Today, November 24, 2020, is Day #257 of lockdown in San Francisco. With Thanksgiving in two days, it’s tempting to look back on the year and feel disappointed – at all the missed trips and personal interactions, at all the social strife and anger.
I don’t feel disappointed, though. I feel thankful, more than I ever have before.
I’m thankful for my coworkers, who adjusted quickly to the new norm, even those in difficult personal situations, and continued serving our customers and each other with patience and determination. I’m thankful for the kindness and respect they showed each other, regardless of background or political affiliation.
I’m thankful for our customers, who treat us as an extension of their teams. We’re in one of the best industries imaginable because we have an insider’s view into how bridges are built, environments are cleaned, power is generated, life-saving drugs are manufactured, research of national importance is conducted, and much more – without having to do any of the hard work. We get to play a supporting role to their amazing missions.
I’m thankful for technology. Social media has (rightly) been put under a microscope, but our adjustment to working from home would not have been possible without Zoom, Microsoft Teams, high-speed home internet, and the dozens of other tools that keep us productive.
I’m thankful for our community – the prospects, investors, analysts, and even competitors that we can geek out with about enterprise software, with all of us driving to the shared goal of ever greater innovation.
I’m thankful for my family, which adjusted as stoically to the new situation as I had any right to expect.
There are still too many people suffering because of Covid-19. I’m confident that we will pull through this together, as we’ve always done. In the meantime, this Thanksgiving may be quieter and less attended than it’s been in the past, but that feels appropriate to me – less about party and more about introspection.
We have so much to be grateful for and to look forward to in 2021.
