This is Jeanina, who has been a member of our Spear family for a long time. And when I say family, I mean it. She met her husband, Manu, here at work, and as you can see from this picture, she is pregnant. Very pregnant. In fact, when I took this picture on Wednesday, she was four days overdue.
That’s not all — on that day, she began to feel contractions while sitting at her desk. They might be false contractions, she said, and she continued to work in between them. First of all, I was shocked to even see her here at work and I told her she had to go right away. Her response was, “I have a few more emails I have to get out first.”
Now, is this crazy, not-recommended behavior? Yes. But I can’t help but love what this says about Jeanina and what it says about the culture we have created here at Spear. Jeanina didn’t want to go home because, in her mind, she was at home, in a place where she feels valued, surrounded by family, including her husband close by. I’m not saying everyone on our team would almost give birth in the office, but I am proud to say that this kind of above-and-beyond commitment is far from uncommon around here.
Speaking of her husband being close by, guess who I passed on the stairs after talking with Jeanina? Manu, on his way to get his wife out of here and get her to the hospital. As soon as she said it was ok to go.
Congratulations to the happy couple. We look forward to meeting the new member of our family.
(Click this link to read Imtaiz Manji's articles on practice growth and management.)