Eight Is Great

Nov 17, 2016

BY JIM SAWYER – CHIEF SCIENTIST

An open letter to the Elicit team.

Hey, gang.

“Best Places To Work.”

Yeah, that’s us! Can you believe it? We are the 8th best company in the entire country to work for in our industry. Check it out! How freaking awesome is that?!?

So what does it mean?

When we started this journey just a few years ago, we figured we might have a shot at intriguing a handful of folks who believed in our vision of customer centricity—who could help influence our clients to do the right thing, to do what was needed to put the customer at the center of every business decision. And I thought there might be eight or ten of us, doing amazing work for our clients, moving project-to-project, account-to-account. Hopefully we’d be doing work that makes a difference and doing it with a team that not only delivered results, but who trusted and believed in each other—who knew on a visceral, personal level that we were accomplishing it all together, as one. We would not only be helping our clients be better than they’ve ever been, we would help each other become better versions of ourselves.

That was our hope, our plan. But there was something we couldn’t foresee. We didn’t stop at eight or ten. We went to 15, and then 20, 25, and now 30+ amazingly talented people that have chosen to come along this ride with us. We’re still intensely committed to doing everything we set out to do years ago, despite (or more accurately, because of!) that growth. And we’re not done growing just yet.

Now let’s look at the data. There are at least 66,000 “agencies” in the U.S. in our field. Out of all of those, we’re so proud to have been recognized as one of the top 50 most awesome places to work in the entire country. Pardon my mathiness, but 50 / 66,000 means we are not just in the top 1%, we’re easily in the top 1/10 of 1%.

Let that settle in for a second. Then ask yourself why.

Think of all of the innovation you have inspired over the years. Think of the new service offerings you have created for us. Think of the rebellious thinking that you have brought to your clients and to your teammates. Think of how you have created customer brilliance in a way that broke through all boundaries, shining a brilliant light on not just our clients, but also on each other. Think about how you genuinely care about what we do and who we are, not just from the perspective of business, but because of how you personally feel about your colleagues as human beings—as part of the Elicit family.

This—all of this—is because of you.

I can’t imagine anywhere I’d rather work. And most importantly, I can’t imagine any other group of people I’d rather work with.

I’m incredibly proud that we are on this journey together.

Onward.
– Jim

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