Into the Valley...

After 23 years in the high tech industry, this week I finally made it to Silicon Valley. It was an interesting experience from the moment I stepped out of the airport. I got in a cab and told him the name of the hotel. Through the journey, one song was running through my mind, the one by Burt Bacharach and Hal David; "Do You Know the Way to San José". The cab driver clearly didn't. After several hand-held calls on his mobile (which didn't have GPS) he resorted to winding down the window at intersections and asking adjacent drivers for Market Street.

After a motivational two day session with the new leadership team I'll be supporting, I had the chance to visit our research center in Palo Alto. I met a bunch of researchers and leaders with two things in common, a passion for what they are doing and a strong belief that they are shaping the future. A compelling demo detects phones passing by a 46 inch touchscreen on the wall (if the owner's Bluetooth signature is registered) and then automatically pulls photos from the owner's Flickr account and displays them on the screen. It makes a real conversation starter when you are having a coffee! You can just see the picture of Ellie and Sally on screen.

Outside, I saw this beautiful Mexican Lavender, a huge shrub that apparently copes well with the Californian climate. We have a bank of Lavender at the bottom of our garden at home, but the plants are nowhere near this size.

All in all, a great week. Even 10 hours flying back in economy didn't dull my enthusiasm.