2021-March-18
Cullen Jennings: Propelled by the Power of Innovation
BY KRYSTAL CHENG
We all have secret passions that inspire us while we work and during our downtime. For Cullen Jennings, it happens to be kiteboarding.
Just as he harnesses the power of wind when he kiteboards, Cullen also harnesses the power of technology as he develops cloud-based collaboration products at Cisco.
Discovering His Passion for Kiteboarding
Cullen started kiteboarding eight years ago on a frozen lake near his home in Calgary, Alberta.
He remembers, “In the first few minutes of kiteboarding, I knew I would love it. It combined everything that I loved about sailing, snowboarding, and hang gliding all at the same time.”
To kiteboard, you need to use a kite to pull yourself through water or snow while riding a board. This might sound simple to some, but kiteboarding is an extreme sport that hits wind speeds of up to 80 kilometers (about 50 miles) per hour.
Although it’s a highly physical sport, Cullen finds that the best part about kiteboarding is the state of mindfulness that comes from it.
“For most of the day, our minds are distracted with so many responsibilities,” he shares. “But when you’re kiteboarding, all of that is gone. To prevent yourself from crashing, your body and mind flow together as one, enabling you to truly live in the moment.”
Kiteboarding Adventures From Canada to Australia
Cullen enjoys kiteboarding all year long in Canada. Even though it’s currently winter, he can still kiteboard on frozen lakes and mountains near where he lives.
However, his absolute favorite place to kiteboard is Perth, Australia, because of its warm weather, constant winds, and perfect waves.
For the past seven years, Cullen has made the long trip to Perth to go kiteboarding. He explains, “First it’s a one-hour flight from Calgary to Vancouver, then 15 hours to Sydney, then five hours to Perth. It’s quite a long journey, but once I get into the water and start kiteboarding, it all becomes worth it.”
Riding the Waves of Innovation at Cisco
At Cisco, Cullen also works to anticipate the next perfect wave. An innovation and technology wave, that is.
For over 20 years, Cullen has enjoyed developing cloud-based voice and video applications at Cisco. Every day, he aims to find the biggest technology challenges of the future and create their solutions with our Cisco products.
“For kiteboarding, it’s all about looking for the waves, timing them, and knowing when to catch the right ones. That turns out to be a lot of what we do at Cisco,” Cullen notes.
“When you’re talking about innovation waves, it’s not hard to predict which technologies are going to be important in the future. However, it’s about predicting the timing for when exactly they will become important.”
Harness the Power of Mindfulness
When the waves are difficult, Cullen breaks through them by maintaining a state of mindfulness.
“Living in the moment is key. When you're in the ocean, you have things like the wind and water to help you focus on staying afloat.”
“When you're at work, you have things like the Cisco Mind Set course and the Employee Assistance Program (EAP) to help you focus on overcoming life's challenges,” Cullen adds.
“It's the state of living entirely in the present that helps us to conquer those waves no matter where we encounter them.”
Where to Next?
As soon as wind conditions are good, Cullen plans on kiteboarding on a local lake in Calgary.
He’s looking forward to kiteboarding somewhere warm and sunny soon. He shares, “When it’s safe and reasonable for us to travel again, I’m going straight to Australia!”
Passions are an essential ingredient to experimenting, trying new things, and finding fulfillment in our lives.
So, what’s your passion? Email wearecisco@cisco.com to share your story.
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