Article contributed by Mike Berman, COO, Day & Nite/All Service
From having her hospital scrubs displayed at the Smithsonian to serving as Grand Marshall for last week’s enormously successful Canyon of Heroes tickertape parade honoring frontline workers and first responders, Northwell Health’s critical care nursing director Sandra Lindsay deserves more than all the accolades she continues to receive.
Many know Nurse Lindsay because she was the first non-clinical trial American to receive the Pfizer vaccination, or for her caring professionalism treating Covid patients during the worst of pandemic times. Yet fewer know that she also lost two close relatives to Covid-19 or that while she was superbly executing her professional responsibilities Nurse Lindsay never wavered in her call to duty at home. Sandra Lindsay may be the most visible everyday hero of this era, but more than standing out as an individual she is a representative for millions of others whose names, faces and daily contributions are mostly known only to those in more direct contact.
I am privileged to work with hundreds of Sandra Lindsay’s and dedicate this week’s column to them.
Heroes do great things and it certainly stands to reason that more often than not we instantly conjure images of high profile people and their major achievements, but the true Covid Trilogy stars have been, are and will be everyday people stepping up with purposeful determination to be counted on despite so many forces working against them. I see it in the working mother who tossed her clocks out months ago, splitting her endless time continuum working from home and the office seemingly available by phone, email, text and Teams messaging all hours of everyday—even on weekends or when she and her family are moving into a new home. Day & Nite family of companies customers feel it from a single mother who is never too busy to be of service, always upbeat no matter how tough any day might be, guaranteed to brighten up everyone’s day not just by producing results but through her infectious smile you can feel and see even if talking to her on the phone. Sales people are often stereotyped as a weird mix of selfish money-motivated, lazy, glib to the point of untrustworthiness, yet Day & Nite/All Service/Popular Plumbing/Performance Air Mechanical sales professionals include a US Naval Academy graduate and former marine field artillery battery unit commander who so deeply cares, people feel they’ve known him their whole lives after just meeting him, to a peer who was checking in on customers from her hospital bed immediately after surgery. Their greatness—and many others—define a company culture epitomized by the most special group of all, the company’s unparalleled field service operation.
The US Postal Service may have updated Herodotus Histories with its “neither rain nor snow” motto, but it’s time for them to all move over for field service professionals setting a new pace of “neither pandemic, nor supply chain limitations, extreme weather, unprecedented simultaneous demand for our services, ever-changing building access and safety measures, horrible traffic, will keep us from our appointed rounds or to maintain our professional calm to ensure our customers equipment uptime”. Sandra Lindsay and other heroic frontline first responders bring care and comfort to people; field service technicians and respective management teams bring that same degree of care to essential HVAC, refrigeration, cooking and plumbing equipment these professionals depend on. Conscious of the vital role they play in a more critical ecosystem, I marvel at the incredible attitude, undoubtedly a reflection of field service professionals knowing what they do every day has real meaning. These daily moments of heroism are too numerous to list here, but with due recognition for all best captured by a team of Charlotte (NC) technician specialists effectively commuting between Florida and DC for literally months on end to assure indoor environmental quality, workplace hygiene, food safety and continuous uptime on the most critical, sensitive equipment.
Regardless of endeavor, it is generally agreed that company culture sets the essential tone and is best defined as a set of shared values, goals, attitudes and practices but it’s less clear how company culture is actually shaped, where it is most deeply rooted. Perhaps there’s an unsolvable chicken or egg debate element whether company culture is shaped at the top or owned by the determined efforts and dedication of service professionals embodying essential values, goals, attitudes and practices attracting others with shared purpose and destiny. Consider the Day & Nite family of companies website careers section, certainly a radical departure from the standard fare: Career Opportunities @ Day & Nite.
Every paragraph of Viktor Frankl’s Man’s Search For Meaning contains life altering insights. Whether they have read it or not, each of the everyday heroes serving on the frontlines epitomizes Frankl’s most profound thoughts, perhaps none more than “Between stimulus and response there is a space. In that space is our power to choose our response. On our response lies our growth and our freedom”. If you are a professional with these same shared values, goals, attitudes, and practices wishing to fully exercise your freedom by growing with purpose email jbf@wearetheone.com
