Dan Darcy & Jane Hynes 21 min

The Value of Staying Creatively Relevant


In this episode, Jane Hynes, VP, Communications, Google Cloud, shares captivating behind-the-scenes stories from her successful tenure at Salesforce that emphasize the significance of creative problem-solving and product comprehension



0:00

(upbeat music)

0:02

- Welcome to Inside the O'Hanna.

0:07

I'm Dan Darcy, Chief Customer Officer at Qualified.

0:10

And today I'm joined by a great friend of mine,

0:12

Jane Hines.

0:13

Jane, how you doing?

0:14

- I'm awesome, Dan.

0:15

Thank you.

0:16

- Well, I'm excited about today's episode

0:18

because of just the history we have together.

0:21

So I wanna dive right into our first segment,

0:23

O'Hanna Origins.

0:25

So Jane, how did you discover Salesforce

0:27

and start your journey?

0:28

- Oh, I actually went to the Salesforce launch party

0:33

back when the company first started.

0:35

I was a plus one for a friend who worked at their PR agency

0:40

and I basically went for the free dinner and the free music.

0:44

- And so what year was that?

0:47

Obviously, 1999?

0:49

- That was the party we party'd like it was 1999.

0:52

- I mean, that's awesome.

0:55

- Well, I mean, and how did you come to be at Salesforce?

0:59

- Yes, so that is a different story.

1:02

I actually started working for a PR agency

1:05

and Salesforce was one of their clients

1:07

and I was working on a lot of their consumer accounts.

1:10

And then there was this enterprise software company

1:14

that decided that they wanted to launch a foundation.

1:17

And I had nonprofit experience.

1:19

So they said, "Hey, Jane, why don't you go

1:21

"launch the Salesforce Foundation

1:22

"and kind of be the PR person for it?"

1:25

I ended up getting along with the team super, super well.

1:28

And they're like, "Hey, why don't you kind of come

1:31

"do some enterprise software stuff?"

1:33

And the rest is kind of history.

1:35

I think I started doing all the product PR

1:38

and then kind of was the agency account lead.

1:42

And then when I kind of started getting itchy

1:45

to take an in-house job, Salesforce basically said,

1:49

"You're gonna come work for us now."

1:52

- That's awesome.

1:52

I mean, obviously they just saw a great talent

1:55

and they wanted it.

1:56

But tell me a little bit more about the details.

1:58

Like what was the title, your job?

2:01

What time, how big was Salesforce at the time?

2:04

- Oh, let's see.

2:06

I think my title was Senior Manager of PR.

2:09

I was the one and only communications person at the company.

2:13

I think officially my badge number was like 420 something.

2:21

But at the time there had already been some turnover.

2:24

So I think the company was about 250 people.

2:27

And Frank still had his tequila parties on Fridays

2:33

to celebrate the customer wins of the week.

2:37

- Yeah, and you're talking about Frank Van Veen

2:39

and Doll that had a sales.

2:40

Just obviously for the listeners out there.

2:43

And when you joined, what was your initial impression

2:46

of Salesforce?

2:47

- I mean, I'd had three years experience working

2:49

with Salesforce on the agency side.

2:51

So I really already knew the company super well.

2:55

I had helped launch early products, the foundation.

3:01

I'd even had exposure working with Mark

3:04

and understood what a creative person he was.

3:09

And so it really felt like home to me immediately.

3:14

- One thing I just even missed to even ask you before

3:17

is how was the launch party?

3:19

I mean, tell me a little bit about anything crazy

3:24

that Salesforce does events pretty well.

3:27

Was that launch party just as fun?

3:29

- It was pretty epic.

3:31

It was like in this three-story building

3:33

and each story had a different theme and different music.

3:38

And there was the B-52s on one floor

3:40

and then I'm blanking the name

3:42

but like a beautiful jazz singer up on the top floor.

3:45

And I think I was there for a good four or five hours.

3:50

- That's great.

3:51

Well, a success, obviously.

3:53

And that obviously led you to Salesforce.

3:55

Now you've had a long, obviously storied career.

3:58

What would you say is some of the biggest successes

4:01

you've had while working with Salesforce

4:03

or something that you're really proud of?

4:05

- You know, I feel like I really grew up at Salesforce.

4:09

When I joined, as I said, I was kind of the one

4:11

and only person and I was really fortunate

4:15

that I had managers and leaders that saw my potential

4:18

and were willing to invest in me.

4:21

I got the opportunity to move abroad

4:24

and I spent a year building up

4:25

our communications operations around the world.

4:29

I got the opportunity to come back

4:31

and really kind of scale our operations and build a team.

4:35

And I'm just so proud of the people

4:40

that I was able to hire there

4:42

and the amazing careers that they've gone on to.

4:46

For me, it's all about kind of the people

4:48

at the center of it.

4:49

- I love that.

4:50

And that's candidly what kept me there for so long.

4:53

And I think, you know, part of a lot of the great friendships,

4:56

you know, I still have to this day

4:58

is because of Salesforce.

4:59

So I couldn't be more grateful.

5:01

But you know, when you came in-house

5:04

and you know, you first started at Salesforce

5:07

and I'm sure there's a lot of lessons that you learned there.

5:10

But if you could go back to yourself

5:12

and talk to yourself beginning at Salesforce,

5:14

what advice would you give you to yourself?

5:17

- You know, I think Mark set a really strong foundation

5:20

from the beginning that the best validation

5:24

that you could possibly have

5:26

for your company, your product, your business

5:28

is your customers and that everything that we did

5:32

from a marketing and communications perspective

5:35

centered around our customers.

5:36

And so that was a huge lesson that I learned early on

5:40

and that I've been able to carry with me.

5:42

You know, I think advice for myself,

5:46

I think sometimes don't take everything so seriously.

5:51

You know, it's software, you know, it's not the,

5:55

it's not an emergency room.

5:58

I used to joke with my team that like, you know,

5:59

no unicorns died or, you know, were harmed, you know,

6:02

this week, so we're fine.

6:05

And, but when you're in it and you're building something

6:09

and it can really become all consuming.

6:13

So making sure that you maintain the right balance.

6:17

- I mean, I love that or, you know, and setting boundaries.

6:20

I think back to that, you know, I'm obviously currently

6:23

still at a startup again.

6:25

And, you know, Salesforce felt like a startup

6:28

that we were building something bigger

6:29

and it did become really intense.

6:32

And so it was always nice to have those reminders of,

6:36

you know, just, hey, like, let's check ourselves

6:40

and let's take a look at what we're trying

6:42

to accomplish and do.

6:44

So now, how would you describe the Ohana

6:47

and what does it mean to you?

6:49

- I mean, for me, I think the Ohana was,

6:52

it really was kind of the center of the culture

6:56

and, you know, treating your colleagues

7:00

as you would your family.

7:02

And, you know, building those trusted relationships

7:07

that, you know, kind of got you through the harder times,

7:10

but also like really enjoying yourself

7:12

and enjoying the people that you surround yourself with.

7:16

We all spend way more than 40 hours a week at work,

7:19

which is probably more than the waking hours

7:21

we spend with our significant others

7:24

and children and pets and things at home.

7:27

So, you know, it really, it made it enjoyable to,

7:32

like you said earlier, you know,

7:33

build lifelong friendships at a place where you were,

7:38

you know, busy and stressed and, you know,

7:41

building other things as well for the company,

7:44

but the relationships really were so special.

7:47

- So Jane, are there any special stories or Ohana moments

7:50

that are a little behind the scenes that you'd like to share?

7:52

- Oh, absolutely.

7:54

Let's see, I think a really fun one was, you know,

7:58

we kind of became strange bedfellows with Oracle

8:02

and had, you know, signed up to be part of their user conference.

8:07

And at the last minute, they changed Mark's keynote time

8:12

and, you know, it was a time they knew he couldn't be there.

8:15

And so effectively canceled it.

8:18

And we kind of were trying to decide,

8:21

what do we do with this?

8:22

And how do we turn this into, you know, a moment for us?

8:27

And I had, I had actually already had a restaurant

8:32

across the street from the venue reserved.

8:36

And I was, you know, being a little bit sneaky

8:39

and hosting a little media lunch for the reporters

8:42

that were in town for their event.

8:45

And, you know, as we kind of started brainstorming,

8:48

what are the options and what are the different things

8:50

we could do?

8:51

And, you know, I have this venue,

8:53

we could do something different there.

8:54

It doesn't have to be a media lunch.

8:56

And that's when, you know, kind of all the marketing leadership

8:59

came together and we started tossing out ideas.

9:03

And we ended up posting Mark's keynote

9:06

in this little restaurant and packing as many people in

9:09

as we could.

9:10

And we had a line around the block

9:12

and there were people handing out donuts.

9:15

And it was absolutely hilarious.

9:17

But it, you know, it taught me the power of being creative

9:22

and collaborating with other people and, you know,

9:26

and having, and being able to make a real impact

9:29

in, at the same time, because, you know,

9:32

that's something that most people wouldn't do.

9:34

So that was, that's a good one, I think.

9:37

- I mean, that was a great one because, you know,

9:40

I think, when I think about Salesforce and I look back,

9:43

I mean, you were at the center of a lot of it

9:46

because of, in a sense, there were publicity, you know,

9:50

moments for us in terms of turning it around

9:54

and making the story about Salesforce,

9:56

which I think was an incredible feat.

9:59

And yeah, I still remember that where we picketed outside

10:02

that the cloud must go on outside of that restaurant.

10:06

And we were on the news, local news,

10:09

which I thought was such a great time.

10:11

But yeah, that's a great O'Hara moment.

10:14

- And Dan, I actually have another one

10:16

that you've now prompted a memory.

10:19

So after we had acquired a company called ExactTarget,

10:24

they were based in Indiana,

10:26

and we suddenly had this huge employee base in Indiana.

10:29

You know, shortly after that, there was a bathroom bill

10:35

that came up in Indiana where they wouldn't let, you know,

10:39

folks that weren't born a certain gender

10:42

use an alternate bathroom.

10:44

And it became a little bit of a, you know,

10:49

internal conversation.

10:51

And, you know, I think, you know,

10:54

Mark as a kind of, you know, stakeholder leader,

10:58

really leaned in and took an aggressive stance against it.

11:03

And, you know, we put a small tiger team together

11:07

across communications and legal policy.

11:11

We had people on the ground in Indiana,

11:13

a group of us in San Francisco.

11:15

And within a two week period, I think it was,

11:19

we actually managed to get a law changed.

11:22

And, you know, one of the other big lessons I learned

11:26

is that, you know, business does have an opportunity

11:30

to be a voice and that--

11:34

- And be a platform for good.

11:36

- Yeah. - Yeah.

11:37

And you want to put your business and yourself

11:40

on the right side of history.

11:42

And those two things don't have to be in conflict.

11:45

- I mean, that story gives me chills too,

11:48

just 'cause I remember, you know, Mark was plain and simple.

11:53

He's like, they're discriminating against my employees.

11:56

And that's where I want to stand up for my employees

11:58

who don't have the voice.

11:59

So I thought that was, that's a great moment.

12:02

Now, in terms of Dreamforce,

12:03

we've got Dreamforce coming up in September.

12:06

Which one, what year would you say

12:08

is one of your favorite Dreamforces and why?

12:11

- Okay, well, my favorite Dreamforce is the one

12:14

that I didn't attend because I just had a baby.

12:17

So unfortunately, I have to take that one.

12:20

Let's see. - Yes, of course.

12:21

- My favorite Dreamforce,

12:22

from a music perspective, Bruno Mars at City Hall.

12:30

That was a highlight.

12:31

My team had an amazing dance party.

12:33

I loved that Dreamforce became bigger

12:36

than a technology user conference.

12:39

It became an important place to have conversations

12:42

around what was happening in the technology industry

12:44

overall and what was happening more broadly.

12:48

I loved, I thought it was just so special the year

12:53

that we leaned in on, you know,

12:56

on women's equality and equal rights.

12:59

And we had Women's Day for the first time.

13:01

Of course, Leila and Molly loved that initiative.

13:05

And that was just amazing to be a part of.

13:08

And I think that Salesforce was really at the forefront

13:11

of doing so much of those sorts of things.

13:15

- Our lives revolved around that event

13:17

for many, many years.

13:19

- Oh yes, my husband still jokes that he doesn't miss

13:22

not being a Dreamforce widow.

13:24

'Cause I would just kind of evaporate

13:25

for three weeks every year.

13:27

- Yeah, exactly.

13:29

All right, well, let's get into our next segment,

13:31

What's Cooking?

13:32

So Jane, you're now the VP of Communications

13:34

at Google Cloud.

13:35

I want you to talk about how you got to where you are now

13:38

and what your journey's been like.

13:39

- I talked a little bit about my journey at Salesforce.

13:42

You know, when I started,

13:43

I was kind of the one and only PR person.

13:46

When I left, I had this amazing team of amazing people

13:50

and I kind of felt like I had,

13:51

I've done what I could do there

13:53

and I wanted to do it again someplace else.

13:56

Google Cloud presented the perfect opportunity for that.

13:59

You know, it was a startup within a,

14:03

you know, super well established company,

14:06

but operated independently enough

14:09

that, you know, I felt like it was a great mix

14:12

of my skills around technology and, you know,

14:16

kind of my ability to kind of keep things creative

14:18

and interesting.

14:20

And I also love building teams.

14:22

That's where I get my energy from.

14:24

And, you know, working with, you know,

14:28

in the early days to think about, you know,

14:30

product positioning and, you know,

14:32

how do we kind of get through the next milestones?

14:36

And then, you know, hiring an amazing group of people

14:40

that make it all work and come to life every day.

14:43

- I love that.

14:44

I love that.

14:45

Well, what challenges are you seeing now?

14:47

And like, how are you applying what you learned

14:49

at Salesforce to those challenges?

14:51

- You know, I am really excited about all the opportunities

14:56

ahead for Google Cloud.

14:58

You know, we've done some amazing things

15:01

on the security front and, you know,

15:03

adding a company called Mandian that we acquired last year

15:07

has just, you know, supercharged our ability

15:09

to think about not just products,

15:11

but also what are the services that companies need

15:14

to secure their, you know, to secure their technology.

15:17

You know, I think in this age of AI,

15:21

you look across kind of the full spectrum

15:24

from data to databases to analytics to AI.

15:27

And there's huge opportunity there as well.

15:31

And, you know, and obviously some of the, you know,

15:35

some of the lesser known parts of Google Cloud,

15:38

some people don't realize that workspace

15:40

is part of Google Cloud.

15:41

And that's all of your Gmail and your docs

15:44

and your sheets and your presentations

15:46

and all that fun stuff.

15:48

And I think, you know, the opportunity of AI

15:50

has so much power to really, you know,

15:55

allow us to reinvent how people think

15:57

about collaboration and communication.

16:01

So that's what I'm super excited about doing

16:04

over the next couple of years.

16:06

- I mean, that's all I live in all day every day

16:09

is Google Workspaces.

16:10

I mean, I think it's obviously,

16:12

I think I'm so many people, especially in our world.

16:15

Google is just a part of their lives and it's pretty awesome.

16:19

All right, so let's get into our final segment,

16:20

The Future Forecast.

16:22

Jay, what do you envision as the future

16:24

of the Salesforce ecosystem?

16:26

And I think you have a really good point of view

16:27

because, you know, obviously have been at Google now,

16:30

you kind of are looking back at Salesforce

16:32

and the ecosystem in a different way.

16:34

So what do you envision would be the future

16:36

of the ecosystem?

16:38

- Salesforce was really at the forefront of Cloud.

16:41

And we also saw them jump into be early in mobile

16:46

and early in social.

16:47

And I think, you know, now you see them, you know,

16:51

really wrapping their arms around AI.

16:54

And so I think, you know, when you think about all the things

16:57

that AI can automate in that customer process,

17:00

there's so much opportunity there

17:02

and that, you know, extends to the partner community.

17:06

I have ultimate faith in Salesforce

17:08

that, you know, they continue to innovate

17:12

and they continue to think about how, you know,

17:15

how they can continue to surround the customer,

17:18

to make the customer experience even better.

17:21

And, you know, I've got high hopes for them.

17:25

- I mean, candidly, I think I said,

17:29

when everything was going down and I'm like,

17:30

you don't ever bet against Mark.

17:32

And, you know, and they definitely are

17:35

on a great trajectory to great things.

17:38

So what advice do you have for aspiring marketing

17:43

and communication leaders?

17:44

- A couple of things.

17:45

So number one, don't get stuck

17:50

in kind of what you do every day.

17:54

Take risks, think about how you can bring creativity to it.

17:59

Make yourself interesting and differentiate yourself.

18:04

I think also when you're operating

18:07

in an enterprise environment,

18:09

it's so important to get really close to the products.

18:13

Use them, know them.

18:15

I remember, I think it was my second manager at Salesforce.

18:19

You know, when we first launched the platform,

18:21

literally locked me in a conference room

18:23

while he didn't lock the door,

18:24

but made me go build an app.

18:27

You know, get hands on with the technology.

18:29

So you really understand it.

18:32

And I think also as Salesforce grew

18:35

and become a publicly traded company,

18:37

it's also so incredibly important to know the business.

18:42

Know who's buying what,

18:43

know what the opportunity is for your different products.

18:47

How are they being sold?

18:49

Who's buying which products,

18:50

with other products?

18:52

Understand, you know, how the sales,

18:54

what is the feedback that you're getting from customers?

18:57

And the closer you are to the business and to the products,

19:02

the better, you know, marketing or comms

19:04

professional you're gonna be.

19:05

- Well said, and that is definitely advice

19:08

that I have taken to heart too.

19:10

I mean, if you don't know the product,

19:12

how can you do anything about it?

19:13

So that's awesome advice.

19:15

Now, before letting you go,

19:17

I wanna have fun with a quick lightning round

19:20

and have some fun questions, you ready?

19:22

- Free it on.

19:23

- What's your secret skill that is not on the resume?

19:25

- Oh, I've been told it's getting shit done.

19:30

I have an immense capacity to just get shit done.

19:34

- That's awesome, that's awesome.

19:35

Well, what's your best way to spend an evening after work?

19:38

- Let's see, cooking dinner with my husband

19:43

and then playing games with my daughter.

19:44

- Oh, that's awesome.

19:46

Favorite brand of anything?

19:48

- I really like skinned suiticles.

19:51

They have a lovely C serum that I thank for my fabulous skin.

19:56

- I mean, you look like you're 25 years old,

20:02

so it's great to see you again, Jane.

20:04

All right, and you just won front row seat tickets

20:06

to your dream event, what is it?

20:08

- Taylor Swift.

20:11

- Yeah, duh.

20:13

- I mean, of course, I mean, that's everyone's answer

20:16

to that question, so I can't wait for the reviews

20:21

of the ARIS concert with you.

20:24

Now, Jane, this has been so much fun.

20:26

Before I let you go, I want you to let the listeners know

20:28

where they can find you and if there's anything else

20:30

you'd like to plug or share with today, please let us know.

20:35

- Absolutely, well, you can always find me on LinkedIn.

20:39

And if you're looking for something to do

20:43

in the weeks before Dreamforce, we do have Google Cloud Next

20:46

that is going to be at Moscone Center in San Francisco

20:50

on August 29th to the 31st, so come join us.

20:54

- Google Next, August 29th to the 31st, that's awesome.

20:56

Well, thanks, Jane, for joining me today.

20:58

I had so much fun and really appreciate you being here.

21:02

- Awesome, thanks so much, Dan.

21:04

(upbeat music)

21:07

(upbeat music)

21:09

(upbeat music)

21:12

(upbeat music)

21:14

(upbeat music)

21:17

(upbeat music)

21:20

(upbeat music)

21:22

(upbeat music)

21:25

(upbeat music)

21:27

(upbeat music)

21:30

(upbeat music)