Surrounded by greatness
This post was written by Matt Douglas, Founder & CEO
Think of the people you work with on a regular basis. How many of them are nice people and good at what they do? Most of the people that I’ve worked with in my career fall into this category. They are genuinely nice people, and they can do their job with an adequate amount of skill. They try their hardest to please, and you know that they intend well.
Now how many of the people you work with on a regular basis are GREAT? The truly great people are self-motivated, are able to read between the lines, and they deliver truly great results. They are the kind of people that want to get it right — and will often go above and beyond to make sure they do.
In my experience, there is a significant gap between those who are good and those who are GREAT. Usually, a great person is worth 4 or 5 good people. That is, they can do the work of 4-5 good people in the same amount of time. Yes, the difference is that large. That’s why great people command the respect (and compensation) that they deserve.
One of the wonderful things about running a startup is that you can choose who to add to your team. I’m lucky enough to be surrounded by a group of really GREAT people who are fantastic at what they do. In each of their disciplines (marketing, design, engineering, analytics, user experience) they often exceed expectations. They all want to succeed and it’s a great feeling to work among people who strive to be the best.
If this blog post sounds like a love soliloquy for the people at Punchbowl Software — well, it unabashedly is. Because one of the consequences of being surrounded by greatness is that it fills me with the confidence to step away from the office and take a few days off. As you read this, I’m far away from the office but I know that the team will continue to move our company forward and delight our customers.
And that’s what being surrounded by greatness really is all about.
