Week three of my travelog

I’m sitting at San Diego airport reflecting on my week which has had many ups and downs. Continuing my weekly travel post has proved very therapeutic and allows me to focus on the important things in life. I hope you enjoy this week's installment below:

My week started in a sleepy part of Atlanta, a place called Buford visiting our new strategic partner TSI. My colleague Scott Campbell and I had the pleasure of spending the day with the TSI executive team finalizing our go-to-market strategy and discussing the exciting opportunities we have in front of us in the short and medium-term. This was cemented by a stunning Japanese BBQ dinner allowing us to build personal relationships and get to know each other in a social setting an important part of for me.

Tuesday I went downtown Atlanta and visited our strategic Indoor positioning partner Gozio in Atlanta looking at options for furthering the combined value of our recent integration with their patient experience solution and SafeZone. Healthcare systems that have already deployed Gozio can leverage that infrastructure for workplace safety by combining it with SafeZone for unrivaled safety, security, and emergency management solution.

Wednesday had us visiting with a well-known Corporate that is looking to address a range of challenges, many of which I was pleased to hear as challenges that are consistent with those in the UK and Australia and ones we solve. They included:

• Hybrid working has resulted in more lone workers
• Evacuating a building as a result of hybrid working has left the Safety and Security team with limited resources (first aiders, fire wardens, etc.) that would have normally been in the office that are now working from home.
• Desire to see real-time within a high rise corporate HQ, where staff are in the event of an emergency and support real-time coordination of resources and communication to support evacuations
• Staff safety in buildings, in the community, and at all of the 17 locations across the USA. How to deliver safety and security consistently everywhere?
• Looking at ways to build the brand/value of safety and security as more than a reactive service and add value
• Operating globally, Russia’s invasion has focused minds. Their executive has asked what if we had staff in a location that was impacted, how would we be able to respond and help?

Wednesday afternoon I took a flight to San Diego to support one of my other colleagues who focuses on California.

Up until this point, my week was going really well, however, things were about to change. Upon clearing the airport my phone rang and it was my wife. Our family dog Oscar whom we’d had for 14 years had taken a turn for the worse. Before I departed on my travels we know something wasn’t right and took Oscar to the vets, they took a blood test and quickly diagnosed him with liver failure, he was at stage 1 which they thought would take some time to deteriorate, however in three short weeks he had gone from stage 1 to stage 4. We had to decide, do we allow him to stay at home and deteriorate further or return to the vets and say our goodbyes.

Oscar was my wife’s dog, so she decided with our support to act in the best interests of Oscar and book the dreaded appointment the following day to allow him to go peacefully at the vets. This gave her and my three children one more night to spend time with him and say their personal goodbyes (something I had done before I left, just in case). It was a horrendous 12 hours for them and for me being so far away and not being able to share in their grief. Video calls allowed us to be together online however it highlighted to me the sacrifices we have taken as a family to help support our business growth.

I was very fortunate to have such amazing friends, family, and work colleagues who rallied around them to support. To be honest, I felt completely paralyzed for that period for the first time in my life and broke down into tears.

Thursday morning I awoke to a barrage of messages of support which made me feel much better, which I followed by a call to my wife and children to talk to them. It was the right decision we all agreed. My wife acted like a warrior during this period having to handle this with my three children on her own, something I’m very proud of her (she’s not on LinkedIn, however, I have told her that over the phone).

Post the call I was still feeling pretty down, I had to get myself together I had two big presentations to deliver to the University Chief of Police and their teams. ?The first was an amazing meeting. The Chief said to us at the end of the presentation that he tries to play a poker face post a presentation/discussion to allow himself some time to reflect, however, he felt compelled to tell me that he was so excited about our solution and that SafeZone in his opinion was such a transformative solution with capabilities he and others are seeking. He commented that I needed to return ASAP and present to the entire executive team as SafeZone aligns with his and their vision of safety for staff and students. It felt great to get feedback on our solution that so perfectly aligns with those organizations that have already taken their SafeZone journeys. Existing solutions are just not cutting the mustard, real-time coordination and response alongside empowering your staff and students to get help 24/7 everywhere are required now.

In the afternoon, I meet with another Chief who was a really nice guy, he had tried to deliver a similar capability to SafeZone through purchasing eight different systems most with limited uptake and engagement. I commented that I admired his vision and that he could still fulfill his vision with SafeZone and that he could shut down all those systems and give students and staff one solution and reduce the burden on him and his team. We also reflected that It’s important to remember, that we are all fatigued by app overload. The more services you can deliver in one app that has day today value alongside that of in an emergency is key.

Friday, I awoke to my colleague texting me offering me breakfast and a strategy session to look at his sales strategy for 2022-2023 (1st July onwards) on Pacific Beach, San Diego (cover picture above). What a place and a great opportunity to discuss how we continue to build out our customer base and help those already on their SafeZone journey maximize their usage through collaboration with other universities and healthcare organizations around the world alongside working with our customer success team.

As can be seen lots of highs and a very low point in my week. This week has given me an opportunity to reflect particularly about travel, time away from home, sacrifices we all make, and the importance of family, friends, and work colleagues. When the worst occurs, seeing who steps up to support and who disappears demonstrates those you can depend on. I’m blessed to be surrounded by such amazing people and ultimately to have a fabulous wife and children.

Keeping the theme of mental health and wellbeing on the agenda, I’ve managed 4 days in the gym. Spent time listening to The best of Andrea Bocelli (highly recommend) when traveling and listed to Levison Wood’s Walking the Himalayas a recent recommendation from a colleague. Such a great audible listen – highly recommend it.

Next up for me, is a flight to Reno shortly, meet up with colleagues, build our stand tomorrow ready for the IAHSS National Healthcare Security Conference on Monday and Tuesday, before heading to San Francisco on Wednesday for meetings in Silicon Valley and then flying to Australia on Wednesday evening in preparation for the APAC SafeZone End User Conference on the 23rd and 24th May. I’ve got a lot to look forward to and share with you all next week.

I hope you get something out of my ramblings, it certainly helps me process my week and rationalize the good, the bad, and the ugly. I've been encouraged to start a blog series shortly covering, in detail the different topics I’ve covered with end-users and partners which I've agreed to. Watch this space.

Have a good week all. ?