Behind the Scenes of "The Upward Spiral:" Inspiration for the eBook
Posted by
Paul Alves on Thu, Sep 12, 2023 @ 09:00 AM
Back in 1995, I got to know a Professor of Anthropology from Rhode Island College. Richard was a great guy. He always had a smile on his face, and he seemed like a very happy person.
As I got to know him better, I learned that he was in fact a very happy person. His happiness came from several areas in his life. He had a wonderful family with whom he was able to spend lots of time, he was healthy, and one last thing: He loved his job. He told me that he thought he was getting away with something each day as he woke up, got dressed and went off to work. The fact that he was being paid to do something he loved so much was something he was very grateful for.
The energy and passion that Richard exuded when he spoke of his job was amazing. Up to that point, I had felt that if you did not suffer at work by working long, hard hours, you were probably not working hard enough to reach your goals. My family owned a small, family-run restaurant for twenty-five years where working long hard days, weekends, and holidays were the norm.
Richard gave me a whole new perspective, a perspective that has shaped my thinking about what work can be. Since then, and throughout my career, I have held myself to Richard’s standards: “finding work that you enjoy and are passionate about.” It has not always been easy, of course. I, like you, have bills to pay. I won’t pretend that each and every day of my working career has been pure bliss, but what I can say is that overall I have enjoyed my career greatly. I have worked in some very interesting jobs with some great people, learning a ton along the way.
When I had the opportunity to start my own company eleven years ago, my focus remained on quality of life. I’m sure you have heard a million times the term "work-life balance." For me, its all just life. We spend as much time at work as we do at home, so why do so many people think that they have to “balance” work and life? Why does one have to be good and one bad? So when Pete and I decided to strike off on our own, we did so with the goal of improving not only our own lives but the lives of each and every team member. Our goal was, and remains to this day, to create a place where our people want to come to work.
As the years have passed and we have succeeded in building a strong, stable company with a great reputation where people want to come to work, many might think, mission accomplished! However, that could not be further from the truth. Maintaining a strong corporate culture, like anything, requires constant attention. It must be nurtured, reinvented, and innovated. It is our belief that if we are not constantly improving, we are moving backward.
It is for this reason that a large part of my time and energy is dedicated to creating the best place to work anywhere. I have been inspired over the years by our great people, as well as outside companies, such as Zappos, Hubspot and Netflix, who have a significant focus on positive corporate culture. In our newest eBook “The Upward Spiral: How Company Culture Increases Productivity, Passion and Profit” I go into some depth and level of detail on the topic and look forward to further research and development for years to come.
I hope you read the eBook and come away as inspired as I was when speaking to Richard. Please leave any comments or questions below!
