Friends – a quick favor, if you have a moment.
I just finished up with a speech down here in San Diego for Cisco Live. I haven’t had a lot of opportunity to speak with the IT industry about their impact on skilled labor, so I relished the chance to horrify 5,000 very smart people with the true story of my baptism in the sewers of San Francisco, while reminding them that while there might not be a lot of dirty jobs in IT, there’s a lot of IT in dirty jobs. The message was well-received, and at the end of my remarks, a nice lady named Karen Walker joined me onstage to tell me that Cisco was donating $20,000 to mikeroweWORKS. Specifically, to help us get more kids to Skills USA.
Every year, a lot of kids who qualify for the national finals are unable to attend because it’s so damn expensive to get there. mikeroweWORKS always helps with travel expenses, but there’s never enough to get everyone there who deserves to go. Last month, Stanley Black & Decker sent us $25,000 to bolster our normal contribution, and today, Cisco stepped up as well. But – and here’s the favor – along with the check for $20,000, Cisco agreed contribute an additional dollar for everyone who tweets to @ciscolive#clus – up to an additional $20,000! (Please note the use of the exclamation point. I almost never do that, so you can tell I’m very grateful and excited!)
Honestly, I’m not sure I understand how this benefits Cisco, but I’m not inclined to ask with $20K at stake. So – if you have a moment and feel inclined to help the foundation, get your tweet on. It’s about the easiest way I’ve seen so far to help the cause. @ciscolive #clus.
Thanks,
Mike
PS. I neglected to thank last weeks high bidder for dramatically overpaying for the 5th Made in the USA Bobblehead. The proud owner of the latest Mini-Mike is a gentleman named “Boz,” who ironically, works for Facebook. In fact, he sat behind me last week on a flight to LA, and invited me to call him with any Facebook related questions – (which he will likely live to regret.) But he also rounded up the high bid from $1,800 to $2,000, which was awfully generous. Thanks Boz – I appreciate it.
PPS In other news, Aerosmith still rocks, and Steven Tyler sounds like he did when I first heard him belt out Dream On in 1973. Rock on!
