Giving Life to Dreams

What is the best part of being an entrepreneur? For me, it has been creating opportunities for people and playing a small part in giving life to their dreams.

When I walk through TEOCO’s hallways I am aware of the intense energy that reverberates across our 20+ offices spread across the globe.  I feel it as our teams go about doing their day-to-day activities. I see it when Alexis Kaltreider is at work in our Fairfax office, and I sense it when Bhavana Mahendrakar painstakingly does her analysis and software testing work in our Bangalore office.

And I then wonder: where does all this energy come from?

I only have one explanation: this energy exists because people are working in a positive and stimulating environment that allows them to pursue their dreams.

John Devolites joined TEOCO in 2004, and within a year he became the General Manager of our Telecom Solutions line-of-business. He was an innovator and a rainmaker. He had always wanted to build technology for ‘switch-to-bill’ reconciliation, and he achieved this at TEOCO, in partnership with a key client. In addition to his contributions to TEOCO’s business, he also gave me the courage and the confidence to stand up for my style of leadership.  His impact is visible even eight years after his employment at TEOCO ended.

Wasif Akbar studied Life Sciences at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, but during the dotcom revolution, he decided to pursue a career in the field of software development. We liked his spirit and took him on in 1999. Today, Wasif is such an integral part of TEOCO that it is difficult to imagine our business without his participation. TEOCO gave life to his dreams and he has given life to ours.

I see so many similar examples across the 1,000 employees at TEOCO. I experience immense joy when I have the opportunity to contribute positively to the fulfillment of the dreams of so many people. These may not all be life-changing. They could simply be: ‘my dream is to give my children the best education,’ or, ‘my dream is to take care of my parents’.  At TEOCO, we try to understand the goals and aspirations of our people and do what we can to play a role in helping them get there.

With special thanks to Srinivas Bhogle for his support and contribution to this project.