Member-only story
Happy Anniversary, Ya Miserable Ingrates
When an international organization reaches a milestone anniversary, are its employees entitled to any special commemorative merchandise, or an expensive party, or perhaps a financial bonus for work well done that allowed the company to survive and thrive for that period of time?
The software company Information Builders (IBI) celebrated its 25th anniversary in March 2000. A softcover booklet chronicling the history of the business, which included a journal of individual staff memories, was released three months later, in June.
My late father Gerald Cohen co-founded IBI in 1975. As a teenager, I worked in the mailroom for two summers. Ten years later, I joined the company full- time as an editor in Corporate Communications, which ultimately became part of the Marketing team. I spent months conducting in-person and phone interviews (no Skype or FaceTime in 2000) to produce the entire “personal history” section of the booklet.
It became increasingly clear by mid-February that the booklet would not meet the March 3 anniversary deadline. My former senior VP Pat Heidenry rationalized the situation thusly, “The entire year 2000 is the company’s anniversary.” The revised deadline became Summit 2000, our annual customer convention, held that year in June in Palm Desert, California.
