Cliff is a UX Architect at Salesforce, and has over a decade of experience building customer experience tools for organizations of all sizes. He brings a human-centered focus to all his work, and leverages design as an opportunity for creating positive change in the world for others. With a strong technical background and an unwavering dedication to research, Cliff weaves systems thinking and genuine empathy into his work to drive thoughtful, useful outcomes for the people on the other end of the designs.
Upcoming Talks
14 May 2025
Join Cliff Seal as he shares insights on fostering career-defining growth and organizational influence as a long-term individual contributor (IC). Drawing from his extensive experience at Salesforce, Cliff highlights the individual and business benefits of staying deeply involved in the design craft over the years. He'll explore how individual contributors can navigate workplace dynamics, build trust, and make a lasting impact—all without managing teams.
- Learn how senior ICs can shape business strategy and influence decisions, regardless of organizational size
- Discover the key benefits of long-term organizational knowledge and its potential impact on career growth and business goals
- Consider how self-guided experiments, personal development, and side projects can support and sustain your career momentum
19 May 2025
Cliff Seal shares his 12-year journey at Salesforce as a senior individual contributor, revealing how staying in one role can lead to career-defining growth, organizational influence, and deeper fulfillment. Cliff demonstrates the individual and business benefits of having someone involved in the craft of the design for a lengthy period, and navigating workplace dynamics, building trust, and make a lasting impact without managing teams.
- Shaping strategy and influence decisions at Salesforce as a senior IC.
- Key benefits for long-term organizational knowledge and its impact on career growth and decision-making for product development
- Aligning business goals to drive meaningful contributions while staying in a hands-on role
Past Talks
Feedback and critique are indispensable tools for product designers. When used effectively, they leverage the collective power of differing viewpoints to directly improve design quality. Use them poorly, however, and you’ll not only lose out on design quality—you’ll lose out on creating the emotionally safe environment necessary for creative innovation.
Asking intentional, thoughtful questions can help you keep your empathetic curiosity whenever you’re giving or receiving feedback. Pair the questions with attentive listening, and you’ve got the recipe for a valuable feedback session.
We’ll talk about using these questions to give and receive feedback in kindness, and we’ll discuss how to process unthoughtful or unhelpful critique with self-compassion.