Back from the Agility CMS Mexico Retreat
A week in Mexico with the Agility CMS team. Strategy resets with the exec team, leadership training with our Senior Managers, dine-arounds with the full crew, and an epic excursion to Tulum, sea turtles, and a cenote.
Just got back from the Agility CMS Mexico retreat! What an amazing opportunity to connect in person with the team. When you work remote, any chance to connect one-on-one with folks is something that needs to be taken full advantage of.
I was happy to have a couple days with the rest of our exec team (Jon Voigt and Jina Zohori) just to reset our goals and priorities, as well as catching up. I'm so proud (and in awe) in particular of Jina. She recently had her fourth child, so she brought him and her husband down. We adjusted our schedule for her to have a bit of time with them. It's great to see how life balance sometimes needs to swing between the work and the personal aspects from time to time.
On Monday evening, our Senior Manager team arrived, with Kristie, Nick, Bryna, Tanvir and Matt all showing up on a shuttle to our gorgeous hotel. Dinner was great, it was the first time with this team on a retreat. I am so impressed by how MUCH this team can absorb and process. All of the great leadership training by our CEO Jon was taken in stride by everyone, and they kept asking for more, to boot!
I have to say, when you're in a different environment, things just FEEL different. It's a whole new perspective, so the kinds of ideas you have, the kinds of things that folks come up with… it's just DIFFERENT. I think that's a good thing.
From Wednesday onwards, we had everyone join us, and as a much bigger group, the whole dynamic shifted a bit. It was a chance for some people to meet each other for the first time in person, including most of our much expanded sales team. I particularly enjoyed our "dine-around" where we sit with folks we don't necessarily know that well and ask each other interesting questions to get to know each other better. It's amazing how a simple question like "do you have any pets?" can set off a round of responses that includes laughter, tears, and everything in between.
Later in the week, we set aside an entire day to do an epic excursion. We visited the ruins at Tulum, a very cool place, with amazing views of the ocean from the cliff tops. We had a great archaeological tour guide to give us the background of the place, and I was particularly inspired by the tales of Cortés and his female concubine who helped him conquer mesoamerica with only 500 men.
We then went to the beach where we swam with sea turtles! We also saw some cool fish, a sting ray, and I caught a fleeting glimpse of "the unicorn of the sea," an eagle ray! Very cool.
Probably the highlight of the whole day was swimming in a cenote, which is an underground river. The water was cool and clear after the hot sun, and the entire atmosphere was kind of unreal.
I'm back home now, but my mind is still reflecting on all the learnings from this great trip. The photos don't do it justice.
Can't wait until next time when we get a chance to connect in person.
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