I count myself lucky that I have the opportunity to spend time with very inspiring people within our local business and civic communities. I see them working hard to achieve goals that truly affect those people they work with. It makes me realize how much more I could be doing here in our community. I spend time with other business leaders in the IT space and see how they provide for their clients and employees. Their efforts make me want to do more.

As you close in on Spring time, most of your thoughts drift to wonderful spring temperatures, flowers in bloom and backyard barbeques. What you are probably not thinking about is the end of life of your faithful companion, Windows XP.

There are companies hiring and they will take your best and brightest (If you don’t work to stop it). You better find your employees' "WHY" before someone else does and takes them from you.

I hope as you read this and wind down 2013 you are able to see not only those items you didn’t check off your goal list but those that you did. There are very few people that I meet who shouldn’t consider themselves blessed for what they achieved. They just need to take the time to see it. I also hope you are taking these last moments of the year to prepare for the next. Preparation before Execution is one of our core values and I can tell you that personally I haven’t always done it but I know that when you do your chances of succeeding in the effort increase exponentially.

As many of you know, two of my favorite quotes are “The only thing inevitable is change” and “If you don’t like change, you should learn to love irrelevance”. I’m not sure who I first heard say them, but I use them to remind myself and my team that we have to be aware, flexible and prepared.

While I know we still have a little more time together I wanted to be one of the first to say good bye. You have been in our lives for over 12 years and during that time we have come to depend on you. You have your quirks and issues but we have learned to work around them. Some days you move slower than I would like or run into issues doing your work. You probably have taken more sick days due to viruses or mental health than anyone else I know. You have worked hard to stay up to date in your job and have continued to be there for us personally and professionally. Some have built businesses around you that they have kept going even when you were not the best solution for them. But the time has come for you to retire and move on. You are just not of this generation. I know your father(s) and mother(s) are proud of what you have accomplished. You have touched more people than anyone before you. May your passing be quick and your replacement have all of your skills and less of your faults. May those of us who loved working with you find solace in knowing that you were here a long time and served us well.

I hope everyone is moving into the home stretch of 2013 with energy and passion for what they are doing. I also hope you are starting to review and plan for an even better 2014. One of the keys that I believe you have to do to be successful is have a plan, measure yourself on how you are doing in your execution, then build a new/better plan.