Where does your company get its personality, its values, its integrity? I have found that every organization seems to reflect the personality of a dominant individual in the company. Sometimes it’s the CEO, but often it is a department manager or some other person with a strong presence. Identify that person, and you will understand how to do business with that organization. Or maybe, you will decide not to waste your time and seek a more dependable partner to befriend.
One of the pleasures of doing business in the northwest is the recognition of the importance of reputation and relationships. Throughout my 30+ year business career in Portland, I continued doing business with individuals that I had known during several generations of employment and job titles. There is a lot of talk about companies, but the bottom line is that people do business with people.
In a world where marketing spin attempts to overcome sub-par products and services, it is refreshing to see how some companies take the principled approach and reject the “quick buck.” This morning’s Business Section of the Oregonian featured Rich Bader in an article by Mike Rogoway that recognized EasyStreet as an important business citizen in Portland.
Sustainable businesses are very much like sustainable friendships. They thrive on shared values for the long term.
December 4th, 2007 by Day Tooley
Posted in Sustainability, @ EasyStreet | 1 Comment »
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After a hiatus of more than 6 decades, I found myself back in kindergarten this week. It was my first full week as a ParaEducator substitute for Portland Public Schools at Meriwether Lewis Elementary, Room 1, where Mrs. Parks was called 'Teacher'. I was the other adult present. The children called me 'Day.'
It might be more accurate to say that there were 25 five-year-old teachers channeling wisdom to 2 adults.
My primary responsibility was to help a sweet but disruptive little girl stay on track and get through her day. She had a 4-syllable name which took some effort for her to write at the top of each paper. I will honor her privacy by using an alias of 'Dulcinea' (from Man of La Mancha ). Sometimes Dulcinea believed she was more of an 'Aldonza.'
Being there was both fun and profound. The classroom landscape was rich in possibility and unpredictable. I hadn't realized that a return to the basics would be so refreshing. Remember Robert Fulghum's 1990 book All I Really Need To Know I Learned In Kindergarten? His top 10 things were all there:
- Share everything.
- Play fair.
- Don't hit people.
- Put things back where you found them.
- Clean up your own mess.
- Don't take things that aren't yours.
- Say you're sorry when you hurt somebody.
- Wash your hands before you eat.
- Flush.
- Warm cookies and cold milk are good for you.
Pretty good reminders for those of us in business too.
November 9th, 2007 by Day Tooley
Posted in @ EasyStreet, General | 1 Comment »
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Tracing the Internet equivalent of a great circle route from New York to Bangalore, India, the New York Times noticed that many outsourcers were landing in Portland, Oregon. A leak in the Internet pipeline? Nope.
As we hire more engineers and scope further expansion of our data center, a Times article "Outsourcing I.T. To Unlikely Places, Like America" singled out EasyStreet as a Managed Server Provider who is helping other companies keep up. Among the quotes from our Rich Bader:
“We have four upstream Internet providers coming into our place,” said Rich Bader, the chief executive of EasyStreet Online Services in Beaverton, Ore., outside Portland. Among the three very high-speed lines, he said, usually one goes down once a month. “The trick is that we have enough spare bandwidth on the other lines to handle any outage.”
Click on the link to read the entire September 12th article.
September 17th, 2007 by Day Tooley
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It's been more than a decade since AARP aggressively attempted to recruit me for membership. And nobody ever asks for my ID anymore to see if I qualify for the coveted Senior Discount. But this morning's Wall Street Journal article New Social Sites Cater to People of a Certain Age led with the announcement that "Older people are sticky." That caught my eye.
Referrals and testimonials have been the mother's milk of doing business forever. The Internet has added powerful tools that many business people are using. My first one was LinkedIn. It continues to be a good way to keep connected to a sphere of people who can help one another in business. Young people continue to mob MySpace until they go to college and graduate to FaceBook, which is considered more adult. (OK, I have a FaceBook account too.)
Responsible adults now have some new places to hang out with their peers and share experience. These sites with names like Eons, ReZoom, Multiply, Maya’s Mom, Boomj, and BoomerTown, look like FaceBook — with wrinkles. All are free to join but require some time and involvement to be useful.
I took a look at Multiply which would appeal to those who want to be known in the community. Good choice for sharing with friends and family. But I really liked TeeBeeDee (their theme is "Sharing Experience to Thrive") as a place to connect based on personal interests. TeeBeeDee is new and has just received $4.8 million in venture capital.
Social networking in business is a 2-way street. While you can learn about others, others can also research and learn about you. For example, before we interview a potential employee, it is common to do a Google search on them as well as to look for their Internet footprints on the social networking sites.
Of course, you can share your networking experience on this blog as well by leaving a comment. What is working for you?
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Posted in @ EasyStreet, Collaboration, Networking, General | 2 Comments »
Oregon Secretary of State Bill Bradbury presented the PGE Gold-Level Clean Wind Partner Certificate to CEO Rich Bader this morning at the EasyStreet data center. The breakfast event was attended by 50 EasyStreet customers.
With 100% renewable power in our offices and 50% wind power in our data center, we are moving to further reduce our carbon footprint.
What goes around, comes around. Bader then recognized Organically Grown Companies as the first of several EasyStreet customers now running their servers with 100% renewable power in our data center.
For the next 60 minutes, a passionate Bill Bradbury delivered his Global Warming Roadshow message.
Based on Al Gore’s training, Bill expanded our understanding from both a world and a northwest perspective. For example, during the past decade Portland has reduced CO2 emissions amid healthy economic growth.
Are sustainable practices good for businesses? The message shared and affirmed today clearly says they are.
Here’s a starting point. Calculate your carbon footprint.
June 5th, 2007 by Day Tooley
Posted in Sustainability, @ EasyStreet | 2 Comments »
