Why we do what we do.

On Monday, June 5th, Jeb Buie and I ( Art Powell ) rolled late into our hotel in Atlanta to attend an industry-specific conference. We immediately became aware of tension and frustration with the hotel staff, who maintained their professionalism while manually checking everyone in.

To clarify, in case one thinks this is no tall order, the system had been down since 1 pm that day. This means they did not have a record of which rooms were occupied. Nor could they issue key cards for the rooms. They kept a manual list of all check-ins, had to walk the guests to their room, use a master key to unlock the door, check to make sure there was not already a soon-to-be unpleasantly surprised occupant, and then let the guest in. The guest would have to prop their door open if they wished to leave the room later. Nor could they take credit cards, having to record them for later manually.

It is a terrible feeling to want to be able to do your job, but your unable to do it. In other words, a nightmare.

Jeb and I, being talkers, engaged the Night Auditor who quickly filled us in with the details. We let it be known we were in the technology services. Jeb looked at me, and I shook my head yes. He offered our help. They quickly marched Jeb back to the server room. In five minutes, the network was back up.

Seeing the relief and joy on the faces of the employees as they realized they could do their job was a reward in of itself. Not the gratitude, not the generous gifts of thanks from the manager or staff. The simple delight of fixing technology issues for people who want to be productive. I founded Trinsic 18 years ago on the principle of serving people. I am happy to report that it is a dream that is still alive and well in our company culture. It is why we do what we do.

Why do you do what you do?