News
Computer Hiccup
Newsletter – Tuesday, May 17, 2011
Life is what happens while you are making other plans. I originally wrote this newsletter over the weekend while unbeknownst to me, our network was suffering a major hiccup. Monday I arrived at the office only to find that we have no Internet and one of our servers is down, and Zach, our IT man, is on vacation in California. After diligently trying to troubleshoot the problem over the phone with another of our IT specialists, Zach hopped on a plane and flew home to handle the crisis at hand. Talk about motivation and passion! It also makes a great lead-in for my newsletter. Thank you for your patience while we get ourselves back up to speed. Repeat after me: "Computers are great… computers are our friends… computers are great…”
A mother knocked on her son’s bedroom door and said it was time to get up and go to school. Her son replied that he did not want to go to school. His mother insisted that he had to go to school. The son began to cry and said, "The kids don’t like me and the teachers don’t like me; I won’t even be missed". His mother, while sympathetic, explained that he still had to get up and go to school. "Give me two reasons why I have to go to school today", demanded the son. "Well", said his mother, "first, you’re 49 years old, and second, you’re the principal".
Do you ever think about what motivates you to go to work? I have gone to many conferences and heard great motivational speakers, but an old friend and colleague who I greatly admire said it best, “You don’t motivate anyone, people have to motivate themselves”. While I do believe that leaders can inspire, give purpose, direction, and valuable feedback, it is ultimately the individual who motivates himself or herself to put forth great effort and passion into their daily work activities. Highly motivated, passionate people make a great company. We want to be the best wholesale agency in our market; this is our goal - it’s what motivates us.
When you have someone like Nancy answering the phones with enthusiasm; she makes a difference and she resonates with the goal of being the best. Or Shannon, who has issued policies for the Tuscano Agency for over ten years, and still does it with a drive for excellence and efficiency; she makes a difference and she resonates with the goal of providing the best customer service. While I know that neither of them would come to work if we did not pay them, (of course no one I know except my sisters Jinny and Joady would come to work without a paycheck!) it is not the pay that inspires them but the resonation with the mission and the people around them. We are very fortunate at the Tuscano Agency. We have a lot of people here who are highly motivated and passionate about being the best – the best wholesaler in our marketplace.
How do we gauge being the best wholesaler? Well, it’s not as simple as opening the sports page and reading the stats on your favorite team. I wish it were. So, we have simply defined it as follows: when you, our customer, sends your brokerage business to Tuscano first and only to Tuscano, then we are reaching our goal. Whether you need to broker a motorcycle, a pollution policy, a dump truck, or a sports bar, think Tuscano first. Our folks will work hard to get you what you need. We’re motivated and passionate about providing the best customer service in our marketplace. We hope you agree.
I’ve been writing this newsletter for more than twenty years and fortunately have had very few misprints along the way. Unfortunately, in my last letter I commented on my good friend Governor Dean from Vermont. I made the terrible mistake of misprinting his first name; it is Howard (not Harold) Dean. My sincerest apologies to Governor Dean.
