Chris Nelson

Scott Cramer, our Director of Sales, loaned me a book off his shelf: Quiet Strength, by Tony Dungy (former coach of the Indianapolis Colts). I've heard Coach Dungy speak at my church and have heard all the buzz in town about what an amazing guy he is. I like to watch the Colts play: when I was in the Navy it was nice to see the camera scan downtown and be reminded of home. As a result, I've always been a pseudo-fan of the Colts. Beyond that, I've never been a huge football fan - though in recent years putting my feet up to watch a game with the kids on a Sunday afternoon has had a certain appeal that's difficult to describe! I have to admit, after reading this book, I'm now a bigger fan of the league as a whole and of the Colts in particular. I had no idea the strong Christian faith embraced by so many of the players and coaches in the NFL. The Colts franchise (and several others) have regular bible studies - and all of the coaches in Indy read the bible all the way through every year.

The consistent theme that ran through Quiet Strength was the focus on putting the important things first and doing the common things in an uncommon way: never making drastic changes as a result of outside pressures if your strategy is solid and working.

In the case of the Colts, several times they made it to the playoffs but were eliminated. Apparently, the players were very concerned that cuts were going to be made and that they'd have to learn an entirely different system. Coach Dungy's approach was always the same: Do what we do. He always told his players to focus on doing what they do and just making incremental improvements. Doing the little things a little better every day would lead to success. No cuts were to be made. No big changes were in the works. The strategy was working. Execution needed improvement. Coach Dungy consistently told his players that execution always needs improvement. Focus. Do what we do. Sure enough, after a couple years of "doing what they do" they were able to win the Super Bowl.

Most fascinating to me was the direct application to how we operate here at Delivra. Since my arrival a few years ago, Neil has had one consistent message: incremental improvement. In a sense, our entire Executive Staff stays focused on "doing what we do" every day. In our industry, there is always pressure to expand a software offering to include features and technology that have nothing to do with our primary focus: "We Know Email." By keeping our focus simple and repeatable, we're able to deliver uncommon service and reliability - we don't make drastic, sweeping changes that our customers might find confusing and misguided - instead, we focus on our customers and our core business. When a great idea comes up in a meeting (whether the meeting is in a hallway or the Boardroom), you'll hear folks say, "What does that have to do with 'We Know Email'?". If you can't explain your answer to that question, rest assured that the meeting will come to a quick end - until you can do some more homework and come up with a good answer to that question!

Every day that we're here, every person at Delivra really strives to make our company a little better than when we walked in the door in the morning. We keep our sights laser-focused on email and deliverability. We know that by focusing on the fundamentals of taking care of our customers by delivering the software you want and the help when you need it, we'll be the kind of partner that makes everyone successful. So, for now, look for Delivra to continue to "do what we do" in 2010.

Chris Nelson | IT & Security