Carl Eschenbach is the CEO of Workday, with 14 years at VMware and six years as a general partner at Sequoia behind him. — Workday’s Carl Eschenbach: The System of Record for the AI Era.

Visual summary of operating lessons from carl eschenbach.

Part 1: Go-to-Market and Enterprise Strategy

  1. On Delivering Meaningful Results: Carl Eschenbach: "Workday is focused on delivering meaningful business results to our customers across industries, and around the world." — Workday Hits a New Milestone: A Conversation With Carl Eschenbach (Workday blog Q&A).
  2. On Agents Working on Your Behalf: Carl Eschenbach: "The real power starts to happen when we move to this agentic world, and these agents become autonomous and start to work on your behalf, without you asking them to." — Workday’s CEO on driving growth and transformation in the age of AI (McKinsey Inside the Strategy Room, edited transcript).
  3. On Growth Outside the U.S.: Carl Eschenbach: "We are uniquely positioned to bring Workday to more companies outside of the U.S., expanding our partner ecosystem, doubling down on Workday Financial Management, and investing in AI innovation." — Workday Hits a New Milestone: A Conversation With Carl Eschenbach (Workday blog Q&A).
  4. On Moats That Build Moats: Carl Eschenbach: "I think our moat is what allows us to build the next set of moats, and that is role-based agents." — Workday’s Carl Eschenbach: The System of Record for the AI Era | Sequoia Capital.
  5. On Transformative Potential: Carl Eschenbach: "I think AI has the potential to be more transformative than all those combined." — Workday’s CEO on driving growth and transformation in the age of AI (McKinsey Inside the Strategy Room, edited transcript).
  6. On Partners Leaders Can Trust: Carl Eschenbach: "Leaders are eager to realize the benefits of AI, but they want to work with partners they can trust." — Workday Hits a New Milestone: A Conversation With Carl Eschenbach (Workday blog Q&A).
  7. On Growth Following Customers: Carl Eschenbach: "It’s simple: our growth comes as a result of our customers’ growth." — Workday Hits a New Milestone: A Conversation With Carl Eschenbach (Workday blog Q&A).

Part 2: Leadership and High-Performance Culture

  1. On Speed as a Business Strategy: Carl Eschenbach: "I often talk about speed as a business strategy. If we’re faster than someone else, it’s hard to defend." — Workday’s CEO on driving growth and transformation in the age of AI (McKinsey Inside the Strategy Room, edited transcript).
  2. On Asking What Will Help Us Grow: Carl Eschenbach: "One of the things I challenge myself on, and I ask this of the people I get to serve alongside, is: Are we working on something today that will help us grow the company?" — Workday’s CEO on driving growth and transformation in the age of AI (McKinsey Inside the Strategy Room, edited transcript).
  3. On Hiring for Values: Carl Eschenbach: "And when we hire people into the company, we need to make sure that they understand and align with our values." — Workday’s CEO on driving growth and transformation in the age of AI (McKinsey Inside the Strategy Room, edited transcript).
  4. On the Attitude You Bring: Carl Eschenbach: "The attitude that you bring to the office—and to your employees, your peers, and the people you serve alongside every day—is what ultimately will determine a lot of your success" — Ex-Workday CEO says his career took off after he changed his attitude (Fortune, quoting Eschenbach).
  5. On the Windshield and the Rear-View Mirror: Carl Eschenbach: "I tell my Workmates there is a reason why the windshield in your car is bigger than the rear-view mirror." — Workday Hits a New Milestone: A Conversation With Carl Eschenbach (Workday blog Q&A).
  6. On Growth Being Fun: Carl Eschenbach: "Growing is fun, growing means you’re winning." — Workday’s CEO on driving growth and transformation in the age of AI (McKinsey Inside the Strategy Room, edited transcript).
  7. On Humble and Authentic Leaders: Carl Eschenbach: "Having interacted with a lot of senior leaders in the world, I think the ones who are the most humble and grounded, and remember where they came from, who remain highly authentic and vulnerable, are the type of people that others will follow" — Ex-Workday CEO says his career took off after he changed his attitude (Fortune, quoting Eschenbach).
  8. On Giving People the Why: Carl Eschenbach: "If you give them the why we’re doing it, and the potential impact it’s going to have on our company, our customers, and our partners, they’re much more bought in, and they’ll go and execute against that business strategy." — Workday’s CEO on driving growth and transformation in the age of AI (McKinsey Inside the Strategy Room, edited transcript).
  9. On Vulnerability: Carl Eschenbach: "Sometimes it’s OK to say, “I’m not sure I know the answer. Does anyone else?” That’s vulnerability." — Workday’s CEO on driving growth and transformation in the age of AI (McKinsey Inside the Strategy Room, edited transcript).

Part 3: The Architecture of AI and Innovation

  1. On an Unfair Advantage From Data: Carl Eschenbach: "We think we actually have an unfair advantage around technology when it comes to AI because of our data." — Q&A: Workday CEO sees $1B opportunity in governmentwide HR modernization (FedScoop interview).
  2. On Unifying Human and Digital Workers: Carl Eschenbach: "We think in the future, and as we talk to our customers with this new agent system of record, that unification of human and digital workers on a common platform is the path forward." — Workday’s Carl Eschenbach: The System of Record for the AI Era | Sequoia Capital.
  3. On Data Quality Behind AI: Carl Eschenbach: "The output of your AI is only as good as the data you’re training off of." — Workday’s CEO on driving growth and transformation in the age of AI (McKinsey Inside the Strategy Room, edited transcript).
  4. On a Step Change in Productivity: Carl Eschenbach: "I think AI will drive a step function change in human productivity, no doubt." — Workday’s Carl Eschenbach: The System of Record for the AI Era | Sequoia Capital.
  5. On Peaceful Coexistence of Humans and Technology: Carl Eschenbach: "I think we at Workday, and myself for sure, think it’s going to be a peaceful coexistence of humans and technology working together, just like we’ve done in the past major tectonic shifts." — Workday’s Carl Eschenbach: The System of Record for the AI Era | Sequoia Capital.
  6. On Governance Around AI: Carl Eschenbach: "You’ve got to make sure you have strong governance, compliance, and controls around the uses of AI." — Workday’s CEO on driving growth and transformation in the age of AI (McKinsey Inside the Strategy Room, edited transcript).
  7. On Quality Over Size of Data: Carl Eschenbach: "It’s not the size of the dataset, it’s the quality, the cleanliness of your dataset, and the context of that dataset." — Workday’s CEO on driving growth and transformation in the age of AI (McKinsey Inside the Strategy Room, edited transcript).
  8. On Knowing Where Data Comes From: Carl Eschenbach: "You have to know where the data was originated, you have to know why it’s being used, and you have to know who it’s interacting with." — Workday’s CEO on driving growth and transformation in the age of AI (McKinsey Inside the Strategy Room, edited transcript).
  9. On Leading by Example in Responsible AI: Carl Eschenbach: "I’m proud that Workday has been leading by example in our commitment to the responsible development of AI technologies for our customers, the deployment of AI for our employees, and the ongoing advocacy for AI regulation that positively impacts the world." — Workday Hits a New Milestone: A Conversation With Carl Eschenbach (Workday blog Q&A).
  10. On Transforming From On-Premise to Cloud: Carl Eschenbach: "You do have to go through a transformation to move from on-premise into the cloud environment for HR and finance." — Q&A: Workday CEO sees $1B opportunity in governmentwide HR modernization (FedScoop interview).

Part 4: Scaling, Investing, and Enduring Companies

  1. On CEO Longevity: Carl Eschenbach: "I don’t know if I have anyone top of mind, but I really get impressed with people who find a way to have longevity as a CEO, and that are very pliable or adaptable as things change in the world, right?" — Workday’s Carl Eschenbach: The System of Record for the AI Era | Sequoia Capital.
  2. On What Past Technology Shifts Teach: Carl Eschenbach: "I remember when cloud evolved and came about, everyone said—everyone’s going to—the CIO of the organization are not going to need any more people." — Workday’s Carl Eschenbach: The System of Record for the AI Era | Sequoia Capital.
  3. On Why Profitability Comes Sixth: Carl Eschenbach: "Profitability is the sixth one for a reason, because if we do the first five right, we’re going to be profitable." — Workday’s Carl Eschenbach: The System of Record for the AI Era | Sequoia Capital.
  4. On Partners Taking Us to Market: Carl Eschenbach: "Our partners are now not only deploying us, but they’re all now taking us to market." — Workday’s Carl Eschenbach: The System of Record for the AI Era | Sequoia Capital.
  5. On Using AI to Drive ROI: Carl Eschenbach: "We need to start to think about how do we use this technology to drive ROI, to get dollars to reinvest in the business to drive growth." — Workday’s Carl Eschenbach: The System of Record for the AI Era | Sequoia Capital.
  6. On Being the System of Record: Carl Eschenbach: "If I may, we are the system of record for the two most critical assets of any company: their people and their money." — Workday’s Carl Eschenbach: The System of Record for the AI Era | Sequoia Capital.
  7. On Leaning Into Technology: Carl Eschenbach: "Lean into technology, don’t be afraid of it. Figure out how you peacefully coexist with it." — Ex-Workday CEO says his career took off after he changed his attitude (Fortune, quoting Eschenbach).
  8. On What Will Never Change: Carl Eschenbach: "We focus on our people first, our customers, two Is, integrity and innovation." — Workday’s Carl Eschenbach: The System of Record for the AI Era | Sequoia Capital.

Part 5: Personal Philosophy and the "Heart" of Execution

  1. On Giving More Than You Get: Carl Eschenbach: "If we strive to give more than we get and focus on the success of the people we serve alongside, and the success of our customers and our partners, everything else somehow has a magical way to take care of itself." — Workday’s CEO on driving growth and transformation in the age of AI (McKinsey Inside the Strategy Room, edited transcript).
  2. On Looking at People’s Growth: Carl Eschenbach: "I look at the people in the organization, I look at their career growth, I look at the success they’re having, the potential impact you’re having on them and their families, and the potential impact you’re having on the company." — Workday’s CEO on driving growth and transformation in the age of AI (McKinsey Inside the Strategy Room, edited transcript).
  3. On Altitude and Attitude: Carl Eschenbach: "I often say your altitude in life is completely determined by your attitude in life." — Ex-Workday CEO says his career took off after he changed his attitude (Fortune, quoting Eschenbach).
  4. On Hiring for Skills Over Pedigree: Carl Eschenbach: "With this being part of my personal career story, you can imagine that I connect with the idea that we should be hiring for skills versus solely focusing on pedigree." — Workday Hits a New Milestone: A Conversation With Carl Eschenbach (Workday blog Q&A).
  5. On Numbers Following People: Carl Eschenbach: "But I don’t necessarily start with the numbers. I think the numbers follow if you do the other things right." — Workday’s CEO on driving growth and transformation in the age of AI (McKinsey Inside the Strategy Room, edited transcript).
  6. On Serving Others: Carl Eschenbach: "By serving others, somehow success will follow you—probably even more success than if you focused on success itself" — Ex-Workday CEO says his career took off after he changed his attitude (Fortune, quoting Eschenbach).
  7. On Rebuilding Mentorship After COVID: Carl Eschenbach: "We lost a lot of that during COVID, and now we got to get that back because people come to the office, how do we educate and train and mentor the younger people?" — Workday’s Carl Eschenbach: The System of Record for the AI Era | Sequoia Capital.
  8. On a Life of Significance: Carl Eschenbach: "Once I transitioned from a life of success for myself to a life of significance for others, everything changed. I think that is a key component to leading in this new world that we’re living in today." — Ex-Workday CEO says his career took off after he changed his attitude (Fortune, quoting Eschenbach).
  9. On the Power of Your Network: Carl Eschenbach: "I always say the power of your network is only as strong as the number of nodes that are in it" — Ex-Workday CEO says his career took off after he changed his attitude (Fortune, quoting Eschenbach).