Ciena Rock-n-Roll Marathon Series

I'm so excited to announce our 2016 North America Challenge.   Last year, we rode the back of one team member in his Marathon to the North Pole raising over $35,000 for Habitat for Humanity in conjunction with Hibernia Networks.

This year, we are challenging the entire team to participate by enrolling in any one of the 30+ stops of the Rock n Roll Marathon Series.   As this race offers a 5k/10k/Half-Marathon/Marathon option - everyone can compete in an effort to raise money and awareness for St. Jude's Children's Hospital or a charity of their choice in conjunction with family, friends or co-workers.

Lightower Fiber Networks has agreed to partner with Ciena in this effort - we are excited to have them on board and look forward to working with them.

More to follow!

2015 Race to The North Pole 

Last year Ciena Partnered with Hibernia Networks in a corporate fundraising event aimed to raise money and awareness in North America and Europe for Habitat for Humanity.

While Ciena has had a long-standing relationship with Habitat for Humanity and extends employees a paid day-off from work each year to support this cause (or another of their choosing), this was the first organized fundraising event for Habitat for Humanity.   The event raised over $35,000 for Habitat for Humanity with much of the donations directed towards the donor's local branch.

Candidate nominations (Ciena's North Pole Runner) were received from over 30 individuals who were qualified to take on a 26.2m marathon in some of the most daunting conditions on earth (running on a sheet of crushed snow/ice at temperatures between negative 15 to negative 30 celsius with a windchill pushing negative 50 celsius).   In the articles attached you can learn more about the event and the candidate who successfully completed the race.

It will be hard to top the 2015 Race to the North Pole in 2016, but we will do our best to take a run at it.   We will launch the next campaign at our annual company kickoff in November 2015.   All ideas are welcome!

Some articles covering the event:

• Reuters.com
• Morarns

A few parents "cross-the-line" with respect to how/where they engage their children on social websites.

There are some lines that shouldn't be crossed - where the interaction is no longer one-to-one, but one-to-many and the "many" in this scenario are all of your child's friends.    Even though you can create one-to-one interactions in some of these environments, those one-to-one interactions are taking place in a medium that is more oriented towards friend-to-friend vs. parent-to-child.

Facebook, Snapchat, Vine, and Twitter are off limits for father-to-son/daughter exchanges.  These are universes where your kids exchange with their friends.  It is sacred ground.   Keep your distance.

A link on social media that parents might find valuable:

http://www.webmd.com/parenting/features/social-media-and-tweens-teens

And another that parents might find amusing:
http://thefw.com/parents-using-facebook/

Every Day

• Send them a link to something spiritual/up-lifting.  No response from them required and don’t be disappointed if they don’t reply.  The connection is still effective.   If you send several over a two week span and get no responses you can ask them if they forwarded or liked any of the links.   If you still don’t get them to engage, reduce the cadence to once a month and find another means below.
• Send them a controversial topic ask and ask them what side they are on.   If they engage, do not debate them.  Support their choice, however let them know what side you are on.   If it troubles you what side they select, park it for a month and bring up the discussion while Breaking bread.   Mix in the deeper topics (political, spiritual, human rights, etc) with light topics (Krispy Kreme or Dunkin' Donuts and Why?)
• Find something on YouTube that is educational (news, health, geology) and send them a link.   If they ask questions, engage.  If they don’t, you missed and your done.  Find something more interesting next time!
• Send a selfie along with a humorous text.   LOL or OMG are acceptable responses.    Be careful with the selfie as they “might” send it along to others.
• Buy their favorite ringtone.  Associate it exclusively with your number on their phone.  Call them (and leave them a short message because they won’t answer).  If they happened to pick up, ask them what they are up to and simply tell them you were thinking about them.  Limit the conversation to 30 seconds or less or they WILL NOT pick up again.
• Start a social site and only invite your kids to view.   Post stuff to the site you want all your kids to see.   This is a force multiplier. If you are already on LinkedIn and Facebook there are plenty of others to choose from.   My suggestion?    Google+.   Already using this with others?   MySpace (no one use it).
• Find information on sport/hobby they enjoy and send them a link you think might provide them an insight they may not already know.
• Tell them something special about their mom.   Struggling here?   It can be subtle.   How about “I can’t believe how hard mom works” or “I can’t believe mom has the patience to do all of that homework with you” or “mom’s dinner was the bomb tonight ” or “when do you think mom will make us all do our own laundry”.
• Encourage them.   Again, this can be subtle and not to look to trite you can tie it into a response they might provide you on 1-8 above.   “Your are hilarious”.   “I never thought of that – brilliant!”.   “You look amazing in that picture”.   “You played your tail off – I’m so proud of you”.   “Good luck in your test today – you  deserve an A”.
• Send them an audio recording (five seconds or less).    Can create your own or find one on the web. 

 (AND CLOSE THE GAP ON MOMS!)