WHITE PAPER: THE 12TH MAN
You’ve heard the expression before and perhaps some would say it may be overused or just another sappy cliché, but with the recent Superbowl and lead up to one of the most coveted titles in all of sports, I felt it appropriate to revisit its meaning. Wikipedia defines the term 12th man as,
“ . . . a term for fans of teams in eleven-a-side sports games, particularly association football (soccer) or American football. As most football leagues allow a maximum of eleven players per team on the playing field at a time, referring to a team’s fans as the 12th man implies that they have a potentially helpful role in the game. Infrequently, the term has referred to individuals having a notable connection to their football team.”
Not sure if I mentioned it, but I am from New England and I’d like to think my Patriots see me as their 12th man responsible for their position and eventual win of this year’s Superbowl. I’m sure Mr. Belichik in his oh so chipper and enthusiastic vocal manner will be recognizing me personally any day now for my tireless cheering and relentless fan support, but that’s another story and I digress.
Whether its my role in getting the Patriots to another Superbowl and bringing home the Lombardi trophy for a 6th time, or that other 12th person willing their respective Team to victory, the power and impact this outside “player” has can be monumental. In this same spirit, I often consider Global Interconnect as that 12th Man for our customers. There is a shared and genuine passion among our employees to see our customers be successful. We want them to win. Ok, so we may not be breaking out the loudspeaker or chanting at the top of our lungs the names of our customers on every conference call, but we do take tremendous pride in the work we do knowing that we are supporting and contributing to their ultimate missions and success. To say we are vested is an understatement – we feel the same crushing defeats when the desired outcomes are not met, and we also relish in the glory when those lofty goals and unthinkable challenges are met.
Being able to deliver ingenuity to our customers and offer refreshing engineering perspectives that push technological boundaries is what ignites us. Our customers may not always see us doing chest bumps or spiking a cable on the warehouse floor only to follow it up with a great floss dance, but when we say we like what we do – we truly like what we do, and we sure like to win too.
We have a powerful connection with each of our customers and an unyielding desire to meet and exceed expectations. This philosophy runs through the fabric of GII and this same passion for our customers success can be felt and witnessed by our engineers and their excitement when they see initial samples coming off the line for the first time. It’s the fulfillment our Quality Team has when reporting on a decline in defect metrics and the pure satisfaction our Logistics Team shares when they scramble and hustle at the end of the day to meet the cut-off in order to satisfy a last-minute customer shipment request. It is further demonstrated in the work of our dedicated Program Managers who thrive on being able to solve complex supply chain challenges. They take tremendous pride in making the unthinkable possible when it comes to delivery and in many cases, it almost becomes personal.
Collectively, it is GII that is that 12th Man for our customers. Though we may be on the sidelines, we very much feel as though we are on that field competing arm in arm with our customers. We don’t want to be viewed as just a vendor or another supplier – its much more than that. We share that same uniform day in and day out and encourage anyone to experience this GII difference.