My Company is Weird

It's Thursday - that means my kids are with me and I was picking them up from school but it wasn't just any Thursday, it's Thirsty Thursday. That's the one day a month that I host a happy hour at our office for Improvers.

In a past life, I was a bartender and it's a great chance for me to relive the glory days (yeah, yeah) but, more importantly, it's a wonderful time for Improvers to gather and share about what we're working on and how things are going. So...back to the car ride...my daughter is explaining to me that it's "weird" that folks at Improving would end their day by driving to the office to hang out together.

"You're supposed to hang out at the water cooler and complain about your boss being an idiot and how much your job sucks.", she explains to me.

"That's the old way, baby", I explain. "We are what business is SUPPOSED to look like. We spend way too much time in life at work for it to be terrible and suck. This is the kind of company everyone should be able to work for."

So...that’s the thing, I want to be weird; specifically, I want to leave a legacy of weird provided that this is how we all define it. Companies that care about people and connection and are willing to invest and nurture that mentality are what should be the normative. Companies that invest in the whole person and not just who shows up for 8 hours a day. We should strive to be leaders that lead by example and walk the talk by by spending time with people, investing in relationship, and getting to know them and their families (as well as sharing our own family with them). Investing in maximizing people is the best ROI I can think of for any business and I'm thankful that Improving does exactly that. I want this to be her normative and if she can't find, I want her to build it!