Philippe Decker

Hello Philippe, I’m happy to find out more about the person who just became the Enterprise Sales manager. Let me start by asking you a universal question: Who are you?

In sales, you are many things. But in the end, I would say pragmatic and curious. Mainly about people, but also the business they need to run. 

Interresting! What is it about Artificial Intelligence that appeals to you or inspires you to decide to become one of the core elements of an IT start-up?

Let’s start with the Start-up part: Fast-paced environments make me tick. There is so much momentum, and people actually can change something. You see the change week after week. Coming back to artificial intelligence: AI enables us and businesses to do things we could not achieve before. Either because they were just too complex for our brains to handle or because they were just too costly. That means opportunities, many opportunities.

Well said. If you had to give three words to describe the direction you want to take with your new team at Parashift, what would they be? 

Growth for each team-member and for the business. Number 3 would be to simplify things. The easier you can explain your business to new colleagues, partners and prospects, the better you understand the niche you’re playing in. 

What are your predictions, wishes, or goals for the company’s future?

That isn’t easy to tell after two weeks. Still, the way I see people sticking together here, there is lots of potential to make “the impossible at first sight” happen. I wish we keep this momentum, even if we get hit a couple of times on the way, which is part of any high-speed venture. My goal for this company is to make it successful while making sure that we all learn. In the end, each colleague shall carry something away from this experience. 

I completely agree with you! We are all part of this great experience that we all hope will be successful for a long time.

What are your superpowers, abilities, or skills that allow you to achieve them?

Curiosity goes a long way in business as my private life. I guess you have to connect on both a personal and a business level to understand people and what motivates each person deep down. +, life is too short to spend most of your time in a place that is just “a workplace” for you.

You arrived last week, and I’d like to get your first impression of the company and the team 

I’m impressed with how much drive there is and how much we communicate. That’s something once shall not use for granted and will require constant work to keep this culture up once we grow even further. Nonetheless, there is still room for improvement: Right now for example, to channel all that communication and encapsulate it in a helpful manner for new joiners. We want to avoid that experienced employees have to repeat the same topics over and over again, which can get exhausting over time.

Do you have any books, movies, or podcasts that you would like to share with us that reflect your vision of life, work, or otherwise?

Tough call, in general, the Swiss author Ralf Dobelli reflects that one pretty well.

I note! Thank you very much for all these answers full of will and optimism to participate in this beautiful adventure that is Parashift! I wish you a lot of success!