Last night in Ipswitch’s kitchen Jonathan Burgess taught the first in a series of cooking classes. I like that he started with health trends and explained how they are affected by food, as measured scientifically. He handed out Walter Willet’s Eat, Drink and Be Healthy, a rigorously researched book that gets past the typical conjecture, misinformation and disinformation that is passed off as dietary advice. Willett explains what foods actually help or hurt our health. I think it is hard to argue with his conclusions, unless you happen to be a large company whose profits depend on continuing down the bad path we are on. Jonathan then went on to explain a variety of cooking styles and how to create tasty dishes from simple ingredients. Then he guided us through preparation of a full meal. There is nothing like the reward of good food at the end of a hands on cooking class.

My cousin Louise is 100 years old. Her birthday was last Sunday.

When her daughter asked her how much activity she wanted on the big day, Louise responded, “Bring it on.” So in the morning, Louise went to church. After lunch, she attended her party, holding court and talking for hours with the many family and friends who had traveled from near and far to celebrate with her. After the party, she headed out to dinner to continue the festivities with a dozen or so guests. I have always known Louise to have remarkable energy, but at her age such a full day gave me pause and caused me to reflect on life. Although some of what made this day possible is undoubtedly genetic good fortune, I think it also comes from Louise’s radiant, positive spirit, and her many close relationships.

So much of our society’s work culture seems to be about using ourselves up to achieve some goal, to sacrifice health today in order to get “there”, wherever that might be. When I think of Louise and of her continuing vitality at 100, it seems she demonstrates that life’s true value comes from our relationships, not from all of the goals that we set or achieve.

I think our work should reinforce this. I want Ipswitch to be a place where we work hard to accomplish ambitious goals, but not at the expense of that which makes us feel alive and fulfilled.  I want our success to come substantially from the relationships we build with each other, from the teamwork that I think provides the most enduring satisfaction we derive from our work. At the same time, I want our success to be enhanced by, and not at the expense of our relationships with friends and family. If we can make this happen – and that is no easy challenge in the always-connected world we increasingly live in – I believe it will lead to greater success.

Thank you Louise, for your example, for your spirit, for your inspiration.

It is easy to point to certain events to explain the survey results. For example, to celebrate our 20th anniversary we flew the entire company to a nice resort in Florida. But I think this misses the point. The Florida trip was a celebration of all that we have achieved, which was influenced by our work environment. In the absence of all else that we do, are and aspire to be, it wouldn’t be any more than a nice weekend, have a lasting effect, or make for a nice workplace.

Here is why I want us to be considered a good place to work. Because we have interesting, challenging work. Because everyone has clear direction, clear goals, a productive work environment, the right resources, regular feedback and feels that they are paid fairly for the work they do. Because we live our values, emphasizing honesty, integrity, diversity and treating people with respect. And because we attract ambitious people who like being around others who are similarly ambitious. Being simply a comfortable place to work is not our goal. We are here to think big and see what we can accomplish. We need to be a place where top people who like that message want to work.

On balance, I think we do a decent job of meeting these objectives. It helps that we recognize that being a good place to work is not binary, and that having been one does not ensure that we will continue to be. There are always ways to improve. As we grow, we will pay even more attention to our workplace with the goal that each Ipswitch employee will appreciate their role and feel supported in helping us achieve our ambitious goals.

The China Study attempted to determine the causes of good health. Up until a few years ago, China had much better health than most western countries. What is sad is that in the past 25 years, as wealth has increased and the Chinese adopt a more “western” diet, their rates of diabetes, glucose intolerance and obesity are growing faster than their GDP. This trend is particularly shocking in terms of Chinese school children.

Why am I writing this? Because health care costs are skyrocketing, and that hurts both businesses and employees. We need a new approach, and so far we haven’t seen anything close to what is needed from government, or from the healthcare and insurance industries, which seem to be spending all of their time arguing about how to pay for the increased cost of health care, rather than how to promote good health and avoid getting sick in the first place.

That food is a major cause of our deteriorating health is finally receiving the attention of formal medical researchers. Last month the Lancet published several articles whose conclusions, in summary, say “The simultaneous increases in obesity in almost all countries seem to be driven mainly by changes in the global food system, which is producing more processed… and effectively marketed food than ever before.”

With U.S. healthcare expenditures surpassing 2.5 trillion dollars per year, it is time to focus on the food we consume. Instead of continuing with the “western diet” that harms our health, we should use the lessons from nutrition science to reverse our own obesity epidemic.

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Last evening I had the honor to represent Ipswitch at an awards reception held by The Boston Globe to recognize the 2011 Top Places to Work in Massachusetts.

I am proud to announce that Ipswitch placed 5th (of 40 finalists) in the small business category!   We were the highest ranked software firm in that category, and one of only four software firms recognized in all categories. The award and a copy of the magazine are on display in the kitchen in Lexington. The results will be published In Sunday’s Globe, but they were announced yesterday. A preview article was posted by the Globe earlier today.

“The Globe’s Top Places to Work survey honors employers who care for their most valuable resource: the people who work for them. Those people – nearly 75,000 employees of the organizations ranked here – told us that their employers pay well, offer progressive benefits and creative perks, allow the flexibility needed to have good lives both at work and at home, embrace the diverse backgrounds of their employees, and offer a promising future to all of their workers.”   Click here for more details describing how the selections were made.

Congratulations everyone!

Al

When she returned from her vacation adventure far, far away, Kaitlyn had some unwrapping to do.