“We are always hungry for more.”
Great day TLC family! A little TLC history today: On March 13, 2019, I sent my first weekly core value email. I have not missed a week since then.
I did some quick math because that’s what I do and I realized I have sent more than 200 of these. I don’t even remember writing them all, but I did! In celebration of the 4 year anniversary of this weekly tradition, I am going to drop a few of my previous emails to you all. A lot has changed since then, and so have I. I came across this one and realized it was the first one I ever sent, AND it was about the very same core value I was supposed to write about this week.
The first core value email was actually me just sharing a story from one of my mentors, his name is Ryan Lesperance. Many of you know or have met him but might not know that he helped us discover our TLC core values in 2018. The message below was my thoughts after a TLC event in Dallas Texas in Early 2019 in which we shared for the first time publicly the TLC core values.
> (John Licari): This weekend in Dallas we spent a lot of time discussing our core values. In one of the training sessions, a story was shared that I thought illustrated our core value of always being hungry for more. I thought I’d share it with you.
(Ryan’s Story):
“Growing up, every Saturday evening my mom or one of my aunts would make homemade spaghetti sauce in preparation for the family Sunday dinner. It was our Italian tradition. When it was time to eat Sunday afternoon, I was ready to chow down until I couldn’t move. I would anticipate the pain my stomach would feel from all the pasta, bread, meatballs, and sausage that I was going to eat. After dinner was over and I was completely stuffed, I would look for opportunities to graze on half a meatball or a small slice of bread. I couldn’t get enough. I needed those tastes in my mouth, and the feeling of not being completely full felt like a disservice to the goodness that was on the table. Being hungry for more was not hard for me. I didn’t have to tell my body to eat more food. It was automatic. It was all I could think about when near the aroma. Being near the table made it impossible for me to resist. I stayed hungry.”
“Growing up, every Saturday evening my mom or one of my aunts would make homemade spaghetti sauce in preparation for the family Sunday dinner. It was our Italian tradition. When it was time to eat Sunday afternoon, I was ready to chow down until I couldn’t move. I would anticipate the pain my stomach would feel from all the pasta, bread, meatballs, and sausage that I was going to eat. After dinner was over and I was completely stuffed, I would look for opportunities to graze on half a meatball or a small slice of bread. I couldn’t get enough. I needed those tastes in my mouth, and the feeling of not being completely full felt like a disservice to the goodness that was on the table. Being hungry for more was not hard for me. I didn’t have to tell my body to eat more food. It was automatic. It was all I could think about when near the aroma. Being near the table made it impossible for me to resist. I stayed hungry.”
(John Licari): This above story is real for us here at TLC. The culture that we are building is just like that table. If you stay close, you can’t help but want more. You can’t help but take a little bite when you walk by. Being hungry for more is second nature when you are close to the table. TLC is always looking for a better way to do things, and we want to cultivate a company culture that thrives on this concept. We can never become complacent or be satisfied with the norm or being full.
The TLC table is set. Be prepared to stay hungry my friends!
I hope you enjoyed this trip down memory lane with me this week. I also hope you realize what I did when I read it. Some things have NOT changed! We are still hungry for more and we still have ambitious goals to create a company culture that is second to none!
Things have not always gone as planned and there have been some challenges along the way but looking back 4 years I know we are in a better place. I also know we will definitely be even better 4 years from now. I dream of helping create a culture here that we can all be proud of and that others want to emulate. Perhaps it’s no coincidence that our first core value is “We are always hungry for more”. I can say for sure that I am just as hungry to accomplish this goal as I was 4 years ago and I know many of you are as well.
I am very grateful to be connected to you all and I am proud of who we are! May god continue to bless us all and allow us to continue to be a shining light in a sometimes dark world. It’s a pleasure to go on this ride with all of you! Have a great week!
