Somedays you look out your office window to see massive trains lumbering East with container after container of iPads and other electronic Apple devices. Somedays you hear cheers of encouragement coming from the courtyard as your colleagues engage in a friendly free throw competition to whom the winner gets the spoils of victory and a brand-new Samsung Galaxy Tab E.
Who would our champion be?
The 6’5” former professional baseball player?
The backwards cap IT executive who would look at home with any uniformed gym rats?
Not today. Today 40 people in the parking lot and six beside me at the windows witnessed the most excellent sporting element of surprise. No ringer. No cross over pre-shot dribble, no trash talk, no tennis shoes, no problem. Today Tim Le took all Tideworks free throw shooters to task. His win was swift, congenial, steady and decisive. It was vintage Tim. Vintage us. We often surprise people.
It’s not unusual for prospective customers to arrive at our office during a period of mutual discovery and diligence, surprised we’re not swarming with sales people. We’re a leading provider of global software and service solutions in the marine and rail operations space for heavens sake. Surely, we’re hiding a small army of marketing and support personnel in some an undisclosed Seattle location. Nope. Surprise! It’s just us. A lean workforce with exceptional skill and some hidden and some not so hidden talents.
In little moments like the one today under the basketball hoop in the courtyard we remind ourselves no matter the market, no matter the opportunity or challenge, we control our destiny with hard work, dedication, a little luck and something else. When we make a mistake and goodness knows everyone makes mistakes, we celebrate the effort and quickly make sure the innovator knows we have their back.
When each shooter went to that free throw line we smiled at their willingness to compete and smiled more when they missed or made their shot in grand style.
Tim garnered many smiles today as he does most frequently. He beat the big guys in little ways. You dribble the ball, you shoot the ball, easy as that. It doesn’t always go in and those of us behind the glass today have seen plenty of misses in our Tideworks tenure. We’ve also done something right because those prospective customers we surprise with our small staffing stature, they often become our partners, our clients, precisely because of who they meet and trust will be there when the ball goes through the hoop or not.
At the end of today’s competition, we saw a courtyard full of arms rise in celebration of our humble victor. Tim received the prize but in that joyful moment over lunch today we all won.
Thanks Tim and congratulations!
