The first part of this week has been dedicated to a company sales conference. It’s really been for my USA colleagues but for some reason I got invited along and I’m glad I was.

I’ve learned loads of stuff about our business, what products and services are available in other parts of this now huge group (we’re a $200 million company these days) and I’ve taken away some ideas for stuff we can do in the UK – that’s really cool in itself. I’ve also learned a great deal about my colleagues, both new and old. Interestingly I once said of my new boss ‘probably the same as the old boss’ and I’ve been proven wrong about that. This is definitely not the same culture or style we had a couple of years ago. I’m not saying that old was bad and new is good, simply that it’s refreshing to have a new style and I’m feeling very fired up with enthusiasm at the moment so I suspect the company probably has achieved one of its objectives for the week. It’s a corporate cliché to say that teams that love each other – all the members - do best but I’ve seen it to be true.

Another thing has struck me in the last two days. I am VALUED by the company I work for. That’s something often said by ‘managers’ – ‘we value our staff’ but in my view, it’s not something that’s routinely practiced. In this case, I really genuinely believe it to be true. My opinion counts. I have been quoted today by my boss’s boss in the meeting and I reckon that doesn’t happen if my opinion isn’t worth something. I feel doubly good about that. So I’m fired up with all sorts of enthusiasm tonight.

America still is almost entirely something I’ve not seen. I’ve not even been outside today – the conference started at 8am and has gone on until 6.30pm and a quick shower before dinner is all the time I’ve had. I’ve been out now and been to a restaurant in Princeton.

Tonight I’ve learned a lot of things. America has some beautiful places. I know, I’ve been to one of them! I’ve been to a restaurant that had nothing veggie in its menu but the staff were really accommodating and helpful and they made me a wonderful meal. Oh and it was a beautiful setting.

I’ve had a few deep conversations with folks I work with and they’ve been trying (harrowing even). My boss was in NYC on 9/11 and she saw it all happening. She was close to tears as she related to me that her company (she worked for one of our competitors then) had an office that was on floor 50 of one of the twin towers. She herself was based a few hundred yards away in another building.The only member of her team to be killed was a lady who’d gone to a training course on the 80th floor that morning. I didn’t know what to say. She was biting back tears recounting her own experience of the day. She was very brave. That’s the human spirit in evidence absolutely. I saw the world through her eyes for a few moments and it wasn’t pretty.

One of the members of my own team based in Epsom has been in tears because her life is a mess. I’ve tried to support her but at the end of the day, only she can move herself from her dark place. I just hope she can do it sooner rather than later.

All-in-all, it’s the same things that make us tick, to love and be loved. Surely we all deserve that and surely if we do that people won’t want to kill themselves and others. I hope so.

This photo is the entrance way to my hotel. It’s magically beautiful. I love it. The photo has the new moon in the background – regeneration and new hope looms for all of us.

Having had another look at this photo I know DM will hate its very wonky horizon - sorry!