Week In Pictures #3: The Gong

Last week, I had the opportunity to meet one of the new teams I will be managing with my new role.  This group is fresh, dynamic and full of passion and energy.  All good traits for an inside sales organization and I'm so excited that they are already performing at an amazing level. 

After just a short dinner conversation, it was abundantly clear that this is a competitive group (perfect!).  Each week there is a sales call where each territory manager is called upon to give an update on sales opportunities and deal closings in their area.  Each week, these territory managers roll through impressive stats.  Then, towards the end of the call, the inside sales team is called upon to ramble off their stats.  While very impressive, it still doesn't have that "wow" factor that some of the larger territory deals proclaim.  In jest, we started brainstorming how they could call more attention to their successes and engage in a little friendly competition with the field sales team.  And thus ... the idea for the gong was born.

We were half kidding but after a while the ideas just wouldn't die.  It grew and grew.  And, the next day ... it still felt like a good idea.  So without hesitation, I ordered my new team a gong.  First order of business.  Keep morale high and promote healthy competition between themselves and their field sales counterparts.  The gong arrived at the office today and the team is already hard at work to put it together for the official unveiling tomorrow on the sales call.

The team is in for a real treat when they get to the inside sales team and they report "Apps ... (gong) ... 10, Activation .... (gong).... 4000." 

Next order of business is to create the gong rules.  Everyone knows you can't have a gong at work without gong rules, otherwise there would just be willy nilly gonging all the time.  And so, the team has been tasked to give themselves rules and only gong when epic things happen. 

While this is somewhat ridiculous, I just plain love it.  It's a symbol of their competitive nature, spirit and drive to achieve.  My job as their manager and leader is to promote this and give them the right outlets to have a little fun and succeed.  So as we attempt to define what exactly is "epic" and is truly worthy of the gong, my parting thought ... respect the gong.

Week In Pictures 2: The Big Show

6 days ... 5 nights ....

I was in Dallas with minimal sunlight, heavy conference agendas and lots to learn about the "new company" and strategy that will make 2012 "the year".  This pic was snapped from the very back of what is possibly the biggest company meeting I've ever been a part of.  I've gasped at the Apple and Microsoft conferences that I've watched on you tube and been blown away by the budget that it must to take to make it happen.  But now, I've seen with my own eyes what amazing, morale boosting and energizing messages that can be delivered with the help of fireworks, amazing graphics and strong speakers. 

This meeting was timed just perfectly.  I've taken a new position within my company and am excited about the possibility in store.  That coupled with, well.. let's be honest ... fireworks; have me jazzed about the new goals and amazing things in store for 2012.

Goal setting.   Personal or professional ... we all have them.  What's your goal for 2012?

Week In Pictures - WIP 1: What's Important

First - I don't endorse OR feed the babe champagne.  However, this is the New Year's photo shoot that occurs when I have too much down time.  I'm pretty sure he'll hate me one day for pictures like this. 

Anywho... in the first edition of a week in a picture, I thought best to kick the year off with a pic of the little man who makes me realize I need balance every day.  He inspires me to be someone he will one day be proud of for who I am as a person, and not just because I am his mother. 

This picture is representative of the week because it's the factor that makes me WANT to be my best and strive for the top in everything I do.

A Realistic Resolution

Ok ... ok... I'm terrible about actually maintaining this blog.  I get it.  I think about it often but between the "day job", the babe, the "new day job", the small business, the crafty blog, getting dinner on the table, the tennis matches, the Jr. League meetings, the family time, the friend time, the glasses of wine, the business dinners, the laundry (oh how I hate the laundry), .... shall I go on???  The reality is that there is always a reasonable excuse NOT to focus on this.    And, quite frankly, I hate that.  By the time something worth writing about happens, the time it takes to find pictures, write the story, reasonably edit and then post ... well, by then the moment has passed and I'm knee deep in the next situation.

So ... after spending the holidays going 100 miles an hour, I rested long enough to have a great (well, I think it's great) idea. 

Let's re-ground ourselves in the purpose here ... I wanted to create a blog that outlined my journey as the mom on a mission:
1.  Be the best damn mom on the planet.
2.  Conquer corporate America and continue moving up that ladder to my goals and aspirations at the top.
3.  Have fun and a sense of "balance" ... whatever that may be.
4.  Love, be kind and do what God would want.
5.  And capture a few real world experiences that will potentially be related to by other working moms and give inspiration those like us as a whole.

Instead of boring you with poorly written antics, I have a new and improved idea.  Sure, that book that I will one day write won't write itself, but instead I feel like there is a better real time way to tell this story.  Drum roll please ... it's my new resolution for 2012, to find ONE picture each week (at a minimum) that summarizes an important point in that week.  Work, life, family ... you name it - it's all fair game because that my friends is what makes a working mother who she is ... ALL of these things. 

And without further delay, here goes.  We are in week 3 of 2012 so I'll back-post the first two weeks and get on with things in real time. 

In the mean time, get out there and carpe the hell out of this diem!

xoxo
b