By R. Christopher Haines, Executive VP and Chief Operating Officer
Tis the season for being thankful. You’d be hard pressed to find someone more thankful than me. From my first day on this planet, I’ve had the chance to do things, see things, and have things that many others will never do, see, or have. I owe this mainly to my parents and my family for providing me with many opportunities and for instilling in me that if I wanted something, I needed to work for it.
But I have so much more to be thankful for than just those things in my personal life. My career allows me to be a part of many great things. First, I get to work for an organization, the primary focus of which is helping others. Sure this helping others leads to revenue, which leads to growth and reaching company goals. But for us, it all starts with our desire to help others.
Next, I’m thankful for being just a small part of a great team. Within our organization are some of the greatest people I’ve ever had the opportunity to work with. To a person, each approaches the issues of our customers as if they were their own. And this is throughout all levels of the organization.
With customers like ours, you have to be thankful. To us, our customers are so much more than just a source of revenue. They’re our friends. I know it sounds clichéd or like something a salesperson might say, but it’s true. We’ve made friendships that will last well past our time at our respective organizations.
These same friendships have also been forged with the vendors and consultants who support our operation, as well as some of the technology vendors we’ve gotten to work with over the years.
I hope everyone can be as thankful as I am. If not, take a little time and reflect. There has to be something to be thankful for.
Now pass me the cranberry sauce!