Humans spend a significant portion of their lives at work. I won't burden you with the statistics because they might depress you, but let's just say that between working and sleeping, it's remarkable we find time for anything else.
Considering we devote a disproportionate slice of our waking hours to our jobs, it's critical that we like the people with whom we work. In many ways, our co-workers are our second families.
So as we approach Thanksgiving in the United States - a holiday meant to unite family and force us to hit the brakes for a few minutes to consider and reflect on what we are thankful for - we thought it would be meaningful to ask some of our employees that very question. What are you thankful for about working at Trustwave?
Each of the responses we received shared a common theme: Trustwave employees are thankful for each other and that they are able to help organizations around the world better protect themselves and answer risk and compliance challenges.
And that's good news. As you probably can imagine, an employee who appreciates, respects and is challenged by their co-workers is a happier employee. And a happier employee means we make better products for our customers.
In other words, job satisfaction leads to customer satisfaction.
We realize that in the grand scheme of things, being grateful for being a part of a data security and compliance company pales in comparison for what many people in this world count as their blessings. But thankfulness is a relative term, and gratitude is contagious.
So please take a minute to read these anecdotes. And remember, none of us would be here if it weren't for our customers. So, above all else, Trustwave is thankful for you.
Now, please pass the stuffing. After we sleep off this Thanksgiving meal, we'll be back at work before we know it.
I'm thankful that we work for a great company with visionary leadership, great products, first-class support and hard-working employees. But what I'm most thankful for is that there are literally millions of people in the world who would trade positions with any one of us in a heartbeat, and not one of us should take that for granted.
Quite simply, I am thankful for my team and the great group of extended team members who are eager to help us accomplish our job of growing the Trustwave business and building the Trustwave brand within the security and compliance industry. I am also personally thankful for the opportunity to come back to Trustwave in my new role and help shape the direction of enterprise sales as we move into 2014 and beyond.
There are plenty of reasons I am thankful to work at Trustwave. Here are three: First, the number of incredibly talented and motivated Trustwave employees I have as colleagues. Second, the intellectual challenge, since we work in the most challenging industry out there - hands down. And third, the opportunity to effectuate and participate in positive change.
More than ever, organizations struggle to meet their rapidly changing security and risk challenges. I'm thankful that Trustwave is able to offer its customers a broad set of world-class solutions and expertise in such a flexible fashion, providing them high value and the ability to grow with us as their needs change.
I am thankful for working with passionate, committed and talented people in Asia-Pacific and throughout the world. I also am thankful that Trustwave constantly offers new opportunities for us as employees and as a company.
I'm thankful for the global team at SpiderLabs - a team that continues to work hard across the globe while I get to take a Thanksgiving holiday to watch the Texas game and spend time with my kids. This team contributes to the organization daily with new research, papers and discoveries that change the way the industry looks at security, and they do it without even thinking about the impact they're making. It's huge. So, thanks guys - and thanks to everyone at Trustwave who believes in the work that the SpiderLabs team is doing.
Dan Kaplan is the manager of online content at Trustwave.