On November 22nd, this Thursday, the U.S. will celebrate our Thanksgiving holiday. For most of us it brings a tradition of turkey dinners, family gatherings and carefully evading any talk of politics with a crazy uncle. Our Thanksgiving is a harvest festival that traces back to the Pilgrims at Plymouth Massachusetts in 1621. Their celebration lasted three days. Now we only celebrate for one day and then go shopping for the remainder of the weekend.
As a global company, celebrations of thanks like this occur differently for employees around the world, but we all have much to be thankful for. And we all regularly express our thanks to our customers, coworkers, partners, investors and industry sages.
Saying “thank you” turns out to be good for your health too. That’s according to research from Professor Robert Emmons, PH.D, at the University of California, a psychology researcher and author of several books on gratitude. His research essentially shows that being thankful and counting your blessings, reduces stress, lowers blood pressure, promotes greater energy, increases optimism, and slows aging. Now that’s quite a lot to be thankful for.
Because Actifio is a technology company, it’s natural that we are thankful for our innovative technology – and the smart people that have invented and continue to advance it. It’s the tech that is our beginning. It’s our technology that has provided Actifians the opportunity to help our customers and enterprises around the world to become data driven. But Actifio is much more than technology.
It’s our people. They are the reason for our accomplishments, our success. They are our culture.
We say it on our website:
“We’ve built a culture that not only values excellence and skill, but also our desire to do something meaningful in taking responsibility for our customers’ success and for each other. Because, if you take care of people, they’ll take care of the results.”
More importantly, we acknowledge that we cannot achieve success without the help of others. And while we express our gratitude, we demonstrate that appreciation by our actions. The Boston Business Journal award to Actifio as one of Boston’s Best Places to Work quotes Ash Ashutosh, our founder & CEO:
“From the beginning we’ve focused on bringing a team of the very best people together in an environment which would enable them to excel individually, win together, and have some fun along the way. We subscribe to the old adage that your users can only be as happy as your employees and see this as a win for both our people and our customers.”
Even with our focus on technology, Ash emphasizes the fundamental value of a strong, supportive and respectful corporate culture. And he emphatically extends this to customers and partners. He fosters the creation of a workplace that makes employees proud and customers confident.
There is a central idea here of customer benefit. It’s this sort of attitude from leadership that filters throughout the company. It’s our culture. It’s how each of us has come to view our individual experiences in the context of the common objectives. There is a collective spirt of adhesion that generates both hard work and fun. A sense of accomplishment and satisfaction. In many respects it’s a common awareness of how customers and colleagues should be treated – and how they should always be thanked.
So, Happy Thanksgiving, and our best wishes celebrating whatever you are thankful for.