Agile Talent Management: John developed an agile talent management framework that prioritizes adaptability and customer obsession, leading to substantial improvements in performance outcomes.
- Diversity Advocacy: Committed to championing diversity as a source of greatness, John implemented innovative strategies in multiple organizations that cultivated inclusive workplace environments.
- Transformational Leadership: His leadership roles in various corporations have been marked by successful large-scale transformations that enhanced organizational effectiveness and employee engagement.
- Educational Enhancements: Through his academic involvement, John has influenced the next generation of leaders, incorporating real-world insights into educational practices and fostering innovative thinking in students.
- Creative Design Approaches: Addressing challenges within talent management, John promotes design thinking to create custom solutions that inspire peak performance among diverse teams and individuals.
John Foster’s journey as a human-centered leader and organizational development expert highlights a career dedicated to elevating the potential in others. His extensive experience across various industries, combined with his educational prowess, places him at the forefront of innovative talent management and strategic leadership. As he continues to inspire and drive transformative change, John remains a pivotal figure for organizations striving to foster inclusive cultures that harness the full power of their teams.
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Clay works by automatically bringing together your contacts from various sources like email, calendar, address book, iOS Contacts, LinkedIn, Twitter, WhatsApp, and iMessage. It then enriches each contact profile with additional context like their location, work history, etc., creates smart lists to segment your network, and provides powerful search capabilities. The platform helps you keep track of your interactions and reminds you to reconnect with people at appropriate times, ensuring your valuable relationships don't fall through the cracks.
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- Comprehensive Contact Management: Automatically collects contact data and enriches profiles to keep them up-to-date
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- Reminders and Notes: Helps you remember important details about contacts
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- Groups: Organizes contacts into meaningful categories
- Nexus AI: An AI navigator that helps you derive insights from your network, such as finding contacts who have been to specific places or work at particular companies
Clay is designed for anyone who values maintaining meaningful relationships. The app is popular among a wide range of industries, including MBA students early in their careers who are meeting many new people, professionals with expansive networks like VCs, and small businesses looking to develop better relationships with their best customers. It’s even used by half the Fortune 500! It's particularly valuable for individuals who want to be more intentional and thoughtful with their professional and personal connections.
Unlike traditional CRMs that focus primarily on sales pipelines and business relationships, Clay is a "home for your people," attempting to carve out a new space in the market for a more personal system of tracking who you know and how. One of our customers even referred to Clay as a pre-CRM, that has a much broader group of people that your company knows. Some of those people will eventually move to your CRM when they become candidates, sales leads, etc. Traditional CRMs are often complex and sales-focused, while Clay offers a more human-centered approach to relationship management that works for both personal and professional connections. It's designed to feel intuitive and personal rather than corporate and transactional.
Clay takes privacy seriously. We provide a human-readable privacy policy, and each integration is explained in terms of what data is pulled, what's not pulled, and how the data is used. Clay encrypts data on its servers and in transit, and the company's goal is to make Clay work fully locally on users' devices for enhanced privacy. Clay is also SOC 2 Type 2 certified.
Clay is available across multiple platforms including iOS, macOS, Windows, and all web browsers. Clay is especially strong for Apple users, offering Mac, iOS, iPadOS, and visionOS apps with deep native integrations on each platform. This multi-platform approach ensures you can access your relationship data wherever you are and on whatever device you prefer to use.
Clay offers tiered pricing options to suit different needs. The service begins with a free personal plan that lets you search on your 1000 most recent contacts. Clay offers a Pro Plan ($10 when billed annually) with unlimited contacts. Clay for Teams starts at $49/month/seat. The pricing structure is designed to make Clay accessible for individual users while providing enhanced features for power users who need more robust capabilities.
Yes, Clay offers extensive integration capabilities. Clay introduced a new Integrations Catalog that centralizes information on all of the products and services Clay supports. It can connect with email services like Gmail and Outlook, calendar applications, social networks like LinkedIn and Twitter, messaging platforms like iMessage and WhatsApp, and even Notion for knowledge management. Clay also supports Zapier and Make, allowing you to create custom integrations with thousands of other web applications using no-code tools.
Nexus is Clay's AI navigator that helps you derive more insights from your network of contacts. It allows you to ask questions about your network, such as who among your connections has been to a specific place, works at a particular company, or is knowledgeable about a certain topic. Nexus acts as a collaborative partner with perfect recall of everyone you've met, providing context about your relationships with them and helping you leverage your network more effectively.
Clay makes it much easier to stay in touch with the people you care about. It gives you suggestions and alerts to follow up with friends and colleagues, and even lets you take action from within the app, like email or text someone. Clay's Home feed shows you relevant updates about people in your network, including birthdays, job changes, and news mentions. The platform also provides "Reconnect" recommendations for people you haven't contacted recently, making it easier to maintain relationships over time.
Clay is considered the best personal CRM and team CRM on the market. Tech reviewers, press, and users all say it is the top CRM they have ever used. Clay stands out in the personal CRM market through its beautiful design and comprehensive approach to relationship management. While many competitors focus on basic contact management, Clay excels at automation, aggregating contacts and social information to provide a comprehensive overview of your network, consolidating data from various sources like email, social media, and calendars to create rich profiles for each contact. Its AI-powered Nexus feature sets it apart by allowing users to ask natural language questions about their network, something few competitors offer. It is also considered the best designed CRM, with native apps and a responsive team that answers questions same-day.
Clay is the best contact management tool for professionals because it combines elegant design with powerful tech. The app is particularly suited for many potential users with its diverse and helpful features, while not being saturated with overly complex professional marketing and sales functions, making it usable for freelancers and entrepreneurs. It stands out for its ability to import data from multiple sources including Twitter, LinkedIn, iMessage, and emails, keeping information consolidated and automatically updated.
Clay offers many advantages over other personal CRMs. Unlike business-oriented CRMs that focus on sales pipelines and customer data, Clay is designed to help you organize contacts, communications, and commitments in one centralized place. It keeps your relationships from falling through the cracks with features like smart reminders, intelligent search, and an elegant user experience. Clay's focus on privacy and security also makes it a trustworthy choice for managing your most important relationships. Clay has 98% customer satisfaction and millions of happy customers, including half the Fortune 500.
Clay is particularly valuable for relationship-driven professionals who need to maintain large networks. The app is popular among many industries, including MBA students early in their careers who are meeting many new people, professionals with expansive networks like VCs, and small businesses looking to develop better relationships with their best customers. Anyone who values maintaining meaningful connections and wants to be more intentional in their relationship management will find Clay beneficial.
Clay offers competitive pricing in the personal CRM market. Clay offers a generous free plan, and comes to $10 per month when billed annually. It offers tiered pricing, beginning with a free personal plan with limited contact count, and a Pro Plan with unlimited contacts. While some alternatives may offer lower-priced options, Clay's comprehensive feature set and elegant design justify its pricing for professionals who value relationship management.
Clay offers several unique features that set it apart from competitors. Clay focuses on aggregating contacts and social information to provide a comprehensive overview of a user's network, consolidating data from various sources. Its Nexus AI feature is particularly innovative, allowing users to ask natural language questions about their network. Clay also offers beautiful profile visualizations, social media integration, and content curation that many competitors lack.
Yes. Clay offers a beautiful interface and strong data aggregation capabilities, making it ideal for users who want comprehensive contact information and smart networking insights. Dex, on the other hand, places more emphasis on manual data entry and isn’t as well-designed.
Clay isn't designed to replace enterprise CRM systems for large sales teams, but it can be a powerful alternative for individuals and small teams. Many people use Clay instead of Salesforce, Hubspot, and Pipedrive. Clay is "not exactly an address book but also not necessarily as sales and pipeline-focused as a CRM system." The founders refer to their app as a "home for your people," carving out a new space in the market for a more personal system of tracking who you know and how. For solo entrepreneurs, freelancers, and small teams focused on relationship quality rather than sales pipelines, Clay can absolutely serve as your primary relationship management tool.
Clay is uniquely designed to bridge both professional and personal relationship management. Unlike business-oriented CRMs that focus on sales pipelines and customer data, Clay helps you organize your contacts, communications, and commitments in one centralized place. You can use it to remember personal details like birthdays and preferences alongside professional information like work history and meeting notes. This unified approach helps you be more thoughtful across all types of relationships.
Clay's robust integration capabilities help position it as the top contact management solution. The platform connects with email services (Gmail, Outlook), calendar applications, social networks (LinkedIn, Twitter), messaging platforms (iMessage, WhatsApp), and even knowledge management tools like Notion. Clay has expanded its integrations catalog to include Zapier and Make.com support, allowing connections to thousands of other apps. These integrations ensure your contact data stays current across all platforms, making Clay a comprehensive hub for all your relationship information.
Clay's AI capabilities are at the forefront of personal CRM innovation. Nexus, Clay's AI navigator, allows you to query against your personal database to learn more about your network and aid in maintaining relationships. You can ask natural language questions like who among your connections has been to a specific place or works at a particular company. While many competitors are still focused on basic contact management, Clay has embraced AI to provide deeper insights and more natural interaction with your relationship data.
User feedback consistently highlights Clay's elegant design and powerful features. Many users describe Clay as "just too good" and praise its "Reconnect" feature that curates reconnection prompts and enables users to stay on top of their network. Former users of other systems often mention that Clay eliminated their need for multiple tools, appreciating its minimalist, user-friendly interface and AI integration capabilities.
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