Month: November 2016

Salesforce announced the Admin #LightningChallenge!

What is this #LightningChallenge you ask? Complete 10 challenges, 1 everyday and win AMAZING SWAG! Plus you will learn just some of the sweetness that is Salesforce Lightning.

I’ve always been skeptical of Lightning from the beginning. Honestly Lightning shakes up my realm. I’m on day 7 of the challenge. I can say that I may have not learned anything new just yet, but it was eye opening on how much customization lightning really gives an #awesomeadmin.

Being able to customize a home tab for any of my users profiles is awesomesauce. Lightning components are pretty handy too for a declarative admin. Some of the FREE components that I love are:

USA Heatmap Visualize your data on a state by state basis

What’s the Weather? Get real-time weather information in a flash

Hierarchy  Interactive visualization of your hierarchical data.

Come join me over at the Admin #LightningChallenge!

Well earlier this week my Salesforce Account Executive reached out to ask me to speak on the customer panel at the Salesforce Essentials event. I had to take a minute… Did I hear him correctly? Yes, he said “We’d love for you to share your story.”

Holy Moly! Ok, I would love to share my story of becoming a Salesforce Admin, my experience with different industries and how Salesforce has impacted my career as a women in technology.

So I hope to see you Tuesday, November 15th in downtown Phoenix. Click here to register: Salesforce Essentials Phoenix

I decided I wanted to cross the troll bridge of becoming a leader. I wasn’t sure what this meant to or for me. I just knew if was something that I felt strongly about. I looked up leadership.

Leadership defined:

lead·er·ship – the action of leading a group of people or an organization

I googled leadership.

Then I googled female leadership.

Notice a difference?

I see bullsh*t and a lot of pink. If you Google minority leadership you will get even more barf. It is hard for me in today’s world to understand why we feel the need to put “female”, “gay”, “Hispanic” or “African American” in front of words that should just include everyone.

On my journey across the troll bridge to becoming a leader I’ve found some resources. My husband turned me onto Ryan Hawk that has a podcast call The Learning Leader Show. Ryan speaks of leaders of every kind. My favorite episode was 163. Amy Trask – Former NFL CEO: “You Negotiate Like A Girl”. She speaks about not building walls and all the great C words. (Communicate, Cooperate, Collaborate, Coordinate) @Amy Trask started out as an Intern and worked all the way up to CEO. Amazing story of an epic Leadership. Plus I love her nickname: The Princess of Darkness. I mean we are sole sisters.

Another resource closer to home in the Salesforce ecosystem is the Mentorship Central website. I’ve already had a great mentor @marisahambleton. I’d love to see more mentors on the site. I know that I added myself. I had to ignore that little voice in my head. “Who would want to be mentored by you?!” Well, I told her to shut up and registered myself anyway. Even if I don’t get an official mentee, I have plenty of Phoenix Women In Tech that for some reason show up to hang out with me once a month.

I enjoyed the Salesforce Trailhead Trail on Manage the Salesforce Way. The badges for Coaching & Feedback and Organizational Alignment (V2MOM) were very helpful in putting a roadmap for myself. This morning I listened to the Button Click Admin podcast with Mary Scotton (@rockchick322004). I look forward to “diversifying my feed” and getting coffee with someone new. I want to get uncomfortable because that is when change happens.

By now I think everyone has heard of Sheryl Sandberg’s book Lean In. It’s a wonderful book. If you haven’t read it, do! I also belong to a Lean In circle.

Other books that the Women In Tech Book Club have read on leadership are Ask for It, The Confidence Code and Daring Greatly. Next on my list is Risk/Reward.

I will trudge forward on my journey across the troll bridge with every other woman. Fending off crazy remarks like “Nasty Woman” and “Your not good enough” from “Men”. We can’t let the obstacles stop us from our passions and dreams.