Business Exec, juggling 5 balls - Work,Family,Health,Friends&Spirit&striving2 keep all of them in the air. Value has value only if its value is valued -Coke CEO
@aishapandor As a country, we owe your mother a debt of gratitude as an examplary leader, truly inspirational. What an amazing tribute to a mother. Kindly convey our appreciation.
Aisha, please pass my regards to the family. Take care.
Grande, Charles Leclerc, winner of the 2024 Formula 1 Monaco Grand Prix! 😭😭😭🙌🙌🙌
Some of you know what a huge Scuderia Ferrari F1 and Charles Leclerc fan I am. He’s a romantically tragic and inspiring story of heartbreak and perseverance. If you’re a hopeless sporting romantic, grab a seat and a tissue, and indulge me by having a read at my little take on sports writing. This is what it means.
/// The Origins of “Il Predestinato”
One of only a few thousand native Monegasques, Charles grew up in a working class family in the Principality of Monaco surrounded by non-native billionaires and professional F1 racers who had adopted it as home. Watching cars zoom across the same streets where he walked to school each year at the Formula 1 Grand Prix through his home town became an intrinsic part of Charles’ passion from the start.
The son of a hairdresser mom and a never-quite-made-it Formula 3 racing driver Father, even as a young karting driver Charles was special. But in a sport where young prodigy karting kids with billionaire families are spending hundreds of thousands of dollars per year as young as age 8 or 9 for race entries, there’s no path forward without money backing you.
Charles’ brothers stopped karting so the family could focus every bit of their effort and finances to giving Charles the chance that his talent deserved. But eventually, the resources simply ran out. It was the end for Charles.
Enter the unlikely story of a young phenom Ferrari prospect, Jules Bianchi, a young driver racing through the junior ranks for the Ferrari Driver Academy, seeing the 8yrs younger Charles racing on karting circuits because of a friendship with Charles’ older brother. Jules immediately saw a “can’t miss” prospect, who had reached the end of his family’s ability to keep him racing.
Jules would have none of the thought that Charles could not keep racing because of money. He intervened, connecting the Leclerc family with the Todt family of legendary former Ferrari team boss Jean Todt, begging Todt and Ferrari to find a path forward for Charles and sign him to a Ferrari Academy contract. They did.
Jules became not only a mentor and career-saver, but also close family friend and Godfather to Charles. As Jules’ career began the ascendancy through a backmarker F1 team towards an almost assured Ferrari Formula 1 seat, he scored his very first points in a dreadful car with a backmarker team at the 2014 Monaco Grand Prix. An incredible achievement.
Micheal Schumacher has written his story, he has set unprecedented records. Lewis Hamilton is writing his story, breaking records established before him, adding others to his name.
But records are meant to be broken. Eventually, someday, someone will come and break Lewis’ records, in the same way Lewis did Michael’s. However, breaking Lewis’ records doesn’t undermine his achievements, just like Lewis breaking Michael’s didn’t undo what MS has achieved.
It’s a real pity that the F1 media has always driven the narrative that someone beating Lewis was him being undone. He’s not. Lewis Hamilton is timeless, just like Schumacher, Senna, Lauda, Fangio before him. Celebrating Lewis’ greatness has never been opposed to celebrating Michael or Ayrton’s greatness. They all belong to the sport’s pantheon.
The media narrative is the reason the fan base became this fractured, this antagonistic. Grooming someone as Lewis’ nemesis or as his undoing is so cleaving! And for what? To preserve the idea of a certain demographic’ supremacy over the sport?
Had Lewis been given his due flowers, and covered in the same way the others greats of the sports were, his fans would never have felt the need to defend him. Instead, he was loathed for all the things that they were — and are now — praised for, driving a fast car fast.
Ultimately, Lewis Hamilton holds the records for most world championships. He’s the FIRST driver to have a century of pole positions and a century of wins to his name. No one, absolutely no one is going to take that away from him.
… May the next generation of drivers do their best to join him at the table of the greats. He’ll be waiting.
#F1 #LewisHamilton
On behalf of our Ohana, who built this incredible company, Salesforce, & our Trailblazers who made so much possible as a giving community creating Customer Success—Without them none of this would be possible. This ceo of the year award is truly theirs. ❤️ https://t.co/Vb7YF9X4jc
In celebration of Dreamforce, we have made an additional gift of $60M to UC Santa Barbara, one of the world’s most important marine centers. The new donation is the largest ever for ocean science at UCSB. ❤️🌊 https://t.co/FQUS94foRT
Salesforce is celebrating Dreamforce by giving an additional $25M to San Francisco & Oakland public schools reaching over $110M in grants over the decade. Thank you Mayor Ed Lee for inspiring us to begin this incredible journey. ❤️ Read more: https://t.co/7jAcNqgqZa
The Ohana at Standard Bank are ready for Dreamforce! I cant wait to see these amazing Trailblazers. 21 incredible people coming from Africa to San Francisco to rock our City by The Bay! Every team coming to Dreamforce needs to keep it lit with an incredible video!
Seb, it’s been an honour to call you a competitor and an ever greater honour to call you my friend. Leaving this sport better than you found it is always the goal. I have no doubt that whatever comes next for you will be exciting, meaningful, and rewarding. Love you, man.
🗣️"It’s a lot of pressure to go up against a great like Fernando. I would say on pure pace, Fernando [is the toughest]."
Lewis Hamilton has nominated Fernando Alonso as the strongest competitor of his #F1 career ahead of his 300th grand prix start ⬇️
https://t.co/onPI1A8fqj