Recognition

Although New Year has been the preferred time of the year to evaluate how well we have spent our time (which needs to happen weekly), we often forget that our performance is rarely isolated from the environment. Everything we enjoy today was the result of the hard work of other people and the countless hours they have spent to make the things as they are. There is no better time of the year to acknowledge this fact and to recognize their achievements. The people we work with are the ones that make us look good and we wouldn’t be the same without them. They ground us through their unique qualities and the sparks they ignite in us. We may think that New Year is about us, but in reality it is about them and the degree of gratitude we have for who they are.

Entrepreneurs often tend to define success as their own, but they rarely see more clearly how blessed they were to be surrounded with highly capable and motivated people, in the right moment and in the presence of a worthy concept. That concept wouldn’t be the same without the people who polished it; that working environment wouldn’t be the same without the people who participated in it; these achievements wouldn’t be there if there wasn’t a strong team. Due to the projector lights, individual employees often don’t receive the recognition they deserve, yet, they stay behind every performance, every presentation, every meeting or phone call. I would like to celebrate their existence here, since I care about greeting the modest a bit louder.

Behind every small action is a giant person that doesn’t need a lever to move the world. To shape it daily and step-by-step requires the precision of a sculptor. When I think of the butterfly effect that this causes around the world, I get a butterfly shiver. No single anything can ever replace the path of the striving and daring, of those, who, through their readiness to sacrifice their own lives for a higher cause, improve our lives and create a new normality that makes us feel novices every day. You inspire, you change, you motivate. You move others, but do so quietly.

You have been part of my daily life. How? Through being generous and sharing what you know. Maybe one day I could find the strength to give as much as you do. That’s the biggest gift to me. By sharing bits and pieces you lighten up my day. I just wonder, do I look like a Christmas tree?

You may think that you are invisible, but I “see” you. When you do something small, but special, out of love, I see change, and when I see change, I see you. I can see your work, sometimes I can sense what you were thinking while doing it, I can watch you or see what others share about you. But anytime I look, I am blinded by your exceptional talent.

For all this, I thank you.