Tag: @citizenibm

Sunday, 23rd September was my day to check out the Presidio area and to conquer the Golden Gate Bridge!

I decided to make the National Cemetery at Presidio my first stop. It was certainly a very humbling experience being amongst so many souls whom sacrificed so much! I took time to reflect and to send healing out.

The Presidio area is also well known for their picnic days. With many food trucks offering many delights, to a local Indian community dance group where women and young girls danced their traditional dances. The entertainment was colourful and full of vibe.

Next mission, to walk to and across the Golden Gate Bridge. I am happy to say it was conquered. What spectacular views and a beautiful afternoon!

The last couple of days, my CSC colleagues and I have been very busy analysing data and writing on walls as we thrash out our thoughts and discussions.

And the last couple of nights some of us have been re-visiting the Grace Cathedral. Monday night was a Sound Healing like no other. I think the pics and short video speak for themselves. Attended by 1300 people it was spectacular! This sound healing was in light if the Harvest Moon, a very special event providing space and sound to rip through your stuff and to give one almighty healing!

And tonight was the Tuesday night Yoga.

I love chatting to my CSC colleagues and discovered that for those that joined me, that they had not experienced such things back home like this so it was great to see them participating and enjoying the experiences.

Pictures below:

Awaiting to get into the Grace Cathedral with Hong Jing and Madlen

The impressive lights and instruments such as gongs, crystal bowls, Didgeridoo, Xylophone, rain makers, Native American Flute just to name a few that were to be played for an hour and 15 minutes.

Two ladies playing the Harp for an hour as people arrived .. see the short clip i have posted here so you can get a glimpse of what the energy was like!

Yoga with my CSC colleagues Abhay, Valentin, Susannah and Benedicte

Today was busy teaming and getting into Salesforce reporting and spreadsheets. Needless to say having the time getting into the data analysis side of things was quite different for me with the focus on one task being an unusual thing to do, so the day went by quickly!

Lunchtime selfie practice for Ricardo .. only took 3 times to get it right!

So come to the end of the day it was off to the California Academy of Sciences to do yoga with a bit of a difference. One session was amongst the coral with a funky headset, the other session amongst the stars in the planetarium.

The Rainforest

Each Thursday night there is something fun for the adults only. Tonight it was Yoga amongst the Coral …

… and Yoga amongst the stars in the Planetarium

California Academy of Sciences

Benedicte advertising that “Water in a Box is better”!

An eventful day, but hey whom am I kidding, every day is an eventful day!  Let me share about today:

• First up … a learning for the UWBA Sub Team as we were deep into the reporting side of business this morning, a question was asked “What is Tocqueville?” in reference to what we were looking at. It led to an interesting discussion and we learnt something new. This particular program is named after Alexis de Tocqueville although a French man. in the mid 1800s was renowned for his works in Democracy in America and The Old Regime and the Revolution.  In both of these, he analyzed the improved living standards and social conditions of individuals as well as their relationship to the market and state in Western societies.
• Next … Homebridge – Health Care Services Hiring Event – this was an opportunity to see how UWBA partners with a Not For Profit organisation.
  • UWBA helps by providing a venue, staff, and campaigning an event of this nature.  This type of event is where it provides an opportunity for “clients” (the youth) to come along and potentially put forward their details for jobs on offer.
  • We were able to see how this campaign was recorded and what data is captured live into the Salesforce system. In all my years around CRM, I do fully appreciate that having a CRM tool is important, additionally gathering key quality data also helps any organisation towards having something to analyse which can help with resources, promotions, types of engagements, etc.  Having a good CRM system is only as good as what is being entered, and how it is being used!  A tough, but necessary addition for many!
  • A plug for Homebridge, they provide home care and support services in San Francisco county. Their largest program is home care, in which they deliver more than 500,000 hours of home care service to over 1,200 clients annually. They also operate a training program for personal caregivers, and transitional care program for those discharged from hospitals by offering home based services to elderly and disabled in the Bay Area.

• This afternoon was an All Hands Staff Meeting that we were invited to – being a part of this meeting provided an insight on a few different topics that were interesting.
  • So from a Fire Extinguisher Sweep sending 3 employees off to find the 5 extinguishers on the floor; to what to do in emergencies such as fires or (dare we say it) Active Shooters which was quite different from anything I have experienced in Australia, but I do understand very real in the US.
  • Next on the Agenda was Alyssum Maguire from Solano Youth Voices, a guest speaker whom presented on the great work they do such as the Youth Council, expansion of the Youth Voice by building a network of youth leaders and organisations. They are running Rising Leader’s training on a monthly basis for youth (ages 10-14); hosting creative engagement events for youth. All of this sounds amazing, wouldn’t it be great to have something like this across the board in all countries!
  • Next week is the Dreamforce event in San Francisco, and the statistics were phenomenal for last year with 170K registered, from 83 countries, and 10M online viewers; and there is guaranteed to be similar, or if not better, attendance this year.  There is a sense of buzz around the office as you think about those numbers, and how many will get to hear about United Way in a few scheduled keynotes. So if any of my followers are in the area, or are in the US and going to the event, reach out.

• So to end a day of all days of learning, what is left, but a social event outside after work. I love social gatherings as it is a way to get to know people outside of the company walls, with it also being an opportunity for the UWBA team to get to know us better.
• Once the socialising was done, only one thing left to do, try out some good food at a recommended Chinese Restaurant in Chinatown, and true to form, the food was great, and an added bonus where the staff looked after myself and my CSC colleagues very well!

The one time of the year that there is a fire drill in the building, and guess who were the lucky ones to find out UWBA’s evacuation plan. Luckily it was at the end of a meeting, the alarms are going off, quickly grabbing my important IBM gear, we were ushered out the door and down 10 flights of stairs. Interesting listening to some on how hearing the sirens made them nervous, others not so much. I think sometimes we might get a little complacent, sometimes frustrated, but these drills are an important necessity. And you know what, it was time for a tic tac break anyways to enjoy a little sunlight before we headed back indoors.

This afternoon I got to spend a little one on one time with one of the team members, Meghan (in picture below). After listening to her talking about what she did within UWBA the other day, I wanted to re-connect to listen, and listen again. Her passion for what she does clearly came out, which seemed common across everyone that we have spoken with so far. What I found beautiful about Meghan was her eyes welling up knowing that there was help, and was very appreciative of the opportunity that UWBA had been given by Atlas Corps and IBM. The consistent message we have seen is how all UWBA employees are wanting to make a difference in the world!

So this afternoon it was about taking some additional time to dig a little deeper and begin to think about a couple of recommendations moving forward that would benefit all … just one small piece of a bigger puzzle to help this fantastic organisation to continue the great work that they provide to so many.

Tonight was an amazing opportunity not to be missed … yoga at the Grace Cathedral. What an awesome place to be to do my favorite exercise – yoga. My yoga instructor, Jude, would be very proud and impressed.

My UWBA sub team colleagues Benedicte, Susannah and I met up with Emma from Atlas Corps to experience something out of the ordinary. The evening included live music, chanting by Nathan Kendall which both music and chanting was absolutely beautiful, and I stayed on for a meditation session to finish the evening out.

A great ending to a Monday!

Yesterday was a day of testing out the public transport system and getting around the City where I ended up at Golden Gate Park by pure chance. That’s what happens when you embrace letting go of having plans and just going with wherever you end up.

After hiring an electric bike, it was off to explore.

The Dutch Windmill

Bison Park

Watching Irish Dancing and a Big Band at Speckels Temple of Music

Ocean Beach which was simply stunning with the weather just beautiful.

So after a trip on a caltrain and bus back, it was then to the famous Lombard Street which was next on the list for the day. Certainly very pretty as the street was in bloom, and sometimes noisy as the cars and motorcycles would come down the street, twisting and turning with the best of whatever tunes they were playing.

Today was the start of a new week. Getting stuck into meeting key people and working away on the tasks at hand at UWBA.

One highlight that stood out for me for the day was where we were invited to a “Diversity and Inclusion Round Table – Brown Bag Lunch” session which was rather an interesting team bonding exercise. It turns out that these sessions are an open invitation where it provides anyone who chooses to go along with their lunch, an opportunity to have a healthy debate about different topics that are hot in the news.

Today’s hot topic was on Serena Williams loss against Naomi Osaka. Everything from fairness to womens rights to racism to the caricature cartoon that was drawn none other than by an Aussie was discussed and debated. Of course being the only Aussie in the room, it was an interesting experience to be a part of to say the least. So when it was asked of each of my colleagues and I what our thoughts were compared to the Bay Area team, they wondered if our opinions would be the same or quite different. I had to think fast when I was not even aware of what had happened, let alone know about the cartoon.

Whilst I was listening, I researched other “vocal” tennis stars such as Nick Kyrgios, one of our younger Aussie tennis players whom was notorious for his behaviour on the court. I was quick to show that there are other players whom get a similar type of treatment from the press, and my comments were if people, and that means anyone, that reacts with emotion in a difficult competitive high profile event, it is not always going to end as well as it could.  And with the discussion on whether the Umpire was fair or not, the other end of the scale is here where an Umpire has been reprimanded for his behavior towards Nick.

Serena is a great tennis player, and is a great change agent for many things! My philosophy is if you use your words wisely, pick your battles with grace, live with passion, and be humble, then change will come.

And to finish off this thought provoking experience of the day, I wanted to say congrats to Noemi whom won against Serena, for keeping her head in the game. She is a winner, and I do feel for her not being able to fully celebrate with all the controversy!

A buzz in the air as 13 of us made our way to Stanford, to find out about Tailgating and University Football. I can hear you non Americans asking “What is tailgating?” … we were soon to discover it is
host or attend a social gathering at which an informal meal is served from the back of a parked vehicle, typically in the parking lot of a sports stadium.

The sights showed some extravaganza, fun, and lots of family and communities coming together.

And let the game begin … John, one of our IBM Hosts did a wonderful job in making sure that we all knew what was going on with the game. Simply blew me away how many players were in fact on the ground, and how long 27 seconds can truly take! But in the end the Stanford Carinals crushed their opponent … definitely being the stronger team on the day.

Group selfies

Next, we got to check out the Stanford University campus. As far as a campus goes, it truly was beautiful and VERY BIG! One fact I learned was this is where Design Thinkingwas born.

Next on the sightseeing list was to check out Googleplex and Apple Park … both impressive sights. Both looking to expand such as Google looking to build a “Google Village“.

The drive home was my opportunity to drive the roads of California. This meant getting my head into left left left. We did some more sightseeing via Half Moon Bay and back up the Coast for some beautiful sights. We saw yards full of pumpkins of all varieties in wonderful displays, fog, trees, cliffs and an array of houses and buildings.

The day finishing with a very wholesome meal at Grubstake!

I would like to take this opportunity to thank our host John for organising all of us, keeping us well informed and safe. To John’s wife, family and friends, thank you for making us feel very welcome at your Tailgating party. We all had a blast!

The last two days have whizzed by with meetings which is helping to provide my colleagues and I a glimpse into the Organization, the different teams, the challenges, all which is insight to netting out where we can direct our focus on to provide the most value. I must say my Salesforce training I received before I got here, is helping immensely!

This afternoon, sitting in our pod working away, someone popped their head around the corner and asked if we would like to join in on an Ice Cream party. You did not have to ask any of us twice, we were in, be part of the culture right! I must say, the entire UWBA Team have made us feel so welcome since our arrival. We were soon to discover that the Ice Cream party was between the 2 locations (San Francisco and San Jose (virtually with their own ice cream tubs)) celebrating, encouraging and rewarding the use of Salesforce Philanthropy amongst the employees. Mmmm! Eating the very nice ice cream was certainly a perfect opportunity to do some more networking with the staff in a relaxed atmosphere.

Moving on to Lunchtime, I wanted to share another opportunity of San Francisco culture. Walking, the four of us stumbled along a band playing so we took a few minutes to immerse ourselves into listening to these musicians playing outside the Microsoft building. I captured one of their songs for your listening pleasure.

Tonight, to keep with the music theme of the day, a small group of us ventured out to see Tom Odell at CAFE DU NORD.

It was certainly a beautiful atmosphere, Cafe du Nord was built in 1907 and was officially designated a San Francisco Historic Landmark in 2015.Tom was very easy listening as he played the piano, spoke about his writing career in between singing the songs. Tom is a popular artist in the UK, however, here in San Francisco amongst 300+ it was an intimate event, sound was great, and everyone respectful and listening as he bellowed out the tunes. Great night!