Dear Me,
Do you remember the last letter I wrote? Today as you look back and celebrate three years since starting 1Strategy, I want to remind you of a few important things:
Remember the people. Remember you have the most incredible humans on your team. Remember when a team member told you he was significantly overpaid in his paycheck and needed to correct it; those are the type of honest people your team is made of. Remember walking down the streets of Seattle with a team member chatting about work, when he abruptly ended the conversation to help someone in need. Remember watching him approach of a crippled and struggling woman on the street, remember her face, remember how you felt watching that interaction. Remember to picture the faces of your team when you make important decisions.
Remember the heart ache. Remember the first time someone left 1Strategy. Remember the feelings that overpowered you. Remember stepping out of your car to breathe because your chest was so tight. Remember the sight of tall green trees and through teary eyes; you felt you wouldn’t recover. Remember it as a blessing and remember the incredible team members that came because of that loss.
Remember the customers. Remember the first engagement—sitting with a customer helping their team build their entire stack in AWS. Remember sitting on the grass outside their office wondering if you made the right choice to leave AWS to start 1Strategy. You learned that every customer is as important as your first customer. A business without customers isn’t a business, it’s a club. Remember customers are the life of 1Strategy. You exist to help customers #BuildBetter on AWS. You have the very best customers, full of the best individuals. Remember each customer is a friend. Remember to give back to the customers who made 1Strategy what it is today.
Remember to grow. Remember a challenge given to a consultant: you challenged him to know many people at the customer. Remember months later walking through the customer office where he had obtained almost celebrity status, everyone knew and loved him. Remember when you delegated business activities and your business doubled in a single month from that date. Remember worrying that what you asked your team to do would break them; remember that it didn’t.
Remember your weaknesses. Remember talking to your business mentor, feeling stuck on how to proceed with a difficult issue. Remember that asking for help is not weakness. Strength is wrapped in weakness, don’t be afraid to crack it open; utilize the gift of weakness so you can enjoy the strength.
Remember to have patience. You haven’t learned all these things in a day…or two or even three. In time you will see. Remember to not force your timing. Remember when you resolved make a difficult decision about the future by a specific date and time. Remember on the very day, within one hour of the deadline, the issue resolved itself. Remember to have patience.
Remember who you are. Remember when you went without any technology for a month; you realized you didn’t miss your cell phone or your laptop. The most important things in life have heartbeats. Remember you are not defined by your title, your work, or your accomplishments. Remember what you believe and remember to live what you believe.
Simply and finally, remember to remember.
-Rich
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