PITTER PATTER
March 2022
The story has been told that in 1962, President John F. Kennedy visited NASA for the first time. During his tour of the facility, he met a janitor carrying a broom down a hallway. The President casually asked the janitor what he did for NASA, and the janitor replied, “I’m helping put a man on the moon.”
Take a moment and reflect on this idea. That janitor knew something that many of us may struggle with from time to time, the purpose of his work. He kept the building clean so that scientists, engineers, and astronauts could focus on their mission of putting “man on the moon”. They did not have to worry about spending their time emptying trashcans, cleaning bathrooms, or sweeping floors. He did that for them. That janitor understood how his contribution fit in the purpose of the organization. He connected his purpose with theirs.
It is the individual’s choice how closely we make our own connections to the purpose of Lone Star Communications. Personally, I take immense pride in telling people when I get asked what it is we do that I know we work to make our communities safer, we help save lives every day, and what we do MATTERS. No, I am not that caregiver changing out an IV or responding to a code alert, nor am I that school administrator guiding staff and students out of harm’s way. What I am is part of the Flywheel doing my part to keep up the momentum of Lone Star’s success each day and so are you!
Sometime around 1995, Lone Star Communications came into my life. I became a customer. Another vendor had provided my building with an inferior, poorly functioning, poorly implemented system. Wisely, the “Powers that be” recognized the grave error they made by accepting the lowest bid and contracted with Lone Star Communications to make wonderful what that other company had done so poorly. From my very first interaction with a Lone Star employee, I was impressed by his knowledge, talent, patience, class, and courtesy. Then I discovered that ALL the employees had those same traits. It was obvious that they cared as much about providing us with a quality product and a positive outcome as I did. That made a difference. What they did for my facility mattered.
Since I became an employee of Lone Star Communications, I have had the great honor to visit many of you in the field, work alongside you troubleshooting, testing, training, visiting. I have seen the hundreds of little things you do that add up to the final product and ensure we have ridiculously happy customers for life. Thank you for doing them so well. Each of those “little things” truly matter, and we need YOU to keep on doing them, because YOU make the difference.
- Patt Bowles, Chief Operating Officer, Corporate Services