This has certainly been one of the most emotional weeks of my career. The death of our neighbor puts the whole week into perspective. To sum it all up, I’ve paraphrased an e-mail that I sent to my company today.

Team,

Our organizational changes and the impact it will have on all of us is significant. Now more than ever we need to pull together as a team. We have an unbelievable opportunity in front of us. I’ve been working closely with sales on both the new and existing customer opportunities. There is business to be had folks! We also have some tremendous opportunities with our Touch Screen POS and WebConnector product.

But back to putting life into perspective for a moment, the death of our neighbor here in Stuart brings to mind the fact that we lost someone in our “Exuma family” less than six months ago. Like our neighbor, she died of breast cancer. When I passed her surviving husband in the hall the other day he said (after just hearing about the changes) with a smile, “tough day huh Cam”? I said “yes”. He said “It can’t be fun to announce things like that but we will be Ok”. This came from a guy that just lost his wife six months ago! He has the ability to put things into perspective.

I also wanted to share with the team the e-mail I received from someone in our development group. I’ve paraphrased it below:

“From the very first few weeks of working here, back in the middle of March, I told my wife that this company seemed more like a family instead of just a company. I told her that I enjoyed being apart of this company because of that particular reason. I still feel that way even today. I think that like a family, this company has an ultimate goal to see all of us as a whole succeed and excel in all that we do and stand for. I understand the sacrifices that have to be made for the improvement of this family and stand behind it with my head held high in belief that we can make this happen. Thank you for keeping us all together. I’m definitely willing to put my best foot forward to see this Exuma vessel reach its destination and more.”

I couldn’t have said it better. We have Linchpins among us folks. We have people on this team who given a chance can to rise to heights they’ve never reached before. When life hands you lemons, time to make lemonade. Put life into perspective. Whenever I bring an issue to my mom who is a psychotherapist she always asks me “will it kill you?”. Once we establish that whatever issue I’ve brought to her is not life threatening, we work backwards through less devastating outcomes until she helps me arrive at a solution. It’s called Rational Thinking. You can read more about it here: www.refusetobeupset.com.

Anyway, I am proud of this team. I am proud of the way that we’ve been able to stick together. If we can stick together and give our co-workers and teams something to work towards, Exuma will continue to be a place of inspiration and creative output. Money is important. But it’s not the only motivation to do your best.

Reasons to work (excerpt from www.sethgodin.com)

1. For the money

2. To be challenged

3. For the pleasure/calling of doing the work

4. For the impact it makes on the world

5. For the reputation you build in the community

6. To solve interesting problems

7. To be part of a group and to experience the mission

8. To be appreciated

Why do we always focus on the first? Why do we advertise jobs or promotions as being generic on items 2 through 8 and differentiated only by #1?

In fact, unless you’re a drug kingpin or a Wall Street trader, my guess is that the other factors are at work every time you think about your work.