Vivowire: It’s our 100th issue!
It's the day we've all been waiting for. Viv turns 100!
Welcome to edition #100 of Vivowire, the Workvivo newsletter!?
Today’s the daaaay, the sun is shining, the tank is cleeeeean !?
WE’RE 100!?
Here’s a different kind of issue to mark the milestone.?
And meanwhile, there’s still some time to sign up for a super special physical edition ! Viv thinks you should. And Viv’s always right.?
Let’s go!????? ?? ?? ?? ??
This Week’s Top 3 Thumbstoppers
1. Vivowire Turns 100 – It Is Our Birthday.
TL;DR: It’s our birthday, so we can talk about The Office as much as we want. Hey, we don’t make the rules.?
Ah, the sage old age of 100. Here at Vivowire HQ, we’re embracing our wrinkles and taking a trip down memory lane. We hope that like us, it’ll give you a laugh. Or at the very least, reason to send a short, forceful exhale of air from your nose.
But be warned, if anyone sings Happy Birthday, Lisa to us, they’re going straight in our Burn Book.
To mark this mammoth occasion, we thought it would be fitting to enlist some of our favorite characters.
(Who you’re probably sick of reading about in Vivowire by now, so maybe this wasn’t the best idea. But now we’ve committed.)
With that in mind, it’s only right that – for probably the thousandth time in 100 issues – we talk about The Office.
So... remember when Jim and Dwight tried to throw Kelly a belated office birthday party?
Jim: ‘It is your birthday’, period.
Dwight: It’s a statement of fact.
Jim: Not even an exclamation point?
Dwight: Have you collected the money from everyone?
Jim: I’m working on it.
Dwight: How much do you have?
Jim: Six dollars.
Dwight: That's how much you and I contributed! Damn it, Jim!
Thankfully, we’ve put tons more effort into giving ourselves a birthday pat on the back than Jim and Dwight did for Kelly. We don’t have balloons, but if we did, they wouldn’t match the carpets.
In fact, we’re closer to Leslie Knope-levels of celebration. And I mean the side of Leslie who created 24 new holidays, not the side who organizes a perfectly appropriate and thoughtful birthday for Ron.
Yes, our egos are big enough to throw ourselves both a Haircut Day and a second Haircut Day. You may find that overzealous. Fortunately, like Dwight, our feelings regenerate at twice the speed of a normal man’s.
But really, Vivowire has been an incredible journey so far. It was a total shot in the dark to start writing an employee experience newsletter with a focus on TV, music, and movies – one that we never thought would catch on.
Now, we send Vivowire out to over 15,000 people every two weeks. We’ve finally started to shape it into the true community we always wanted it to be – a space where people across EX and related industries can connect (go join the LinkedIn Group ! and come to our events!).?
The only thing that’s made that possible is you: the fun-loving reader who puts up with our puns and bad jokes, tolerates our oversharing, talks to us with trust and vulnerability, and embraces our Workvivo mantra of not taking ourselves too seriously, but what we do very seriously.
The bottom line? Vivowire has been a blast from day one, and we’re only getting started.?
And truly, from the bottom of our hearts, thank you thank you thank you, we love you we love you we love you.
2. A Trip Down Memory Lane…
TL;DR: It’s mandatory to shed a single tear while reading this.
Issue #17 – When we called out Kim K*
*And she definitely cared.
Back in the early days – oh, how young we were – we weren't impressed by Kim Kardashian saying, "I have the best advice for women in business. Get your #@!? ass up and work. It seems like nobody wants to work these days".
It was pretty timely, seeing as Jared Lindzon had just penned an opinion piece for us on the (incorrect) view that seems to crop up in every generation: 'people are too darned lazy!'*
(*Actually spoken by a grump in the year 1952, reports say.)
Whether you're a controversial celeb or not, buying into this pattern of thought isn't a good look.
If voiced in a workplace, for example, it creates unnecessary tension between colleagues and puts people off striving for a healthy work-life balance.
领英推荐
In short, it's bad for employee experience.
We've had an exciting couple of years here at Workvivo, and Vivowire has been there for it all.
(Not in a creepy way, like Gossip Girl or Lady Whistledown. In a cool way.)
Two of the biggest highlights just so happened to fall across two editions of the newsletter that exhibit stunningly satisfying levels of symmetry: issues #49 and #94.
Both milestones were about partnerships too! The first was when we were acquired by Zoom in early 2023, making us part of the Zoom family and its commitment to forging human connection.
The second was when Meta announced us as their only preferred migration partner for Workplace, which they're withdrawing from the market.
It's super fitting that a two gigantic moments in Workvivo's journey have propelled us into a pair of power-couple partnerships...
And, of course, putting us on stage with the most iconic duos ever.
Move over, Thelma and Louise, Wayne and Garth, Shrek and Donkey, Spongebob and Patrick, Troy and Abed, Krusty and Sideshow Mel (we could keep going...)
Issue #69 – Magic Toilets. Just one example of our oversharing.
Lisa talked about her unusual career path, which has led her from getting a degree in neuroscience to writing a newsletter that has gifs of Elmo on a potty in it. Standard.
We trace things back to the origins of her penchant for writing: her first literary venture, which was a short story about a Magic Toilet typed in Comic Sans, printed with the help of her mum, and stapled together.
Speaking about the 69th edition of the newsletter since, Lisa has said, "I can't believe I still have my job!"
Truly inspirational.
When in doubt, remember that if Lisa can stay employed after talking about her Magic Toilet novella in the company newsletter, you can achieve just about anything.
3. Under the Lens… Bloomberg, Mr Burns & Employee Benefits
TL;DR: We’re putting our beautiful faces (and snouts) under the lens this week. If you’ve got feedback on this section, positive reinforcement only please ??
Quote(s) of the Week
“Someday you will be old enough to start reading fairy tales again” – CS Lewis
“To live would be an awfully big adventure” – Peter Pan
“You don’t stop laughing when you grow old, you grow old when you stop laughing” – George Bernard Shaw
What’s up at Workvivo??
10 Things Internal Communicators Need To Look For in a New EXP: Your choice of employee experience platform is critical to the delivery of an EX that engages, motivates, and retains your people. Keep reading here .?
The Art of Influence – How to Lead Without Authority: Dafna Arad explores the balancing act of leading those around you in the early stages of your career.?Learn more here !
Innovation Round-Up – Workvivo's New Listening Suite, AI Companion & Deeper Integrations with Zoom: Our Director of Product & Engineering catches you up on the latest innovations at Workvivo HQ. Continue reading here !
Final Thought?
Thanks for sticking with us for 100 friggin' editions of Vivowire.?Here's to hundreds more*!
*And not just because Viv is pressuring us behind the scenes. Promise. ??
Until next time, Vivowire out! ??
If you have any feedback or just want to say ‘howdy’, simply reply to this email, reach out on LinkedIn or chat on Twitter .