In the spirit of transparency, when I first got the e-mail from the folks at Klout about competing in a March Madness style bracket against individuals who work for other agencies—my competitive spirit came out and I thought it sounded fun. I volunteered three of us from Edelman to be a part of it (with high Klout scores) not knowing full details of how "Agency Insanity" would work.
Shortly after submitting the names, I thought about what I'd do with the prize if I won and this is where it gets a little personal. The prize is a trip to Las Vegas (I am assuming for two) and a Pizza party for the winning team. While Pizza is great and I'd love to treat our team, I have something else in mind.
When my wife and I were young parents and I was in my earlier years of my career making much less—we struggled with me as sole breadwinner. Our boys had some issues which took a financial toll on us (they are totally ok now—so don't worry). But at that time we were in a very tough place for several years not only financially but also just getting through life in one piece.
At one point in the middle of all of this—my wife's parents sent us on a local trip. It was nothing glamorous—only miles outside of Chicago and not even when during warm weather (we went to Lake Geneva under gray skies). But the trip could not have come at a better time because we needed to get away, even on as basic terms as we did.
So, if whatever reason I did win this thing called (Agency Insanity) while I would treat our Edelman Digital team to Pizza, I would be more than happy to invest some time in finding some people who really need to get away and can't. Since my family is in a good place now—I want to help someone else. That's why I'm still in this. Take it or leave it. If you want to support me in doing this, you can follow the brackets here. Today's vote is here.
