A Special Day at Work

Today was my VP’s quarterly all-hands meeting and much to my surprise, I was honored with an award. Apparently an elf, or several elves, thought that the work I had done since joining the team 7 weeks ago was exceptional and nominated me for being an exemplar of the corporate culture we seek to foster in my organization.

I admit, there was a second where, as the introduction was read, I thought: “Hey this person is doing a lot of work like I do, that’s funny.” But then it dawned on me, the person reading the description was my manager’s manager, my director; wait, was that suggestion from my manager that I ‘be sure to be at the all-hands on Monday’ more than just a pull for team turn-out at the big conference facility…"

And there it was, I was called up, I shook hands with people whose names I read in the industry press. I had a photo taken and was given a sharp-looking certificate and a new Flip camera UltraHD (Cisco owns Flip). I was lucky enough to be sitting next to my friend Jason who’s known me, at work, for 8 years now. It was really nice to be among so many friends and smiling faces. I got a lot of congratulations (not to be confused with the ‘alot of congratulations’) thereafter and it felt really good to know that people in the organization think I do good work, that I make a difference.

What more could make a Type-A happy?

After the meeting was over I went back to my building, back to my desk and opened the email box and I found dozens of congratulatory emails waiting. One of my co-workers said something so awesome to me it made my week (possibly my year).

[The award is] for those who Collaborate, Learn, Execute, Accelerate, and Disrupt.

I think you did all of them and it is a well deserved award.

I have to say that while meeting the senior leaders was great, knowing that my peers think I add something to their every-day world, made me feel so appreciated I can only be humbly silent.

I’ve never been a team captain or the guy who made the 3-pointer at the buzzer, but today I knew the truth that they always say at the end of the championship: it’s not about me, it was the team that made it happen. Those wonderful people I work with who tolerate my questions and ignorance are the reason I happened to have had a bit of glory today. I thank them for their esteem.