Growing up in Colorado, Guillermo Diaz Jr. always dreamed of having palm trees in his backyard. Now, after many years of hard work and diligence, he has more palm trees than he knows what to do with, which is why he created Conectado.

Conectado aims to leverage technology to bring individuals and institutions together to increase equality from the classroom to the boardroom.

In this episode of The American Dream podcast, Guillermo explains how he worked to achieve his palm tree dream, why he believes so strongly in "ships," and why he shifted his focus from Cisco to Conectado.

• (0:49 ) The American Dream can be incremental
• (3:26 ) Guillermo’s early days
• (8:52 ) The value of education and alternative paths
• (18:15 ) Guillermo becomes the CIO of Cisco
• (25:45 ) Guillermo’s “ships”
• (28:00 ) Finding the person that delivers is rare, so don’t let them down
• (33:19 ) Guillermo leaves Cisco