Giving Thanks for My Community

Thanksgiving has long been my favorite holiday. No gifts. Just good food, family/friends, and gratitude. However, as you all know, that is not how Thanksgiving always plays out.

For me, the last few years have been a bit tough. Three Thanksgivings ago, I had just lost my mom, and it was the first major holiday without her. Two Thanksgivings ago, I had a new baby and was hearing things that made me concerned about my job upon returning to work. Last Thanksgiving, Dani Johnson and I had a “baby” business that was 8 months old, and we were preoccupied by how we were going to turn it into a successful going concern.

While there are certainly worries this Thanksgiving (there always are, aren’t there?!), there is, overall, just so much more to be grateful for. I want to take a few moments to honor the many people for whom I am grateful. I want to do this to both let them know how much I appreciate them and also to remind anyone who is reading this that there are likely lots of people in your life who appreciate you – even if they don’t say it!

So here goes my list for 2019:

• My business partner, Dani. Going into business with someone is kind of like getting married. You learn more about that person’s morals, ethics, perspectives, and habits than you could have otherwise. Dani and I bring different strengths to our partnership and, thankfully, agree to care passionately about different things, so we don’t have to disagree too much! I’ve been so thankful for Dani and our partnership.
• Our team: Emily, Karina, and Priyanka. Between 9-12 months ago, we convinced them all to join our little start-up, and it’s been a wild ride ever since. I am thankful for their kindness, enthusiasm, curiosity, humor, and flexibility. They make our work better and much more fun. We are lucky to get to spend so much time working together.
• Our extended team. We have a broader group of contractors (you know who you are!) who work with us regularly on infographics, tools, layout and design, editing, our website, and other things. A year ago, none of them were just an email away – and now they are, and they make my life easier and our work so much better.
• Our sponsors and clients. We are so thankful that they have supported us in bringing high-quality, unbiased research and foresight to our industry. In particular, I am thankful for AbbVie, Axonify, Centrical, Cisco, Cultivate, Degreed, forMetris, Glint, GSV, Harvard Business Publishing, Insight222, Josh Bersin, Mid-Atlantic Employer’s Association, Medallia, Mercer, Microsoft, MindTools, NovoEd, Perceptyx, People Analytics & Future of Work (PAFOW), The Predictive Index, Qualtrics, and Reflektive for their support this year. Without you all, we literally could not do our jobs. We are honored you chose to work with us.
• Our network. One of the things that has most amazed me since leaving Bersin by Deloitte is our incredible professional community. It has embraced Dani and me so warmly that sometimes I think we must be in a dream. This community is generous with time and thoughts, and encourages, validates, and improves upon our ideas and pushes us to do more. It invites us in to speak and helps us understand where to explore more. We hope we are able to give back more to it than we take.
• My family and surrogate family. While there is never a great time to start a business, it is arguable that when you have very young children, it is likely among the worst times. But you don’t get to choose everything! My family – including our surrogate family which includes our au pairs, babysitters, and neighbors – have made this past year possible. I am so grateful that they enable me to do the work I feel called to do.

Now that I’ve done writing this, I realize it might sound like an academy award speech – and I’ve received no such honor! However, “no man is an island,” and I want to express how thankful I am for those who are enabling us to be successful. Our community is what I am most thankful for this year and will be thinking about as we cheers our glasses on Thursday.

What are you most thankful for?

Happy Thanksgiving!

I recently decided that I will be using LinkedIn to communicate more personal professional perspectives, while posting blogs on our newest research at www.redthreadresearch.com (and sharing links to those blogs on LinkedIn). I have found that as an entrepreneur, parent, and management / technology researcher, I have a lot to say that doesn’t fit on our business platform. This is the first article in this attempt – I would love your feedback.