One of the difficulties in acknowledging people for their efforts is that it's easy to forget to acknowledge someone in the process. You often see this in award ceremonies like the Oscar's where a failure to mention "a special someone" can be misinterpreted as a pointed commentary about the winner's state of relationships. I vividly recall in 2000 at the Oscar's when Hilary Swank failed to thank her Chad Lowe (others besides me noticed as well). Perhaps the reason why I was so sensitive to Hilary's mistake was because a similar thing happened to me in 1999.
When I received Chrysler Design Award in 1999 at a swank ceremony in New York I was terribly flummoxed as I felt that I really didn't feel that I deserved the award. So at the podium I acknowledged one of my dear mentors, the late Muriel Cooper, as the more deserved focus of the awarding. Filled with pride that I had made the right kind of acknowledgment, I then sat down next to my wife and realized I had forgotten a certain, errrr, special someone ... sitting ... right ... next ... to me.
In the workplace you can't say "thank you" enough. At the same time, you really can't say "thank you" enough, as each action by an organization is the result of a chain reaction of many parties. To give thanks to every link in the process is often impossible. I guess that is why a leader should in general be thankful. If she is on the average a thankful person, and expresses this gratitude constantly, then the thanks permeates an organization with constancy -- so that as the thanks radiates and propagates outwards it's bound to hit everyone ... if even only glancingly.
So thanks to you for taking the time to read this. And thanks to the situation that allows you to take some time out of your day to visit. I'm thankful for your continued interest.
Posted by maeda at November 4, 2007 08:38 PM