Great Day

It's not often that I have a great day, but today was one of them.

Today we had was is called a quarterly review. Basically we go over a lot of statistical information. Dollars spent, dollars earned, performance of our network etc... etc... Excel spreadsheets and Power Point presentations are not what made today great.

Each of these reviews have guests coming in from our corporate headquarters in Chicago. Our CTO, National Network Operations VP, Sr. Directors of many departments all come in for a day or so for this review. These guests are part of what made today great. As I walked into the conference room, various directors congratulated me on my new role in the company, some of them coming to me to offer me their congratulations. That feels good to have these V.I.P.'s recognize me and know about the changes in my position. This company feels like extended family.

I was asked to speak to the group today, something I have not done much of. There was about 50+ people in attendance, so there was a little pressure. Basically, I was asked to tell my story about visiting a restaurant in Baxter Springs, KS. I am a fan of the Food Network show Diners, Drive In's & Dives with Guy Fieri. Living near Omaha allowed me to visit at least 3 of the spots that the show highlighted and I loved everyone of them. As I was preparing for a drive back to Iowa, I decided to look for DDD restaurants on my way home. I found one in Baxter Springs, KS called "Cafe on the Route", the route being the famous Route 66. I was stoked, Baxter Springs was on the highway I take home. So, I stopped. The food was awesome, the desert was even better. If you watch the linked video, you will see Amy, the chef/owners wife. I met her and had a great conversation. We talked a little about Kansas City, where she and her husband had moved from. She was telling me about her problems with Sprint and I mentioned that I used to work for them. Her only question to me was "Did you like working there?". Wow! I was stunned, I had never be asked that by a stranger. I said that I liked it at first, but it was early in my career and I didn't know any better.

I went on to explain that I worked for the complete opposite of Sprint now. She asked the logical question, which was "Where do you work?" I responded US Cellular. "We love US Cellular!" was her response. I couldn't help but smile. She gushed a little more about us and I couldn't help but to think that she was what we want as a company. She wasn't a customer, she was an advocate. Which is what our newest CEO is looking for, not satisfied customers, but customers that are our advocates. I dug through my wallet looking for a card that we can hand out to customers that give them 150 minutes of use per phone. I found one and handed it to her. She read it, questioned me on it and then thanked me. She said it was the nicest thing a customer had done for her (I sure hope not) and that it was very generous of me. I told her that I was only the messenger, that it was a thank you from our company for being our customer.

That was the story I got to share to my co-workers and our corporate guests. My story was well received, the Vice President even turned around, after I sat down, and mouthed "Good Job". Nice, the day was already cast as a great day for me. I could have gone home and it was only 10:15 AM. As the day went on, many congratulated me on my story, asked me questions about that experience and overall made it feel like I had an impact.

I had many conversations today, some with peers, co-workers, managers, etc... I also had a lot of conversations with Directors of many departments in and out of the region and from the corporate office. What I realized later is how many of them remembered me from years ago, from brief contact with them in very different situations. That feels great.

So the day is almost done, it has been fantastic. It turns out that it isn't over yet.

After getting back to the apartment tonight, I got a call from a young former Marine that I had been helping with his post military career. Back in January, I sat down with him to discuss his experience in the Marine Corps, what he was doing for employment, review his resume and basically gave him some ideas on how to improve himself to gain a career in the wireless industry. Living in a small town it was going to be hard to get that job in the industry without having to move to a larger city. I spelled out some hard decisions for him and he took my advice, moved to Missouri to take a job with a wireless internet provider. He was separated from his wife, but started to learn the business of being a wireless technician. Flash forward about 4 months and my old position will be opened. I got him internally refered to US Cellular, he passed the phone interview and then made it to the face to face interview. I helped him prepare for our interview process. It is called a "behavioral interview", it has less to do with your resume and more to do with how you handle yourself in a given situation. Open ended questions designed to get a feel for the candidate. The interview was last Friday and tonight he got the call. The job offer. Sweet! I am so excited for him and his wife.

So in recap. I talked with senior leaders of my company. I shared my customer experience story with the region. I helped a young Marine gain a new career.

I feel like today was a good day.