FROM THE DESK OF MICHELLE CASTELLANO

October 17, 2011

FROM THE DESK OF: MANY OF OUR FOLKS HAVE SOME INSIGHTFUL THINGS TO SAY ABOUT A MULTITUDE OF TOPICS

A NOTE FROM THE DESK OF:

MICHELLE CASTELLANO | CORPORATE VP

A Time to Give Thanks. Administrative Professionals Day is a time for reflection, recognition & gratitude.

What is officially recognized as Administrative Professionals Day will mark its 60th anniversary this April 25th with the theme “Admins, The Pulse of the Office.” As I look around the office, I see a team of people whose talents, efficiencies and loyalties are indeed the very heart of Mellano & Company. It occurs to me then that the word Pulse is an ideal metaphor for this holiday.

It is said that Administrative Professionals Day was originally proposed by magnanimous executives who acknowledged that their secretaries were often tasked with the more thankless roles and responsibilities of a given enterprise, but, for this, were seldom recognized, especially outside of the organization. The holiday was officially decreed with two objectives in mind:
To recognize the secretary, upon whose skills, loyalty, and efficiency the functions of business and government depend, and to call attention through favorable publicity, to the tremendous potential of the secretarial career.

In the decades since, while their role has changed dramatically—thanks to tools and techniques of the Information Age—today’s secretaries, receptionists and other administrative professionals remain essential to enterprises big and small. Their contributions to a job done right, on time and on budget; and their function in assuring satisfaction is achieved for the customer and profit is achieved for the business, make today’s admins indispensable as ever.

As you might imagine is the case for such occasions, flowers are a preferred choice as gifts to those we honor on Administrative Professionals Day. Sure enough, we witness a measurable uptick in flower sales in the days immediately preceding this holiday. No shameless plug intended, I’m just stating facts. But when you think about it, flowers are quite apropos. Sure, we all recognize a bunch of myrtle, but we’d likely be surprised to know how many talented and dedicated people there are working behind the scenes to first bring that one bunch of myrtle to life and later to market. Again, Pulse is a perfect metaphor. The support staff who carefully till, sow, nourish, protect, prune, harvest, clip, bundle, transport, document, bill, and indeed deliver beautiful flowers to be used as the very objects of appreciation for this and most every holiday—well, let’s just say, there are a lot of people for whom to be thankful.

Here at Mellano & Company, flowers merely symbolize who we are. But who we are is each and every person on our team. I wholeheartedly recognize their contribution. And for it, frankly, I can’t thank them enough!
This Administrative Professionals Day, I encourage you to look around your office, and even beyond your office, to those who support your business from the outside, such as your preferred vendors, independent contractors, bankers, post office clerks and the like. However you choose to recognize them—be it flowers, lunch, a simple card, or just a sincere “thank you” —do take a moment to personally recognize and express your gratitude to every admin in your organization. Be sure that his/her contribution to the life of your organization does not go unnoticed