Posted on: 1st November 2023, by Tracey Wright
Be warned this is a rather indulgent post but I make no apologies as I celebrate twenty years at Magrathea this week and want to share what that means for me.
As I reflect on my time and involvement here, my thoughts are not immediately drawn to commercial success or even our exciting and ever-changing technology projects, although those things are of course really important to me too. But what really fills my mind is the people I’ve worked with along the way.
There is the lovely client who, on hearing I aspired to own a specific sports car, sent a model of that very same car through the post to me. The many lively and fun events we have shared, putting business aside and simply getting to know each other better. There have been some wonderful suppliers who have shared knowledge and given their support when needed, and of course the odd ‘jolly’ that can rarely be refused. Many clients started up at a similar time to us and we have enjoyed watching their growth and success over the years as we have evolved together. And of course, there are the many new entrants to the market who look at us blankly if we happen to mention “fax tones“ or “TDM” protocols!
I’ve had the considerable honour to work alongside some of the best representative in our industry through Comms Council UK, a trade association we helped to get started 19 years ago. The confidence our Chair, Eli Katz, and the other Council members showed in me to become a working group chair and more recently a director is nothing short of humbling. The knowledge I’ve gained, and the contacts I’ve made during my time on the Council has been invaluable for me personally not to mention Magrathea.
But most significant of all it is everyone on the team here at Magrathea, past and present, that feature most in my thoughts as I consider how far we have come together. I have always had a passion for learning and a desire for constant self-improvement but even I couldn’t have anticipated 20 years ago quite how much I would learn and keep learning simply by being part of this amazing organisation.
It all began for me when Linus and Melanie, our founders, asked me to visit. I had worked with Linus on some projects with a previous company so when he needed more help getting Magrathea beyond the ‘founder do everything’ stage, fortunately for me he gave me a call. They both sat me down in their hay barn with horses watching over proceedings and dogs pestering for tummy rubs and persuaded me to join them on this burgeoning adventure. The rest, as they say, is history.
Linus taught me everything from how to cable data centres to coding client interfaces. I learned how to sell our services, provide good support and many things in between while we got a very early IP voice service out to our ever-expanding client base. We soon needed more help, so Linus found some friends to join us and that was when I had to start learning how to lead and manage people too. This has become an ongoing passion and a responsibility I take very seriously. Over the years the team has grown with a vast mix of personalities, skills and needs but every single person has brought something valuable to the team and helped us all keep learning and growing.
Through the eyes of the team, we have shared so many of life’s ups and downs, plenty of babies born and weddings held and unfortunately some bereavement too. We weathered covid together in a solidly supportive and uplifting way, overcoming challenges through persistence, empathy and skill.
There are so many thoughts I could share about these guys, but it tends to be the little things they’ve done for me that stick in mind the most. The bar of chocolate and a note left on my desk when I had a long day travelling back from a meeting…the small bunch of flowers discreetly handed to me after I had the most challenging day dealing with an HR issue…and the loaning of socks and shoes when my footwear lets me down (that’s another story!). Each time I see them show similar levels of care for each other through often simple but extremely thoughtful behaviours I feel immensely proud of the culture we have created. They epitomise the word team and I never tire of working alongside these brilliant people.
So, as I sit here and reflect on what my 20 years (and counting) have meant to me it is undoubtedly the people I’ve been lucky enough to work with in many shapes and forms. I care passionately about the Comms industry and even more so about helping people thrive in their working life.
My mission since joining Magrathea has been to prove you can run a successful business without being an a*se. I like to think we have achieved that together here and have created a solid platform on which Magrathea and all who work here can keep evolving.
That just leaves me to say a huge thank you to Linus for believing in me for all these years, and giving me the opportunity to be a part of something so special, and thank you to our remarkable team who humour me with all my random ideas and vast lists of things to do and of course thank you to our clients who challenge and motivate us to deliver the best service we can.
Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.
Tracey Wright