Business Books and other Drivel




Everything Matters

Gracie the company dog

This is Gracie. She’s been a part of our family for about six years. We got her because my wife felt responsible for the death of Wilma, our previous dog. Wilma was not a pretty dog, but she was the smartest dog I’ve ever owned. Gracie is just the opposite — dumber than a box of rocks, but as pretty and playful as any animal you’ll ever meet. I give you that background to explain Gracie’s new status as the official pet of Port-to-Port Consulting.

Now, several years later, there is no one at home in our house during the day. It’s not unusual for the last person to leave at 7:30 in the morning and the first person not return until 7:30 or 8:00 that night. Gracie is up in years (We don’t know her exact age because she was found with her feet frozen to the pavement in a WalMart parking lot.) and she can’t manage her bodily functions for that long a period. Who could? As a result, she’s been relieving herself in our living room pretty regularly. Susie was fed up with that and wanted to get rid of her, so I, the guy who didn’t want her to begin with, decided to take her to work with me where she’d be able to get out during the day.

Port-to-Port is a customer service focused company. That makes it strange that our internal environment often feels caustic. It’s like we use up all of our nice in dealing with our customers so we have nothing but nasty for each other. All of that changed noticeably when Gracie started coming to work. Everyone started being nicer to everyone else. Nothing else changed, but almost overnight, our office became a nicer place.

We spend so much time worrying about the things that make a difference that we sometimes overlook the fact that everything matters. Adding a loving, friendly dog makes our company a better place to work. Who would have thought?