It’s spring in Nashville and the colors are amazing. I had friends come to town and they were stunned by the green brilliance, repeatedly saying “Wow” and “Amazing,” so I took a bit more time to observe. It can be easy to become used to one’s surroundings, not noticing the spectacular after so much time in it.
Each fiscal year we start over again – our spring is in September – and I wonder what I might be too used to and thus, not in awe of. I am sure that during my two years of business school, I never heard a professor talk about awe at work. They talked about profit and human resources, corporate finance and brand – but awe, amazement or wonder? That would be a big negative, no and nada.
As I reflect on the work we do and who we do it with, I see it with jazz hands. I am truly astonished and incredibly appreciative of our team. Some have been at ISTS for more than 20 years, others are in their first few months, yet they all bring an awe-worthy willingness to learn and change or to at least try and stick it out. We’ve gone from mostly in-office to fully remote, and the choice to figure out all that comes with waking up and going to sleep in the same place you work is pretty ‘wow’.
I thought technology was coming fast when we rang in the year 2000 and anticipated that all the computers would burst into flames, but AI? It’s like going from the dusty browns of Nevada to Nashville’s vibrant, rolling landscape – almost incomprehensibly different. AI is changing things every day and I’m asking our people to look around, to be in awe, to notice it. Those who embrace it, who get into it, will (I believe) have moments of awe and wonder.
Technology, like the seasons, can be exciting at first and then get old as we get accustomed to it, as it becomes so familiar and we can use it without much thought. Just as we become fluent, the next thing launches and it can be difficult to adjust, to slow things down as we learn the new tool, new vocabulary and results.
As spring turns to summer and the lush greens of my hometown dull a bit with the heat, I’ve made the choice to slow down and admire; to resist the temptation to be bored by the everyday or frustrated with what’s new. Instead, I will embrace the jazz hands.
– Becky Sharpe, CEO
