I wanted to sincerely thank all of you. The guidance I have received from the website, cast and your emails has had a profound effect on my career. In my first two years as a people manager I was submersed with a number of situations most seasoned managers never have to experience. I changed managers (twice), had a direct get an illness, had to layoff some of my staff, off-shored more work, had employee performance issues and the list went on. My current director I report to began in February of 2014 and throughout the past two years I consistently listened to cast and searched the Manager Tools site to get insight in dealing with all of my management situations. I also turned to the boards to read how other have dealt with the same experiences. I cannot say enough how valuable what you all give has been to my career. My Director has been so impressed with all the work I have done, how situations were handled and the overall performance of the team it lead to me receiving a promotion from my current role! Promotions are not easy to come by at the company I am at, especially ones where you are approached. At the same time I also learned that my manager had nominated me for the annual company leadership award. Being a company with over 2k employees I knew my chances were slim, but sometimes just being nominated and knowing that you are backed by a Senior Leader and Partner is very gratifying….. Fast forward a few weeks to today…… I WON the award! Today my name was announced as the winner in front of a company-wide town hall and I received my award. I realize that leadership is not an individual accomplishment but one of your whole "team". The team being not only your directs but your mentors, colleagues, influences outside of work and for me, Manager Tools. I am proud to say that you are all part of my "team".

Alex Chotkowski