Our fiscal calendar runs from 9/1–8/31 each year. It’s September 1 – HAPPY NEW YEAR!
Each year, as we go through the budget and planning process for the next, I am always amazed at 1) how fast the year went by and 2) all that our team accomplished. We never know what lies ahead and yet, as things happen and we need to adjust, we do.
As I reflect on our 2026 fiscal year, the word that comes to me is present. Over the past 12 months, we have experienced natural disasters, happy surprises, the daily grind and unexpected tragedies. Through it all, I watched people who were directly involved – as well as those outside the experience – show up for each other. They bounced back, made the best of things, celebrated, and most importantly to me, recognized when someone needed help and cared for one another.
That leads me to my second choice of a word to describe the ISTS team: resilience. I asked AI for a little history lesson, and here’s what it said:
The word comes from the Latin resilire, meaning “to leap back” or “rebound.” By the 1600s and 1700s, English writers were using resilience to describe something bouncing or springing back. In the 1800s, engineers began using it more technically: a material was resilient if it could absorb stress and return to its original shape rather than permanently deform or break.
The big shift toward human resilience happened in the 20th century. Psychologists originally tended to study what caused people to develop problems after trauma, poverty, difficult childhoods or other adversity. Researchers then noticed something surprising: many people exposed to serious adversity did quite well. The question changed from “What went wrong?” to “What helped this person succeed despite what happened?”
One of the books on the ISTS company bookshelf must-read list is Positive Intelligence by Shirzad Chamine. We all work on finding the gift and opportunity in every situation – being resilient. Doing so takes a strong mind and a willing intellect.
When I am able to ponder what I learned from one of my many mistakes or blunders – after the initial bruising subsides – the learning is bigger and more impactful. It stays with me much more deeply than the miss itself.
So, as we start Q1 2027 (WOW!), I hope we all do so knowing that we are going to experience things outside of our control – some that bring us joy and others that make us mad, sad and maybe even hopeless.
But if we go into them with the intention to learn and with the knowledge that we can come out of difficult situations stronger, I am confident we will get closer to seeing the best versions of ourselves, our coworkers, our clients and our partners.
Here’s to being present, being resilient and seeing what FY2027 has in store for us. Happy New Year!
– Becky Sharpe, CEO
