Last post for the old soldier
Parting is such sweet sorrow. As you can see from the pics, the tears flowed on Friday when one of MINDEF's finest took his leave of the Alpha men and women at 43c Beach Road.
Of course it begs the question that if he's so bloody sad to be leaving us, maybe he should be staying, right? But apparently he wants to "find himself" by backpacking around the fleshpots of the Philippines for a few months. So I say, good luck, make sure you pack some raincoats, and I'll see you begging for your job back in 6 months Gerry.
Seriously though, it seems a good moment to pause and reflect on Gerry's contribution.
I still remember him coming into the office for an interview on a Saturday morning, bright-eyed and eager to throw himself into a new career. That immediatelty impressed. The fact that he was a fluent Thai speaker was also a big tick in the margin, as it dovetailed nicely with Alphabet's strong regional readership.
But what was genuinely 'Great' about Gerry - beyond his ability to sprint, dodging machine gun fire, whilst carrying a wounded colleague, and bayonet clenched between teeth - was his willingness to join Jessica and myself as employee number three in an office the size of a shoebox.
Others rapidly joined us - but Gerald was the first in the wave of people that transformed the business from being a single magazine, to a business with scale. In his time we launched two new magazines, two new online communities, a seminar business, and six new stand alone conferences. And we're still growing at a breakneck pace. Of course
Gerald provided a helping hand out on all of the above - because part of the 'Alphabet Way' is that we're a bloody hard working SME, and we're here to collectively succeed.
But perhaps his greatest contribution was simply being the first in line to believe in the Alphabet future. After he joined, it was progressively easier to persuade the next person to join, and so on, and in so doing set in train a transformation of the scope, and quality of the business.
Gerry, thanks for the hysteria, the worrying, the handling of the CMS, the discussions on body fat ratios, and your catwalk sashaying. Farewell, Commando.
Of course it begs the question that if he's so bloody sad to be leaving us, maybe he should be staying, right? But apparently he wants to "find himself" by backpacking around the fleshpots of the Philippines for a few months. So I say, good luck, make sure you pack some raincoats, and I'll see you begging for your job back in 6 months Gerry.
Seriously though, it seems a good moment to pause and reflect on Gerry's contribution.
I still remember him coming into the office for an interview on a Saturday morning, bright-eyed and eager to throw himself into a new career. That immediatelty impressed. The fact that he was a fluent Thai speaker was also a big tick in the margin, as it dovetailed nicely with Alphabet's strong regional readership.
But what was genuinely 'Great' about Gerry - beyond his ability to sprint, dodging machine gun fire, whilst carrying a wounded colleague, and bayonet clenched between teeth - was his willingness to join Jessica and myself as employee number three in an office the size of a shoebox.
Others rapidly joined us - but Gerald was the first in the wave of people that transformed the business from being a single magazine, to a business with scale. In his time we launched two new magazines, two new online communities, a seminar business, and six new stand alone conferences. And we're still growing at a breakneck pace. Of course
Gerald provided a helping hand out on all of the above - because part of the 'Alphabet Way' is that we're a bloody hard working SME, and we're here to collectively succeed.But perhaps his greatest contribution was simply being the first in line to believe in the Alphabet future. After he joined, it was progressively easier to persuade the next person to join, and so on, and in so doing set in train a transformation of the scope, and quality of the business.
Gerry, thanks for the hysteria, the worrying, the handling of the CMS, the discussions on body fat ratios, and your catwalk sashaying. Farewell, Commando.
posted by James Smith at 11:10 am
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