Transformational leadership style inspires ‘moonshot goals’

What was different about the development of DocuSign from Ariba? 

Krach: Now, one thing that we had an issue with at DocuSign was the name. At Ariba, the name didn’t really mean anything, so we could do anything we wanted with it. DocuSign has intrinsic meaning. So, we decided to create the category, digital transaction management, and grow the category.

Now, we call it System of Agreement. We also decided to turn the company name into a verb. And I think that’s another mission we accomplished. Today, people say, ‘I’ll just DocuSign it.’

I remember the early days at DocuSign, people would say, ‘Is this legal? It’s so easy.’ I’d say, ‘Well, it’s not illegal.’ I was just kidding. Then, you’d run into people who were avid users, ‘Oh my God, I love it,’ they would say. Everybody just loves DocuSign. You talk to a real estate agent, and they say, ‘You’ve changed my life.’

Sometimes, you run into someone who, for whatever reason, doesn’t accept it — they think it’s illegal or something. But our customers would get angry if they couldn’t use us. I told the company, ‘Imagine this for a software product. Imagine that people not only love it, they get mad when they can’t use it.’ I don’t know if that’s a feature, a function or benefit, but that characteristic alone, any software company would invest $2 billion in RD to get that.

Today, DocuSign does document assembly, preparation, the management of it, intelligence.

So, I heard your favorite quote was, ‘Make no little plans. They have no magic to stir men’s souls.’ Can you explain what that means to you?

Krach: That came from Daniel Burnham, the architect who planned the World Columbian Exhibition in Chicago in 1893. He said, ‘Make no little plans. They have no magic to stir men’s blood, or men’s soul, and probably, therefore, will not be realized. Make big plans, and be high, and hope and work.’

To me, setting those big ambitious goals — or what I like to call the ‘moonshot goals’ — get everybody inspired. They’re enthusiastic, you can mobilize them, you can energize them, you can get them to do things that they never thought were possible. And even if you fall a little bit short, you still get escape velocity. I really believe in that.

I guess that’s the transformational leader in me. Challenging the status quo and energizing and mobilizing a high-performance team to achieve a noble mission that will leave a profound and far-reaching impact.

My mom always used to say, ‘People can deny your logic, but they can’t deny your enthusiasm.’ It’s all about inspiring a shared vision.