The Joy in Business

22Because of You

• Q. How do you recognize people who do great things?

  A. You present them with the Because of You award.

The Because of You award was created at a sales organization I used to work at years ago. I was always the number one sales producer out of about 100 employees. I won an incredible number of awards, tremendous trips, and company yacht adventures to exotic places. I looked forward to going to the monthly all-company meetings because I knew I would be recognized for my hard work. Being from the Land of Social, you can imagine how much I enjoyed the recognition! It was AMAZING!!

One day I was talking to an administrative assistant in the office. I asked whether she was going to the meeting that night. She said, “I don’t really want to go.” I asked why not. They were fun events with lots of great food and drinks, immediately following the award ceremony and company announcements. She said, “No offense, but the same people get recognized and a lot of other people work just as hard, but just because they don’t make money for the company they don’t get the recognition that they deserve.” At that moment, the Because of You award was born.

The Because of You award is given because someone did something very nice, helpful, thoughtful, significant, or incredible for somebody else. Because of you, and all you do! Because of something special you did. Because of you, it was done. Because of you, I left happier on a tough day. Because of you, I was able to reach my ...