A holiday encounter that sharpened my perspective

Sometimes it takes time out, away from the daily office routine at home, to gain a whole new perspective on what you already know. I love my job and the intensive exchange with our customers, but rarely do I experience how business relationships can deepen in such an unexpected and human way as happened to me recently on vacation. 

My family and I enjoyed the sun and the relaxed hustle and bustle - far away from emails and meetings. As is the case with children on vacation: they connect immediately. My big one was playing with other kids by the pool and of course, as parents, you get talking. You ask about where and how, and when the father of the other children mentioned where he lives, I mentioned that we have two customers there. As luck would have it, he works for one of the customers and has been familiar with our software for a long time. 

From business to human 

There was no agenda and no time pressure. Just an informal exchange about travel experiences, the idiosyncrasies of children and life outside of work. It was a wonderful experience to see the person behind the business and the role. You discover common interests, laugh about the same things and realize how many human points of contact there are that go beyond the professional environment.

Precisely because our focus at tetys is so strongly on excellent customer relationships, this moment was particularly valuable for me. It showed me once again that the best partnerships are based on mutual trust and a genuine understanding of each other. And this understanding grows not only in formal meetings, but also in these unexpected, personal encounters.

A new dimension of collaboration

This chance encounter will definitely enrich our future collaboration. I now know that behind the project requirements and technical specifications there is a person with a family and interests - just like us. This creates a completely different basis for empathy and trust, which I find extremely important.

The world is a big place, but the network of connections we make - both professionally and privately - makes it a small village. And sometimes it just takes a coincidence by the pool to make you realize how close you actually are.