Outside of our regular posts that aim to help our readers and affiliates improve various aspects of their businesses, part of my job is to report the happenings at Bravo’s headquarters.
This week, the staff put its brackets together for March Madness. Some were meticulously pored over using stats from the regular season, and some were put together through criteria like which mascots were more fearsome and/or which team has cooler uniforms. Without throwing anyone under a bus, Bodie, our managerial consultant, leveraged his background in econometrics to pick the most statistically advantageous teams. Robert, web and print designer, raced to make his picks over a bowl of Lucky Charms in just under 23 seconds, and Matthew, esteemed web developer, used his Two Face coin [see: The Dark Knight] to decide his. I’m not sure if Robert actually knows who’s playing or why Matthew has that coin, but they both seem pretty confident that they’ll win.
I picked my bracket purely based on seed number without regard to the possibility of potential upsets. I then used my second bracket to pick the exact same teams because I was so pleased with my original selections. It wasn’t until five minutes later, when I realized my sure thing wasn’t a sure thing, that I immediately regretted my decision. The tournament and the quasi-friendly sense of competition have brought the team together. And any way the cards fall, we’ll all have fun… everyone except for last place that is. Bragging rights aside, fun is what we’re aiming for.
Not to get too serious but at the end of 2011, I posted an entry on making New Year’s resolutions for your business and committing to them. One of the points I made was to be exceptional in each and everything you do. Part of that entails how you respond to adversity and external variables, but the other part consists of how you prepare yourself during the interim. The NCAA tournament lasts one month, and each game consists of two 20-minute halves. In the grand scheme of things, that’s the smallest amount of time.
What dictates success are the days, months and years spent in preparation leading up to an opportunity. At Bravo Design, Inc., we prepare. We get to know our clients, so we’ll come to anticipate what they’ll expect without them actually having to ask. We prepare, so we can avoid the snags that bring projects to grinding halts. We prepare so that when opportunity presents itself, we can capitalize. We realize that our strengths are dependent on the individuals that represent our organization. So if kicking back while making fun of each other and ourselves will contribute to our overall success, yeah, we’ll do that.
We’re not in the business of trying to build just any team.
