Findaway World sure is a different place since when I moved in almost a year ago on May 16, 2005-- the day after my graduation from the Weatherhead School of Management. I moved my belongings into what was then Christopher's office. We sat just a few feet away from each other as we went along our day-to-day. We were not the only ones "bunking up" though. In fact, Derek and Blake shared the office next to ours-- as did Mitch and Gene across the hall. Wendy played the role of "traffic control" in the center of all of the offices, and the seven of us got along very well in our cozy five-room office.
Now-- things are a bit different.
Don't get me wrong, we all still get along in our cozy office-- but it has become a cozy ten room office (including a conference room that overlooks the picturesque Chagrin Falls). We have grown rapidly and since my very first day on the job and have added five new Findawayers, including last week's hire of what has become Findaway's first Director of Marketing. The thing is-- we're nowhere close to being 'done' as far as our growth goes in the short-term. I met with two potential Findawayers just last week for different roles within the company, both of whom I liked very much. I can definitely see how a few new additions could easily be made to our team. The only problem I can foresee? I have no idea how we will all fit in our current office space. Perhaps one day we can move to Downtown Cleveland so I can walk to work every day! One can only dream...
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By the way, have you ever heard of The DaVinci Institute? Honestly, I'm not exactly an expert on this organization. Yet this past weekend, the Executive Director of the DaVinci Institute voiced his opinion on how Playaway could change the landscape of libraries in the future-- as was discussed in his interview with the Des Moines Register. To summarize his thoughts...
"It's kind of an ingenious device. It's one of those things that I think will change libraries quite a bit in the future."
-Thomas Frey
Executive Director and Senior Futurist
The DaVinci Institute
