Hi friends,
I was reflecting earlier today on how amazing 2024 has been! Lots of ups and downs but overall this year will go into the history books as a pivotal one.
My 2024 recap:
Launched and grew Salley Sessions - our monthly leadership growth workshops.
Had leaders from UBS, mParticle, Mastercard, NYU Langone Health, Google, etc. participate in Salley Sessions.
Started angel investing.
Finally went back home to Ghana, since moving to the U.S. 6 years ago with no contacts.
Assembled a team of researchers, behavioral scientists and engineers for Salley.
Moved to San Francisco for the summer đ
Joined Solaris AI in SF - was a community for some of the best AI startup teams.
Made some amazing new friends and reconnected with old ones.
Built close relationships with some amazing enterprise executives.
Brushed up my piano, singing and guitar skills.
And more Salley related updates to be announced later!
Salley Sessions
In January 2024, I asked a simple question. âWhat if we brought rising managers and executives from some of the best companies together on a monthly basis to help each other navigate some of the key challenges of being a leader?â.
After hosting 12 of these sessions, itâs crazy to think how impactful theyâve been to the participants for far. Weâve had top industry leaders join in person to share their knowledge and experiences. It has been spectacular to see how these have evolved so far! The next one is on January 28th in NYC. Youâre invited.
Top managers and employees from Google, Mastercard, Amex Ventures, Moodyâs, LinkedIn, and many more have benefited from these!
Hereâs a quick summary video we put together a couple of months back:
Salley AI
The workplace as we know it today will look different by 2030. For some, this might be quite scary. However, throughout history, humans have always risen to the occasion in the face of new technological advancements.
Weâre already seeing the automation of job roles that are mostly manual, boring or repetitive, from customer support to sales and even compliance review.
You might be wondering what to do in order to prepare for this new world of work. The answer is to double down on uniquely human traits and abilities that enable work to happen. What some call âsoft skillsâ. These abilities enable us to come together to solve problems, create new things, build new relationships, etc.
At Salley, weâre developing new tools and technologies to facilitate work in a world where uniquely human skills become the critical differentiating factor for businesses to thrive. Weâre starting with project teams. And, weâve made some really good progress so far. Stay tuned!
The Team
âGreat things in business are never done by one person. Theyâre done by a team of people.â - Steve Jobs
We welcomed new team members and collaborators across behavioral science, engineering, operations, etc. They come in with deep experience from some of the best companies and organizations like: Chegg Skills, NASA Ames, BetterUp, U.S. Department of Defense, The Wharton School, York Capital Management, etc.
Iâm usually surprised by what they are able to accomplish in a short period. And thatâs a good thing! One thing that sets them apart is their deep passion for what weâre building together at Salley. Iâm honored that we get to work together on such an important problem.
Excited for an exponential 2025 :)
Wishing you a Happy New Year!
Richard Mensah,
Founder & CEO at Salley
PS: Share this newsletter with someone who might be interested in staying up to date with Salley.