I love the practice of gratitude and counting my blessings. I particularly enjoy it during November, as everyone is talking about what they are grateful for in the weeks leading up to Thanksgiving. I am happy to kick off FSi’s month of gratitude, where every week you’ll hear from one of FSi’s Principals about our thoughts on gratitude about the work we get to do.
I’ve decided to focus on our people-focused culture that has us mentoring and developing our staff.
FSi has recently welcomed back three former employees, and I am really happy about it. A couple of them were gone for just a year or two, and one is back after more than a decade. They each left for different reasons, and the “why” is not really important. We want our colleagues to succeed, and sometimes, a job change is a great career move for them. What I think is really important is that they chose to come back. I think it says a lot about the culture we have at FSi.
In the 22+ years I’ve worked in the industry, I’ve had a chance to work for and with many companies. I chose to stay at FSi and to join the leadership team because of our shared culture and values. This is a company that walks the walk, and I think having people return to us demonstrates that in a very tangible way.
My experience of corporate culture prior to joining FSi was that every employee is expected to toe the line and fit into the company model or move on. I had always chosen to leave. Until I came to FSi. At the most basic level, this company grows in the directions that match the interests and passions of our staff. I was encouraged to grow my skills in ways that inspired me, to help the company become more focused on radical sustainability like Living Buildings, and to become a much stronger player in education and community projects like libraries and rec centers. Those are the things that grab my attention and at FSi, I continue to grow as a person and a mechanical designer.
There are so many things I’m grateful for at FSi that I could go on for another few pages. But in the interests of leaving things the other leaders to write about, I’ll end here. Thank you FSi for being a place people want to return to. And thank you to those of you who chose to come back.