Say It Skillfully® – Salesforce’s Sam Allen: Honest & Unfiltered

Say It Skillfully® is a show that helps you to benefit from Molly Tschang’s expert guidance on the best possible ways to speak your mind at work in a positive and productive manner. In this Episode, Sam Allen, Executive Vice President & COO of Salesforce, joins Molly and shares his journey from his youth in the Midwest to combat veteran and Commissioned Officer in the US Marines to entrepreneur and high-tech mergers and acquisitions and running a multi-billion dollar business. With little guidance in his modest youth, Sam had to chart a path for himself and enlisted in the military. Fortunately, this provided an opportunity to attend college. He describes combat as, The ultimate assault on the senses…survival instincts on steroids. Under extreme duress as people are trying to kill you or your people, you dig deep into a central reservoir of the mission.” He’s honest about early deer-in-headlights feelings as he re-joined civilian life and his thought process and intention to develop himself and his career and support his family. The “best laid plans never survive the 1st bullet.” Sam offers his experiences with bias and never spending more than a few hours or day thinking about job changes. He reveals how a virtue may also be vice and learning to manage this so that others perceive him as he intends. Don’t miss his “operating manual,” a brilliant tool to help people know who he really is as a leader and human being. He sets the tone for all he interacts with to be real and their true selves. And hear how he’s charged up about his current role and the opportunities for business to help create a better world. Molly’s thought for the week are the three values that guide Sam: Integrity-Courage-Dependability. Join the show and learn how to navigate life while being invaluable and true to yourself.