Truth is, I wasn't able to blog right after I wrote about the Inc article. Why, you ask? Well, the week after I blogged about the Treadless article, I got an email from Jeffrey Kalmikoff who is the CCO of Treadless. Frankly, reading the email I felt my eyes fall out of my head.
Jeffrey wrote, "It's a great feeling when you read something from someone who not only lives outside of the tech "bubble" but also seems to understand our motivation better than people within it. You're right, it is about connectivity between ourselves and the people in our community, forming and nurturing those relationships."
Now I know there are spiders and robots and all kinds of techie things that monitor postings and web info behind the scenes. I know that and it makes sense that some spider/robot/secret agent thing trolled through the net and pinged the info to Jeffrey.
That's not the big news. The big news is that Jeffry takes the time to respond to these things, to drop a little note of appreciation for the post. (And yes, one of his parents responded too. I'm still reeling from that.)
Imagine if someone in General Motors or General Electric were to take the time to respond to positive press out there in the ether. Imagine the good will that would be generated. Someone told me yesterday that he's been a customer of Verizon since they first started a wireless business. (Frank disclosure here: I've been totally, thoroughly impressed with Verizon's behind the scenes support for our office DSL. Truly magnificient.) But this person, let's call him Keith, has never heard a word of appreciation for his business with Verizon. Not a thank you, not a discount, not a title of "preferred customer" after over 10 years.
Gosh, perhaps Verizon could use a little coaching from Jeffrey. (Okay, I apologize for the sarcasm....) Maybe these "old school" businesses might want to learn to take the time to say thanks, we appreciate your business.
Interesting, isn't it?
The gift for me in this reflection is about learning to be appreciative, learning to give thanks more often, relaxing into the moment and seeing the moments of generosity that live quietly in the corners of our worlds. What Jeffrey did was write a note, probably no big stretch for him. For me, though, it had me realize how amazing the world can be if we're willing to include and appreciate and give thanks.
The weekend after I got the note from Jeffrey I was giving a presentation to the New England Society for the Study of Trauma and Dissociation. Yes, it's a mouthful. Usually people just say, NESTTD. Anyway, I told the story of writing this blog and getting the response... and the standing room only crowd of therapists listened intently. For them, my writing a blog is somewhat mind boggling -- but more than that is knowing and hearing and validating how much the world is changing. The gentle moments of appreciation have quiet, steady ripples throughout our world.
May we open even more to the goodness in the world.
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