Our Story.
Though Sarah & Gideon are graduates of Harvard Business School, they met when they joined the HBS Forum Toronto group in 2017. Similar to the Young Presidents Organization (YPO), HBS Forums give alumni the opportunity to forge deep connections through peer-to-peer coaching and leadership workshops held every month in a recurring small-group setting.
Their skills are complementary: Sarah is a big-picture strategist and Gideon dives into the nitty-gritty details; Gideon is a bookworm and Sarah prides herself on being relationship & network savvy; Gideon has a knack for finances and Sarah is a risk detection and pivoting magnet.
Like yin and yang, they are powerfully complementary and interconnected.
Over the past three years, they’ve built a strong friendship and shared many tough and introspective conversations that are essential to forming a successful partnership: theirs is built on a shared vision to lead people and to solve hard problems that matter.
Not to mention, they are both engineers and share a very strong bond around technology with a touch of a dry sense of humor topped with a bit of nerdism.
Photo: The site of our first HBS Forum retreat in Wellington County, Ontario.
Our Vision & Values.
Sarah and Gideon can come across as a team far apart based on their ethnicities and genders. Though they are different on the surface, their convictions are the same- socially redeeming and purpose driven.
In coming together as leaders, their shared vision is to guide with authenticity, cultivate credibility and harvest thoughtfulness; to identify potential and have the courage to develop that potential by offering the best support possible to employees, customers and partners and create an environment where people are able to flourish and do their best.
They believe in fostering open, respectful and genuine relationships with their stakeholders, teams and community. Like cloud streets, they aim for an approach that is consistent, straightforward and transparent, and ensure their values are always in total alignment.
What’s in our company name?
Cloud streets are parallel bands of clouds moving over large bodies of water — much like the transatlantic journeys our lives have taken thus far.
We chose the name CloudStreet for our partnership because we share a common background, growing up and working across oceans, countries, languages, and diverse cultures. Our unique life experiences have helped us develop into highly adaptive individuals who can easily work through differences, changes, uncertainties and unknowns.
Photo: Cloud streets moving towards Massachusetts. Source: nasa.gov