[Cross-posted from the GlobalGiving Blog]
The other day a friend asked me to look back at my professional career and tell her what I was most proud of.
“What do you mean?” I asked.
“Well, you did all those multi-hundred million dollar projects at the World Bank in the 1980s and 1990s. And then you were instrumental in creating the original Innovation and Development Marketplaces there.
“And now GlobalGiving has helped over 7,000 projects around the globe get $100+ million in funding from 300,000 donors and some of the most innovative companies in the world. Plus, GlobalGiving is one of the few online giving platforms that has attained financial self-sustainability. So which of those things are you most proud of?” she asked.
I paused, but only briefly.
“What I am most proud of is the team that we have built. Every time I walk in the office I have an almost overwhelming sense of pride in the people there. If you come visit some day, you will feel a hum in the large, wide-open space. People will be concentrating intensely, but periodically the room will be punctuated by laughter or by a bang on the office gong, signaling some milestone or breakthrough.
“If you keep watching, you will see that someone has hit a road block or has a question, and he will walk over to a colleague’s desk to ask for help. The two of them will confer quietly. Someone else will look up from their work and come over to join the conversation. If you get closer, you will hear that the task at hand involves something that most teams would consider impossible. And yet the problem gets solved, and the impossible is achieved – if not the same day, then the next day, or in any case soon.
“In the area where we have our weekly all-hands meetings, you will see what some team members have inscribed in big letters high on the wall:
ALWAYS OPEN
NEVER SETTLE
COMMITTED TO WOW
LISTEN=> ACT=> LEARN=> REPEAT
“Those are not just words – they really are the tenets that guide our actions and decisions day in and day out.
“They are the values that explain why the team can do exceptional things when others are stymied.
“They are the principles that explain why forty people can run and continually improve a platform that supports thousands of heroic project leaders and hundreds of thousands of donors in over one hundred countries.
“They are the reason why you ain’t seen nothing yet. GlobalGiving has achieved a lot in its first ten years. But just wait until you see what GlobalGiving does in the next decade.”
That’s what I told my friend.
Good ideas are a dime a dozen. Well-executed ideas are rare, and there is no team that can execute like the gang at GlobalGiving. My deepest appreciation goes to everyone who has been on our team since we first opened our doors ten years ago. Thank you all for making me so proud.
Share on Facebook
