This morning at Akamai September 12, 2007
Six years ago Akamai lost
one
of it’s founders in 9/11. It’s still quite evident what a blow it was to the
people here as he was apparently a man who lived life to the fullest and really
touched a lot of lives. How Akamai has chosen to deal with this loss has really
impressed me. The made a little park next to the office building (at least i
don’t think it was here before then) and planted a tree for him. Instead of
making some disconnected financial contribution to some random charity they
encourage employees to go help out at the food bank or spend time at a
children’s center. They give an award every year in his name to employees who
show the same kind of drive and passion that Danny had.
This morning there was a small service in the park.
Paul
and
Tom
said a few words about Danny why trying not to cry. Then we had a moment of
silence and those who were close to him each laid a rose next to his tree. Danny
is never mentioned in the abstract here. He’s not some random guy who a bad
thing happened to. His spirit very much lives on in Akamai, and that’s quite
possibly the greatest tribute they could give him.
This morning emphasized one thing to me. That Akamai is one of the few companies
that really is a family. I may be on the outside edge of that but I feel proud
to be included at all.
Leave a Reply