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On the morning of the @EOYIreland awards, I've been reflecting on the value awards nights like this bring to the people and companies who are nominated for them.
A thread
I've also posted this to my blog at https://joelennon.com/on-awards
A thread
I've also posted this to my blog at https://joelennon.com/on-awards
It’s 3 years now since John and I started Workvivo and we’ve had some incredible milestones along the way. Like landing our 1st customer & seeing revenue hit our bank a/c for the 1st time. Like winning our 1st enterprise customer & rolling it out to their 50k employees globally.
Raising a €15m Series A round of investment. Opening our 1st office in the United States. Hiring over 30 people. Welcoming An Taoiseach to our offices to announce 100 new jobs. We’ve had some phenomenal successes over the past few years, and there’s a lot for us to take pride in
The thing is, when all of this is happening in such a short period of time, you feel like you’re running around at 1,000 miles per hour, and you neglect to pause, take a step back and actually let it sink in what you’ve achieved.
When you reach a milestone, you’re already thinking about the next one. When you win a new big customer, you’re already focusing on how to ensure their rollout is successful. When you ship a great new feature, you’re already thinking about all the ways you can make it even better
There’s always more work to be done, and when you’re moving at such a fast pace, the hardest thing to do is often to take stock of what you’ve already accomplished.
This is where awards nights really shine. Having your company nominated for an award forces you to take a night off, to celebrate and enjoy an evening with your family, colleagues and peers. It makes you take a step back and reflect on your journey and achievements.
You also get to see what the outside world thinks about you and your company. From hearing feedback from people who use your product, to hearing about people who have just been following you and are want you to be successful - awards bring out so much positivity, energy and joy.
Awards are also great for the positive impact they have across your company. For everyone working in the company, being nominated for an award is a great validation that all their hard work is being recognised, and not just internally.
With awards the focus is often on the leaders of the companies in question, but the reality is that being nominated for an award is a recognition of the success and hard work of every single person in the business.
John and I may be in the spotlight this evening, but we’re only there because of the efforts of everyone in Workvivo - and we’re so incredibly grateful to our team for everything that they do.
Being nominated for this award, in particular, is quite special. This has been a year like no other, and it’s been harder than ever to take a break and recognise our successes.
In spite of the major challenges of putting on a gala event in a world of social distancing and lockdowns - the @EOYIreland team at EY have done an incredible job. From what I’ve seen in the preparations for the event, it will be a memorable evening and a great show.
@EOYIreland made a great fuss about each and every nominee, and I know I speak for every company involved when I say that they have exceeded every expectation I had about this process right from the start.
This award is also special in that it has unlocked an extraordinary community for us. This programme connects you not just with your fellow finalists, but with the entire community of past finalists, including some of the most notable names in the business world.
It’s a cliche to say that it’s just nice to be nominated and that the winning doesn’t really matter - but with this event that is absolutely the truth.
Congratulations to all of our fellow nominees and to whoever goes on to win each category tonight. I hope you all enjoy this opportunity to reflect and take pride in yourselves as much as I will.
