Dan Darcy & Kris Lande

The Value of Community


In this special first episode, Kris Lande, SVP Marketing & Community at Salesforce, joins Dan Darcy to discuss what it truly means to be a part of the Ohana, and takes us on her full-circle journey from being a Trailblazer to now helping support and enable the Trailblazer community.



0:00

(upbeat music)

0:02

- Welcome to Inside the Ohana.

0:07

I'm Dan Darcy, Chief Customer Officer at Qualified.

0:10

And today I'm joined by an inspiring colleague

0:13

and Ohana sister, Chris Landy, Chris, how are you today?

0:17

- Oh, hey, Ohana brother, I'm pretty well.

0:20

I'm really happy to be here.

0:22

- I mean, I wore this special golden hoodie just for you.

0:26

- Yeah.

0:27

- For today's interview.

0:28

- So, so I'm- - We're matching here.

0:30

- Yeah, exactly, go trailblazers.

0:32

So I wanna dive right into our first segment, Ohana Origins,

0:35

and you know, we're winding back about 12 years ago.

0:40

How did Salesforce first come on your radar

0:42

and what was your first job at Salesforce?

0:43

- Rewind even further back, more than 12 years ago.

0:46

So back in 2003, I think is when I first got introduced

0:51

to Salesforce and I was working at a little startup

0:55

in Seattle, Washington, and I was doing that thing,

0:57

and I think a lot of us do startups

0:59

where you have all of the jobs.

1:01

I was doing marketing, I was doing events,

1:04

I was doing sales ops, I was doing all of these things,

1:07

and I was also owning our CRM administration.

1:11

I think that kind of situation probably sounds pretty familiar

1:14

for a lot of CRM admins out there.

1:16

You have a lot of jobs and a lot of hat.

1:19

- Would you say you were an accidental admin?

1:22

- It was 100% an accidental admin.

1:25

It was that exact situation where I was doing a lot of jobs

1:29

and my boss came to me and I was like,

1:30

"Hey, we have this CRM thing and we need someone

1:33

to be the admin of it.

1:35

I don't know what that means, but can you do it?"

1:37

And I'm a yes person.

1:38

So it's like, "Of course I can do that.

1:40

That sounds fun.

1:41

What is CRM?"

1:42

First, tell me what that is.

1:43

(laughs)

1:44

But that's actually how I got introduced to CRM.

1:47

And we weren't using Salesforce at first.

1:50

We're using a different product, which I won't name,

1:53

but I will say it was not easy.

1:55

And I started petitioning at that point

1:57

to get Salesforce into our company.

1:59

So finally, after working on it and working on it

2:03

and petitioning, I got my company to buy Salesforce in 2003.

2:08

And I did the whole data transfer into Salesforce,

2:12

which I learned at that point.

2:13

When you do that process, you learn a product inside it out.

2:18

Like I learned about databases.

2:20

I learned how to get all of the information

2:22

out of our old CRM system and into our new one.

2:25

- I mean, that's incredible because you embody basically

2:29

where we're gonna get into later,

2:31

the whole trailblazer revolution

2:34

and the army that it created.

2:37

And it first started with the customer heroes,

2:39

which is becoming a Salesforce admin.

2:42

That's incredible.

2:43

How did you hear about Salesforce at first before

2:46

when you were listening?

2:47

And I mean, you were using the legacy CRM out there.

2:52

- I did the free online trial

2:54

and I got my little org set up and oh my gosh,

2:56

this is phenomenal.

2:59

Like now I can add a field in two seconds

3:01

instead of two hours.

3:03

And I just had that aha moment, like this is amazing.

3:06

And that's when I started my petition

3:07

to get my company to buy Salesforce.

3:10

And I think like, you mentioned the introduction

3:14

to trailblazers in our community.

3:16

And that was when, so I had my first introduction

3:19

to the community.

3:20

This is back in 2003 when I was implementing Salesforce

3:24

and I had some questions and that there was those experts

3:27

out there that just they wanted to get back.

3:29

They wanted to help me, they didn't know me,

3:31

but they wanted to help me.

3:33

And I just got that taste of how beautiful

3:35

the Salesforce community is.

3:37

And I was hooked.

3:39

Like I became one of those people.

3:41

Like when Salesforce did the events around the country,

3:45

I was in Seattle then when Salesforce had come to Seattle,

3:48

I would show up, I would be like cheering.

3:52

And I was just, you know, I was one of those Salesforce fans

3:55

and I still am.

3:57

And I think it is because of the community

4:00

and because how easy it was to become part of this,

4:03

Ohana, even back in 2003 before I worked at Salesforce.

4:08

- I love hearing your passion about this and the community.

4:13

I'm curious though too, just, you know,

4:15

how did you come to Salesforce, the mothership, you know,

4:18

and your first job happened at Salesforce?

4:22

- My husband and I were looking for a change

4:25

and we were looking for a move from moving from Seattle

4:28

to San Francisco.

4:29

And at that moment, I was like,

4:31

there's one company that I want to work for.

4:34

And it happens to be in San Francisco

4:36

and I am gonna go for it.

4:38

It was a product marketing role for Chatter.

4:40

So I had interviewed for product marketing position

4:42

for Chatter, I didn't get that one.

4:45

But then soon after I interviewed

4:47

for a product marketing role for Salesforce Cloud,

4:50

which is, you know, our flagship product.

4:52

So that is the job that I ended up moving

4:54

to San Francisco for my first job at Salesforce

4:57

was on the Sales Cloud product marketing team.

5:00

- What year was that and what was the size

5:02

of the company at the time?

5:03

- So that was 2010.

5:06

So I've been at Salesforce almost 12 years now.

5:09

And I believe the company was right around 4,000 people

5:12

so when I started Dan, I think you had been there

5:15

for two years, right?

5:16

- Yes.

5:17

- Yeah.

5:18

So I think there was around 4,000 people when I started

5:20

and I remember I came from a 30 person company.

5:23

So I remember thinking like, whoa, this company is huge.

5:28

It's 4,000 people.

5:29

And now looking back now we have what 75,000 people

5:32

working at Salesforce.

5:33

And I think it's just, I mean, it's amazing the growth

5:36

that we've seen.

5:38

It's just incredible.

5:40

- I remember when you first started,

5:41

I just will brag on your behalf

5:44

because I think one of the things that made you

5:47

completely different from the other product marketers

5:49

was that you actually were full on in the product,

5:52

knew the product like the back of your hand.

5:54

Not saying that the other product marketers

5:56

didn't know how to do that, but you were,

5:59

you know, one of the customer heroes that we would profile

6:03

in a lot of the marketing materials.

6:04

And I thought just that sparkle and that differentiation

6:08

that you brought to the team was pretty awesome.

6:11

What was your first initial impression of Salesforce

6:14

at the time?

6:15

Just inside, inside the Ohana, if you will.

6:18

- Yeah.

6:20

Well, you know, once I got past my immense imposter syndrome

6:24

when I first started, you know,

6:26

'cause I was this, you know, I was this admin girl.

6:28

Like I was a Salesforce admin and I felt like,

6:31

like, oh my gosh, this is my dream job.

6:33

And I'm here and I'm working with these incredible people.

6:36

I just remember meeting my fellow marketers

6:38

and just, you know, really smart, talented, skilled people

6:43

and just feeling in awe of all of these marketers.

6:47

And just, I was so excited about everything

6:50

that I had to learn from everyone.

6:52

'Cause I was really a self-taught marketer.

6:55

No, I didn't get my MBA.

6:57

I call my startup that I worked at.

6:59

I called out my marketing MBA.

7:01

I learned everything on the job

7:02

and I taught myself everything.

7:04

And so I was really excited to really come to Salesforce.

7:08

And, you know, really go to marketing school.

7:11

Like really learn marketing from the best marketers.

7:15

And Dan, I look at you when I say that you're one

7:17

of the best marketers.

7:19

And when I started, I was just so excited

7:22

to learn from folks like you.

7:23

- Oh, thank you.

7:24

I mean, I appreciate that.

7:25

I mean, speaking of marketers,

7:28

you know, one of your first managers, Scott Holden,

7:30

you know, who was a Salesforce product marketer at the time.

7:34

And now he's the CMO of ThoughtSpot.

7:36

His reputation around the office was that he had just

7:39

incredible and beautiful hair.

7:42

And I guess my question to you was just how beautiful

7:44

was his hair?

7:45

And did you ever see not code at all?

7:47

- I don't know.

7:49

The best question.

7:50

So Scott hired me.

7:51

So thank you, Scott Holden, for hiring me.

7:54

And yes, I was definitely intimidated of Scott

7:57

when I first started because he does have quite

7:59

the beautiful mane of hair that is for sure.

8:02

- Scott, I just love you if you're hearing this

8:05

and just wanted to make that little shout out there.

8:07

But so Chris, you've really obviously experienced

8:11

the Ohana firsthand.

8:13

And when I ask folks about the Ohana,

8:16

I feel like everyone describes it differently.

8:18

But I'm curious, how would you describe the Ohana?

8:21

And what does that really mean to you?

8:22

- This company and the folks around me

8:26

have truly become my family.

8:30

All of my, I look around me and like all of my friends

8:33

are people that I've met at Salesforce.

8:36

And I, the customers that I've met too,

8:39

like some of our troubleers or customers

8:42

are lifelong friends.

8:43

Like I get holiday cards from them.

8:45

I send holiday cards to them.

8:47

And so it is, we talk about Ohana, we talk about family.

8:51

And for me, that has been my experience.

8:54

Like this has become my family.

8:56

And I think we've all gone through

8:58

something special together.

9:00

And what started going from a 4,000 person company

9:04

to 75,000 people and all of the growth in between there.

9:07

Like there's really special experiences and memories

9:10

that we've all been through together.

9:11

And I do truly feel like this is my family.

9:15

- Exactly.

9:18

I mean, and that's where I find it so hard

9:21

to describe to folks.

9:22

And that's what the mission of this podcast

9:25

is really all about is just trying to help people

9:27

understand what being part of the Ohana

9:30

and being and experiencing the Ohana is all about.

9:33

So I want you to brag here, Chris,

9:36

because you've been a part of some pretty incredible launches

9:39

over your time with SalesCloud,

9:41

the Salesforce One mobile app and Trailhead.

9:44

What would you say is one of your biggest successes

9:47

or something that you're most proud of thus far?

9:50

- So I was working on Salesforce One, our mobile app.

9:53

I was working on Salesforce One marketing.

9:55

And I moved over to the admin relations team.

9:58

And I really viewed this as like,

10:00

well, I'm kind of coming back home,

10:01

like from my admin past.

10:03

Now I get to work with ourselves,

10:05

for Salesforce admins.

10:06

And I am, I feel really proud of everything

10:10

that we were able to do for our admin community.

10:12

You know, we created this whole program

10:15

of the content that our admins needed

10:18

because we really didn't have,

10:20

we didn't have a program at Salesforce

10:21

that was directly talking to ourselves for Sales admins.

10:24

We had this for our developers,

10:26

but our admins are so important to Salesforce,

10:29

so important to our customers.

10:30

And we needed a team that was just focused on them.

10:34

You know, we talked a lot about, you know,

10:36

good stuff, no fluff.

10:37

Admins do not like to be marketed to,

10:40

they want to know what the product does,

10:42

what it doesn't do, how to use it.

10:44

And they want, they want that good stuff, no fluff.

10:46

And that was, that was like a really great learning lesson

10:49

for me.

10:49

And I really learned audience marketing.

10:52

And I learned the importance of really lifting up

10:56

and empowering our customers, our trailblazers.

10:59

And that was when I first learned, you know,

11:01

what we call trailblazers marketing.

11:03

When you have a trailblazer or an admin or a developer,

11:07

you hand them a mic and you get out of their way.

11:10

You let them talk about the product

11:12

and the way that they want to and their words.

11:15

And they do the best marketing for us.

11:18

Like they are way better talking about our products

11:22

than we are.

11:22

And that's something I just really learned,

11:24

is like the power of our customer voices

11:26

and our marketing.

11:27

And that was something that I hadn't learned before.

11:30

- You've mentioned now trailblazer, I've mentioned it as well.

11:33

And we've mentioned admins, we've mentioned, you know,

11:36

co-workers.

11:37

I want to explain for the audience what a trailblazer is.

11:41

How do you define trailblazer?

11:43

And how do you think about it?

11:44

How would you describe it to the audience?

11:46

- Yeah, I define a trailblazer as a leader,

11:49

a learner and an innovator and someone who is doing magic

11:53

on the Salesforce platform.

11:54

And they are driving their career.

11:56

They are making change in their company.

11:58

They are bringing change to their community.

12:01

And these are really like, they're the change makers.

12:04

They are people who are driving the future forward.

12:08

They are using digital first skills.

12:10

And they are really like, they are poised

12:12

for the jobs of the future.

12:14

And these are the people who are leading the way.

12:17

And, you know, I think a lot about, you know,

12:21

the hoodie that you and I are both wearing down.

12:23

You know, this was something where, you know,

12:25

we really wanted to put that identity of trailblazers,

12:29

front and forward.

12:30

Like, you know, a lot of times you'll see,

12:32

we put a brand across like sales cloud or Salesforce.

12:36

We put a brand across, but we really wanted to lift up

12:38

and empower that identity.

12:40

And the products are still there.

12:42

You know, we have, you have a trailhead on the hoodie.

12:44

You have a sales cloud or a Salesforce on the hoodie.

12:47

But it's really the person and the identity

12:50

and the products are supporting them.

12:52

And that's really how I picture with trailblazers.

12:54

Like, it's all about the people and the product support them

12:57

and help them do amazing things, but it is about the person.

13:00

- I feel it too.

13:01

It's one of those things when you put on this hoodie,

13:04

you feel part of a bigger collective of amazing people.

13:08

And it's just, it's something that, you know,

13:11

it's hard to describe again as well too.

13:14

Now, on the opposite side of the spectrum of, you know,

13:17

talking about some of the things that you're most proud of,

13:20

what would you say is one of your biggest lessons learned

13:23

at Salesforce?

13:24

- I really think it is as a marketer.

13:27

You know, I've been a marketer for years now,

13:29

and I think as a marketer that vital switch

13:32

of putting the person first, the person first

13:37

about the product, it's about the people.

13:39

It is about the identity.

13:40

It's about what they want.

13:41

It is not about, it's not about how your product

13:44

and getting your product in their face.

13:45

It's about who they are and how to empower them to do better.

13:50

And the product will follow.

13:52

And I think that was a really important lesson for me

13:54

and one that I didn't, I think when I was, you know,

13:56

back working, working in product marketing,

13:58

and even in my startup days, I didn't know that lesson.

14:01

I wasn't, I wasn't always putting the person

14:04

in the identity first.

14:06

And it is all about the people and the community.

14:10

It is their community, and we are here to support

14:13

that Trailblazer community,

14:14

but it is all about the people at the end of the day.

14:16

And that's then, I think, one of the most important lessons

14:18

that I've learned over my 12 years here.

14:21

Chris, one of my favorite stories from the early O'Hanna days

14:25

was the protest of the cloud must go on.

14:29

Oh, yeah.

14:30

Can you tell the listeners out there about this entire story?

14:35

And I'll definitely add to it a long way,

14:38

but I want you, I want to hear it from your point of view.

14:41

It is an amazing story.

14:43

So, well, part of the story happens before I came to Salesforce.

14:46

I think even before you were at Salesforce.

14:48

So, Salesforce has been known for what we know.

14:51

We like to do guerrilla marketing.

14:53

We like to really make a statement.

14:55

And years and years ago, it was probably,

14:58

I'm gonna guess in maybe 2003, 2004,

15:02

Salesforce picketed outside of one of our competitors'

15:06

conferences, and we had signs that people were holding,

15:10

like protest signs, and it was just this amazing,

15:14

amazing kind of guerrilla marketing effort that they did.

15:18

And then fast forward, gosh, probably two years later.

15:23

So, when this was my first year at Salesforce,

15:27

this is 2011.

15:30

We had something similar happen,

15:31

where it was one of our competitors' conferences,

15:34

and Mark Benioff, our CEO, was meant to speak at that conference.

15:39

And then somehow, the night before, his keynote got canceled.

15:44

And so, we decided to go back to our roots,

15:48

go back to our guerrilla marketing,

15:50

and we decided to stage a protest.

15:53

And that next day, we only denied, we made these signs

15:57

that said things like, "Cannot stop the cloud,

16:00

and the cloud must go on."

16:02

We showed up outside of the conference,

16:04

and we got back to our roots, and we protested.

16:08

And it was one of the, number one,

16:11

it was my most fun day I've ever had at Salesforce.

16:15

But it was also just like, an amazing guerrilla marketing effort.

16:19

And Dan, you were there.

16:20

I know this was so much fun.

16:22

We loved it.

16:23

- What I loved about that so much was,

16:26

we were supposed to deliver a keynote at this conference,

16:30

but since it was canceled, we were like,

16:32

we still need to deliver the keynote.

16:34

But where are we gonna go?

16:35

- Well, we rented out the restaurant at a hotel

16:39

across the street, and we actually streamed

16:43

and delivered the keynote there,

16:45

full on with live demos, the guest speakers,

16:49

seating, and the protest was happening just right outside.

16:53

I think it was one of those,

16:55

that's in a moment to me that really stands out.

16:59

And as we were talking, it just came to mind

17:03

where I'm like, "Oh my gosh."

17:04

You were front center, Chris.

17:06

I think you and Sean Alpert were on TV, picketing, and--

17:11

- They made up a cheer at one point.

17:14

- Yeah.

17:14

(laughs)

17:15

- That's awesome.

17:16

I love that moment.

17:17

- Yeah, that was really fun.

17:19

And I think when you think about just the memories

17:22

that we all have and some of the great things

17:24

and innovative things that we've done together,

17:26

that is top of mind for me,

17:27

and how quickly we can all act together.

17:32

That was something that I got the email or text about this,

17:36

I think 8 p.m. the night before,

17:37

and we showed up there at 8 a.m. the next morning,

17:40

signs made, ready to go, t-shirts,

17:43

I think we had umbrellas too, 'cause it started raining,

17:45

and it was just phenomenal.

17:48

The power of a group of people who are passionate,

17:52

who are innovative and can roll fast together,

17:55

and cheers to you, Dan, for getting together,

17:58

keynote in a whole new venue,

17:59

but in one day, just incredible.

18:02

- That was the entire team, but thank you.

18:05

That was an incredible Ohana moment.

18:06

Let's get into our next segment, "What's Cooking?"

18:09

So Chris, talk about how you got to where you are now,

18:13

and what's your journey been like to get to your current role?

18:17

- Yes, I have had many roles at Salesforce, actually.

18:22

I'm someone who, I get excited about a lot of things,

18:25

I'm passionate about a lot of things,

18:26

and that kind of turns into a lot of yeses,

18:28

and it kind of guides you there,

18:30

and that's been a little bit of my career journey

18:33

at Salesforce, is I get excited about something,

18:35

and then I'm like, do you need help?

18:37

Can I work on this?

18:38

And that kind of guides you into your next path.

18:41

I started on self-clad product marketing,

18:44

I got really excited about our events,

18:46

I think Salesforce does the best events in the industry,

18:50

and that actually brought me to working on

18:54

what we call our campground,

18:55

which is our presence of Salesforce at our events.

18:58

I started working on our campground,

18:59

that led to my next role,

19:01

and then I got really excited about the things

19:03

that we are doing in mobile.

19:05

This was something from my past role,

19:07

I knew how important mobile was for our customers,

19:10

and I got really excited about this mobile app

19:12

that we were launching,

19:13

and again, I was like, this is really cool,

19:15

can I work on this, can I be part of this?

19:17

And then I joined the mobile team,

19:19

and so each thing, I get excited about something,

19:22

and it kind of leads me into my next role,

19:25

and that's the same thing that happened

19:26

when I joined our admin relations team.

19:29

I had heard about this admin relations team

19:33

being started up, there was just a couple people on the team,

19:35

and I knew the person who was running it,

19:37

and I went to her and I was like,

19:39

I think you need help, and I can help you,

19:41

and I'm really excited about this,

19:43

and I used to be an admin, I speak their language,

19:45

and that really led me into this whole audience marketing realm.

19:50

- What are you working on currently?

19:52

- So today, my role is Trailblazer ecosystem,

19:56

and what that means is helping anybody become a Trailblazer

20:00

in the Salesforce ecosystem and see success,

20:03

whether that is getting started with Trailhead,

20:05

getting into our community,

20:07

becoming an admin or a developer,

20:10

so anything that gets people excited

20:12

and into ourselves force ecosystem,

20:15

that is the thing that our team works on,

20:16

and our whole goal is to empower more people

20:21

to become Trailblazers.

20:23

- And how do you do that?

20:24

I'm curious, how do you attract new Trailblazers

20:28

to the ecosystem?

20:29

- A lot of our job is just sharing the opportunity.

20:32

I think, I shared, I was an accidental admin,

20:36

it kind of fell on my lap,

20:37

and so many different Trailblazers in our ecosystem

20:40

have that same story, where they kind of accidentally fell

20:43

into it, and then they're so thankful,

20:46

like, oh my gosh, I cannot believe I fell

20:47

into this amazing opportunity,

20:49

and what we wanna do is we want to make that less

20:52

accidental, we want this to be a opportunity

20:54

that people can choose the path, pursue, and go after it.

20:58

And our team is working on really creating those pathways,

21:02

whether that is free learning through Trailhead,

21:05

or joining our community, through mentorship,

21:08

so finding those pathways for anybody

21:10

to become part of the Salesforce ecosystem

21:13

and find that success and change their lives

21:15

and change their careers.

21:17

This is what we're really all about,

21:18

like we want to empower more people

21:20

to have success with Salesforce.

21:23

You know, we have so many great stories of Trailblazers,

21:26

like you probably heard the stories of folks like Zach Otero,

21:30

who went from factory worker to analytics admin,

21:33

or Tony Nguyen is one of my favorite Trailblazer stories.

21:36

He's a new Trailblazer, he worked at a sandwich shop,

21:40

he lost his job during the pandemic,

21:42

he found Trailhead in our community,

21:45

and he learned Salesforce,

21:46

and now he's an admin and earned an amazing salary,

21:49

and he just completely turns his life around,

21:51

and we want more people to be like the Zach Otero's

21:55

and the Tony Nguyen's of the world,

21:56

and to see that success with Salesforce.

21:59

>> A really quick shout out to Tony,

22:01

I just saw actually that he passed

22:03

his service cloud consultant service chat.

22:06

So, yeah, so I just want to say a huge shout out

22:10

to Tony, congratulations, and that's pretty awesome.

22:14

So, you know, Chris, we talk about the Trailblazers

22:16

being the change makers, you know,

22:18

especially in the Salesforce ecosystem.

22:20

I'm curious as to how do you think,

22:23

what role does the Trailblazer community play

22:26

in the larger part of the Ohana?

22:28

>> You've probably heard the IDC stats

22:31

of 9.3 million jobs being created

22:33

in the Salesforce ecosystem by 2026,

22:36

and these jobs are being built and created

22:38

because of Trailblazers,

22:39

and they're being built and created

22:41

because of folks like you, Dan,

22:42

like I look at qualified.

22:45

Qualified is an amazing Trailblazer

22:47

in the Salesforce ecosystem built on Salesforce,

22:50

and it's just you look at the success

22:53

that qualified has had,

22:55

and you are growing, you are hiring people,

22:57

you are creating more jobs

22:58

in the Salesforce ecosystem,

23:00

and that is what we want more of.

23:02

Like those are Trailblazers that we want more of

23:05

that are really, you know,

23:06

not only building their own careers on the Salesforce ecosystem,

23:10

but creating that opportunity for other people,

23:13

creating jobs for other people.

23:14

That is like the true Trailblazer factor and scale

23:18

that gets us really excited,

23:20

like that scale and that multiplier effect

23:23

in the Salesforce ecosystem.

23:25

>> Awesome.

23:28

So Chris, let's get back to your role.

23:31

What's next for you and your role,

23:32

and how are you shaping the future?

23:34

>> Well, what's next?

23:36

So top of mind for me right now is our TDX conference,

23:41

which is our Salesforce developer conference.

23:44

So we're bringing it back this year.

23:46

So our team runs and leads this event,

23:49

and I could not be more excited about

23:51

what we're doing with it this year.

23:53

So we are making it bigger,

23:55

making it better than ever.

23:56

We're bringing it back in person,

23:58

so it'll be in person and online.

24:01

And we are really elevating TDX

24:04

to be for all Salesforce developers,

24:07

who are all of the ecosystem.

24:09

You know, traditionally TDX has been

24:11

for core Salesforce developers.

24:13

This year we are opening up and making it

24:16

for Black developers, for MuleSoft developers,

24:20

for Tableau developers,

24:21

for every single developer in the Salesforce ecosystem,

24:24

because there is so much innovation

24:27

and so much to learn in the Salesforce ecosystem

24:29

that we really wanted to make this one Salesforce DevCon.

24:34

So we're elevating it,

24:35

we're actually changing the name this year,

24:36

we're calling it TrailblazerDx,

24:38

'cause we really want to focus around that identity

24:41

and that persona and the people.

24:43

And so we are rebranding, we're elevating it,

24:46

and we're making it for all developers

24:48

in the Salesforce ecosystem.

24:49

That's what we're working on right now,

24:50

and we're very excited.

24:51

We just got to save the date out today,

24:53

so we are pumped.

24:55

- And when is the Save the Date?

24:58

- So TDX will happen in San Francisco

25:00

on April 27th and 28th.

25:04

So, mark it in your calendar, it's gonna be great.

25:07

- Well, I can't wait to be there either.

25:09

- You will be there.

25:10

- Yeah. - Yes.

25:12

All right, let's get into our final segment,

25:15

the future forecast.

25:17

Chris, what do you envision as the future

25:20

of the Salesforce ecosystem?

25:21

- You know, the Salesforce ecosystem, I think is...

25:25

Number one, I think there's just such incredible opportunity

25:29

in the Salesforce ecosystem.

25:30

When you become part of this ecosystem,

25:32

you are part of this lifelong movement,

25:36

and there is so much opportunity.

25:39

Salesforce is constantly evolving,

25:42

we're constantly innovating,

25:43

and there's always new things to learn.

25:46

So this is an ecosystem that you can join,

25:49

and you can grow with for your entire career.

25:52

We have admins and developers,

25:54

and people in sales and service

25:57

who have been using Salesforce

25:59

and been in the ecosystem for over 20 years,

26:02

and that is amazing,

26:03

they built their careers on Salesforce.

26:05

And I just think what's exciting for me is just,

26:08

that is the future.

26:09

Like it is going to continually evolve,

26:12

continually innovate,

26:13

you know, we acquired Slack last year.

26:16

That is a whole new set of skills

26:19

for those in the Salesforce ecosystem to learn,

26:21

and I'm sure there'll be future acquisitions

26:24

in the future where there's more new skills to learn,

26:28

and it's just, it is an ecosystem

26:29

that you can always grow and evolve with,

26:32

and you can be part of for your entire career.

26:34

And that's what I'm most excited about.

26:37

And we've spoken a lot about the Trailblazer community.

26:40

How do you see that evolving in the future?

26:42

Is there maybe a platinum hoodie that is coming out,

26:45

like any spoiler alerts for the Trailblazer community?

26:48

Um, no, no plat, no plat, platinum hoodie

26:53

that we're planning right now.

26:55

I think gold is kind of where it's at, Dan.

26:57

I know you've got, you've got the gold hoodie.

26:59

Um, you know, we just, I think there,

27:03

as we continue to grow and evolve the community,

27:06

there's more focus on more personas.

27:08

I think we've done a really great job

27:10

at, you know, creating some great community around,

27:13

around admins and developers and marketers.

27:16

And I think the future is really building up more

27:19

of our, of our personas or key personas,

27:22

like bigger community for sales and service and IT.

27:26

I think that is really the future for us is just,

27:29

you know, that magic that we've seen,

27:32

bringing that Trailblazer magic to all of our personas

27:34

and having everyone have that home and that community.

27:39

And just really adding more fuel to that

27:41

is the future for the community as I see it.

27:44

You brought up personas, which, you know,

27:46

we didn't even touch upon here.

27:48

And, you know, I, you know, I actually brought Ruth here

27:51

and people don't understand, you know,

27:53

they think it's crazy.

27:54

Oh, Salesforce is just making a lot of mascots.

27:57

But I want you to explain, you know,

28:00

what are these mascots?

28:02

And, you know, I mean, for example, who's Ruth?

28:05

Yeah.

28:06

And I have, so I have some friends back here.

28:07

If you can see, I have, see, I have Cody

28:10

and I have Cloudy over here.

28:13

And I have, oh, I have Ruth as well and Astro

28:15

and Max the Mule.

28:18

And, you know, I think people see these and they're like,

28:20

okay, so they're fun.

28:22

But there is, there's so much more to our characters

28:25

than that.

28:25

Our characters really embody the values,

28:29

not only of Salesforce,

28:30

but they embody the values of our community.

28:33

And they all stand for something.

28:34

You just held up Ruth.

28:36

Ruth stands for our Salesforce Architect.

28:40

And we have Cody.

28:41

Cody codes.

28:42

Cody stands for our developers.

28:44

We've, yes, we have Cody there.

28:47

We have Cloudy who is,

28:49

Cloudy the goat stands for our Salesforce admin.

28:51

So all of these characters mean something

28:53

and they really embody and they reflect our community.

28:59

And you'll notice we have, you know, there's,

29:02

there's male characters, there's female characters,

29:04

there's gender non-binary characters

29:06

because they really reflect the incredible diversity

29:09

that we see in our community.

29:10

And we want our community to see themselves

29:12

in those characters.

29:14

And that's really, that's really kind of the thought

29:16

behind the characters and what they really need

29:18

to our community.

29:19

And it's been incredible seeing the community embrace

29:22

the characters, you know,

29:23

people have gotten Astro tattoos.

29:26

We see people making their kids birthday cakes

29:29

with the characters on them.

29:30

It is incredible to see how the community

29:32

has just embraced the characters

29:34

and really made them their own

29:36

and really see themselves in the characters.

29:39

- Now moving back into the segment of the future forecast,

29:42

can you give us a prediction of where you see

29:45

the tech industry and the CRM industry

29:47

as a whole headed in the future?

29:49

- You know, a trend of course that we've all been seeing

29:53

in the last two years is like,

29:55

everything has gone digital first.

29:57

And that was just, you know, the pandemic forced us.

30:00

Everyone was kind of slowly moving there,

30:02

but then two years ago overnight,

30:04

we all had to go digital first.

30:06

And I think that's really where everything is going,

30:09

is thinking digital first

30:11

and every single thing that you do.

30:13

And when I think about that, you know,

30:15

I think about trailblazers and the people

30:17

that help us get there,

30:18

help us all of our companies,

30:20

all of our customers become digital first.

30:23

And, you know, it's learning these skills,

30:24

whether that is learning how to digitize processes,

30:29

learning how to set up AI,

30:30

learning how to build e-commerce platforms

30:33

or learning how to build chatbots

30:34

to do customer service.

30:35

These are all the skills of the future.

30:38

And that is where CRM is headed.

30:40

And, you know, when we think about the future of CRM

30:42

and trailblazers and their role in that,

30:45

it is learning those skills.

30:47

And we teach those skills for free.

30:50

Like we have trail pad where anybody can learn these skills

30:53

and anybody can learn those digital first skills

30:56

and get one of those jobs of the future.

30:58

That is where I really see everything going.

31:02

I see CRM going there and I see trailblazers

31:04

being the ones who are leading us there

31:06

and having those skills to take,

31:08

take our customers, take the companies using Salesforce

31:11

into the future.

31:12

>> And what does the future of Salesforce look like?

31:15

>> We have Salesforce just growing like crazy.

31:17

And I mentioned, I mentioned the sad of 9.3 million jobs

31:22

created in the ecosystem by 2026.

31:24

And I think that, I mean, that is absolutely phenomenal.

31:29

If you just think about that economic growth

31:32

that Salesforce is creating as part of our ecosystem.

31:36

And this is, you know, this is not just Salesforce jobs.

31:39

This is jobs at partners like qualified.

31:41

These are jobs that trailblazers are creating.

31:44

And that's, I mean, I think that opportunity

31:47

is the biggest opportunity that we have.

31:50

And the Salesforce ecosystem is just creating

31:52

this whole new economy that people can be a part of

31:54

and can literally change people's lives.

31:57

They can give them a new career,

31:58

it can help them create generational wealth.

32:00

They can really change their lives for themselves

32:03

and for their families.

32:05

That's, I think, where the future is.

32:07

And then it gets me really excited.

32:09

>> So last question.

32:10

Any advice for an aspiring marketing leader of community?

32:14

>> I would say my advice is,

32:16

this is a lesson that I learned along the way,

32:19

but is always thinking audience first.

32:22

Always thinking what your audience needs,

32:26

what they want and what they're saying.

32:27

And listen to them.

32:29

You need to listen to your community.

32:31

You need to follow where they're going.

32:33

You need to follow their lead and do not go against them

32:37

because you're not going to go anywhere.

32:39

And so just like sailing, follow the wind, follow the waves,

32:42

follow your community and listen to them.

32:44

And that is going to be how you're going to get

32:46

to the right place faster.

32:48

And that's been one of the lessons that I've learned.

32:50

It's just the importance of putting your audience first,

32:54

listening to them and putting their needs first.

32:57

>> I love that advice.

32:58

Thank you for sharing that.

33:00

Chris, this has been so much fun.

33:02

I mean, before I let you go,

33:04

let the listeners know where they can find you.

33:05

And if there's anything else,

33:07

is there anything else you'd like to share

33:09

or plug with the community?

33:10

>> Sure, yeah.

33:11

So first of all, anyone who isn't part

33:14

of the Treblezer community can join

33:16

at Treblezer.salesforce.com,

33:18

become part of this amazing community

33:20

that we're talking about, part of the Ohana,

33:23

which is what this talk is all about.

33:25

And of course, I'm happy to help you along the way

33:28

you can find me at Twitter @ChrisLandy.

33:31

That's K-R-I-S-L-A-N-D-E.

33:34

And I love hearing people's stories

33:36

of how they are succeeding in the Salesforce ecosystem

33:40

and succeeding at the Treblezer.

33:42

So please share your story with me.

33:44

I love hearing them.

33:46

And I can't wait to hear from you.

33:48

>> Thank you so much, Chris.

33:51

>> Thank you.

33:52

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33:54

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33:57

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34:02

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34:12

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