3 Things I have learned from my daughters about Disruption and Social
Yes, my 2 daughters have shared with me
- Dude Perfect. There are 5 guys who were friends at Texas (and a Panda) that have a cool and fun YouTube channel. They started with basketball tricks and earned "endorsements" from their videos. Now they do comedy like sterotypes and more sports tricks. Now they have added games, books, and more. What I learned: My daughters love the quirky video fun and can't wait for the next episodes. Their use of social is amazing and they have taken their passion and used it as a great example of the power of social and passion!
- Augmented reality (AR) art. My daughters recently showed me 2 postcards with art on them that came alive with a small AR app on my phone. Simply put -- wow! The art came alive with flames that were painted and then on the phone it was real! What I learned: The world is changing to such a visual experience. My daughters expect an experience -- whether it is AR or IoT sensors embedded to create an experience. A good lesson to learn and experiment with!
- They want our help. My daughters showed me today this note that a mom wrote to her son's facebook friends. They wanted to chat on it but it was interesting that they "liked" reluctantly what the mom had done. What I learned: Kids do like help on social. My daughters AHA moment was her telling me that the accountability I have with her on Instagram helps her maintain "her" standards.
Infographic: Power of Silicon Valley Entrepreneurship
I love this Infographic of the Silicon Valley ranking of cities for entrepreneurship!!!
The top 5 scores were:
- Menlo Park,
- Mountain View,
- Palo Alto,
- Sunnyvale,
- Redwood City
Did you see that there is a geographic dominance of Northern California? The top 4 Silicon Valley cities in the MIT rankings possess 20 times the average start-up quality as California's median city!!!! WOW!
Introducing the WITI Virtual Hackathon! Sign up now to show off your "entrepreneur" style!
In 1935, three decades before the Equal Pay Act, IBM recruited its first women in the workforce. IBM's founder, T.J. Watson Sr. promised women, "the same kind of work for equal pay." Since then, IBM has been acknowledged as a world leader in its commitment to women both in and out of the workforce. In 2014, IBM was named one of the 諺Best Companies for Women”by Forbes.
It should come as no surprise that IBM has partnered with WITI (Women In Technology International), a powerhouse dedicated to women in tech, on their first ever Virtual Hackathon. WITI started in 1989 as The International Network of Women in Technology and, in 2001, evolved into The WITI Professional Association, the world's leading trade association for tech-savvy women. Today, WITI is the premiere global organization empowering women in business and technology to achieve unimagined possibilities.
I personally invite you to join Bluemix, IBM's premier cloud development platform, and WITI for an international hackathon where developers, scientists, students, and entrepreneurs will gather virtually to build software, applications, hardware, data visualization and platform solutions focused on the Internet of Things and wearables. The hackathon runs throughout the month of May and is open to open to all.
Follow these easy steps to get started and get hacking!
1. Register for the hackathon at ibm.biz/witiregistration
2. Register for your free Bluemix trial at ibm.biz/witihack
3. Participate in Bluemix virtual education sessions and review technical resources here: ibm.biz/witihackathon
4. Start building your app and submit it for review by May 27th.
Prizes include IBM Cloud Credit, a 1-hour virtual meeting with me, 2016 WITI Summit tickets, free WITI memberships and more.
As a board member of WITI and mentor to several women in IBM, I am thrilled to see this type of collaboration and can’t wait to see the apps you come up with!
No Fear Friday - Take that Risk!!!
Our short and sassy Friday message is ... take that Risk!
There's no success without risk. Everything good has some risk associated with it. This does not mean you don't look and evaluate reasons you might have challenges or even small failures along the way, but plan your journey with clear goals.
Make sure you are flexible in how you solve the minimal and big challenges along the way. Don't let them derail your overall ambitions!
Learn, learn, learn!!! Each of these mistakes help you to learn.
I love Barbara Corcoran's quote: "Failure is what I'm best at." Of course, she is wildly successful because she learned from her failures!
What I learned from my Mom!
Today is my Mom's birthday. I don't get to live close anymore, but we do talk daily. As I was chatting with a friend who recently lost her mom, she reminded me to cherish each moment so I decided to write the Top 7 Things I love about my mom!
- Gives without expecting anything in return. My mom is the most giving person I know. Of course to her children, but to all. She extends herself without expecting anything in return.
- Leads by example. Whether she is gardening, or doing Tax Returns, my mom leads by example. She never asks anyone to do anything that she isn't willing to do herself.
- Chooses Attitude over circumstances. One of the things my mom taught me is that you sometimes cannot change your circumstances, but your attitude you have control over. Make sure you keep your attitude in check, and don't let those circumstances control you!
- Exudes "Smart." My mom was valedictorian in High School but could not afford to go to college. Yet, she still used her incredible intelligence to be so successful in life. She is not just book smart, but life smart.
- Grows in faithfulness. My mom is faithful in her faith and God. She has a gentle and trusting spirit.
- Shares Encouragement. I cannot remember a time when my mom didn't encourage her friends, family, and even pets. She is a natural encourager -- go Mom Go!
- Exemplifies Love. My mom loves unconditionally. Her love is soft and gentle yet strong.
I know that Mother's day is upcoming as well and I cannot be more thankful for the beautiful woman who is my mom.
She has taught me how to be a good mom and leader!
Celebrate your mom today!
3 Surprises from Millennials on the Purchase Process
I love working with Millennials as well as understanding their purchasing habits.
From IBM's Institute of Business Value's study on Millennials, I had 3 Aha moments about how they like to purchase!
- The world's gone social! Millennials meet with vendors face-to-face during the sales cycle, but they would much rather interact remotely during this initial phase
- In God we trust, all others bring data. Millennials place equal weight on data analysis and the opinion of family and friends when deciding whether or not to make a B2B purchase costing US$10,000 or more
- Millennials are eager to share positive experiences, but very reluctant to share disappointments
These 3 ahas, tell me that in order to meet their needs, we need to:
- Be social in the sales cycle ! Since this social network scene makes the most sense to millennials, consider setting up an internal private social site to gain more input, and answer questions.
- Share data and analytics to assist in the progression! Since millennials want the data, share it! Do your homework to make it valuable but don't forget the "word of mouth" as well.
- Make it easy to shout it from the mountain tops! Since this new generation likes to share positive experiences, make it easy for them to do so. This enables them to become your brand ambassadors!
1.