How the CEO of Clif Bar Stays Hungry

When she arrived at the company in June, her employees were already weary of juggling child care from home while trying to keep factories free of any coronavirus outbreaks. She also had to confront soft demand for snack bars—the pandemic curtailed visits to convenience stores, airports and other places where people typically purchase Clif’s products—as well as heightened competition from rivals.

“Early on in my career, I had the feeling that I had to be the smartest person in the room coming out of business school and that led to some mistakes,” she said. Since then, she said she learned a key lesson: “Humility is not the opposite of confidence. It’s the freedom for learning.”

The CEO grew up outside of Chicago. Her interest in brand management and the food industry began while she was a student at the University of Chicago’s Booth School of Business in the late 1990s. A lecture from a Kraft Foods executive piqued her interest, and she went on to get a job there. She was on the Kraft team that came out with Easy Mac, the first microwavable macaroni-and-cheese cups.

A reputation for innovation led to a role at Tyson Foods overseeing its “innovation lab” while also managing the entire North America prepared foods division, which had $10 billion in annual revenue and 35,000 employees.

In its nearly 30-year history Clif had two chiefs besides its owners Gary Erickson and Kit Crawford, who stepped back in as co-CEOs in 2018. Ms. Grimes is typically out of bed no later than 4:30 a.m. each day and makes sure to always have her camera on during remote conference calls.

“I have never met the majority of my team in person ever,” she said. “It takes a lot of preplanning. It takes some creativity.”

She said she is inspired by working at Clif. “It was a place where my personal values, my professional experience and my strong desires to help improve the food system came together,” she said.

Among Ms. Grimes’s most trusted advisers:

Betsy Holden

ex-CEO of Kraft Foods

Ms. Grimes met Ms. Holden when they were both working at Kraft Foods. Ms. Grimes was a young brand manager right out of business school. “It was an incredible time because I was surrounded by a lot of inspiring women leaders,” she said. Ms. Holden, who became CEO in 2001, had been a teacher before joining Kraft. “It really comes through in the way she so thoughtfully coaches and supports,” Ms. Grimes said.

Ms. Holden remained a mentor over the years, and Ms. Grimes confided in Ms. Holden when she was considering joining Clif in early 2020. “She asked me to think about the roles that were fulfilling in my career and why,” Ms. Grimes said. That helped her decide to take the job.

Ms. Holden was asked to join Clif’s board of directors a few days later. “It was an incredible confirmation,” Ms. Grimes said.

Mary Kay Haben

ex-president of Kraft Foods

Ms. Haben was president of Kraft Foods and Ms. Grimes’s boss early in her career. “I remember walking down the escalator to the Kraft cafeteria and Mary Kay would be leading the cheese team in a Kraft cheer,” Ms. Grimes said.

Ms. Haben is the one who hosts Kraft reunions and has kept the “Kraft sisterhood”—a group of current and former Kraft leaders including Ms. Grimes—alive all these years. “She is a spirit-filled, energetic, empathetic person, and I try to emulate that.”

For the several years that Ms. Grimes worked for Ms. Haben, she not only mentored Ms. Grimes in her career, but also in her life. “She’s the mentor who helps you when you don’t know you need it,” Ms. Grimes said.

Sean Connolly

CEO Conagra Brands

Mr. Connolly called Ms. Grimes in 2012 to ask if she wanted to be part of what he called a $4 billion startup. He was referring to Hillshire Brands, where he was CEO. It was an opportunity to learn about an entrepreneurial approach to innovation and staying ahead of consumer trends. “He was the one who really taught me to kind of reimagine what was in front of me and always ask what’s next,” she said.

Like Ms. Grimes, Mr. Connolly is also an early riser. Their offices at Hillshire were next to each other while Ms. Grimes was chief innovation officer. “We were always both the first ones in,” she recalled. That worked to her benefit and helped establish the camaraderie that continued after they parted ways in 2014. “It was an opportunity for me to get time with the CEO before the day got crazy.”

John Tyson

Chairman of Tyson Foods

Ms. Grimes met Mr. Tyson when his company acquired Hillshire in 2014. Mr. Tyson is the third generation of the family company. Ms. Grimes said that what she learned from working with him is to focus on the long term of the brands she managed. “It’s not just about short-term decisions,” she said.

Ms. Grimes spent six years there, with a focus on speeding up innovation and learning to work toward progress rather than perfection. She led a team that produced a new brand in just six months—a process that normally takes a year or two for food companies. “I learned that greatness comes from kind of a leap of faith,” she said. “If you’re 100% certain, you probably aren’t being very bold.”