Staff Meetings

I began today with an extended staff meeting. I found the team reporting to Don Rigler, America's Controller was energetic in spirit, productive in tasks, and well-intentioned in collaboration. At the start of the meeting, each member of the meeting was engaged in finding new hires and then ensuring that those new hires were compensated appropriately for their expertise, work experience, and job level. It was interesting as well to see how the group meshed in spite of employees located in Indianapolis and others temporarily visiting offices in New York; location made little to no impact on the impressive group dynamic. Following this meeting, I met with Meredith Schmitt, Senior Vice President of global revenue operations. I found her enthusiasm, spirit, and vitality contagious; I left her office ready to take on the world, feeling more energized than a cup of coffee could ever provide. I later attended her staff meeting, where the contagious energy continued with jokes and friendly banter. We moved through the agenda quickly, which included discussions of international exchange winners, a management meeting for the team in June, and the CFO's GBO summit. I ended the day with an interview with Art Perez, Vice President of compliance, whose calm and friendly demeanor left me in awe. I thought he spoke nicely to a theme I have seen present in most of my interviews: "What you realize after being in the work force for a period of time is that communication is incredibly important." The most repetitive message from those I have met is that the ability to connect with others, whether through technology or in person is a fundamental necessity at Salesforce and more broadly in any business and even more broadly in any career.