Adam Steele smiled when he saw an email from one of his children’s immigrant friends. This one was from Miguel Aguilar. As was his custom, he decided to share it with his management team.
Dear Mr. Steele,
I wanted to give you an update on my career. As you may recall, you helped me get a degree in Computer Science. When I graduated, I formed a company with fellow CS graduates from other schools called Blue Highway Coders. Each of us lives in a blue highways community, and we do contract work for larger information technology companies. We are a very diverse group of first-generation Americans.
One of the challenges we faced early on was the lack of reliable computer access in the locations where we chose to live. We tried to get the attention of our Congressional and state representatives to the problem, but they were in denial. That’s when we discovered a useful advocacy tool. When anyone of them appeared in our area, we would shout out: “Call your office.”
At first a few tried and saw how impossible it was to get through. We made our point. Now as soon as they are introduced, the crowd shouts out: “Call your office”. Our tenacity has finally gotten action. Monies which should have been used for our area had been diverted to other places. Surprisingly they had now found the money.
I guess you can call me a cyber stalker ????. But our campaign is working. We are finally getting the access that had been denied for so long.
Our company is growing, and we are bringing new life to some of the areas where we have decided to locate. But we have been very conscientious not to overwhelm the essential character of our new home places. We don’t want to create the boom towns which have destroyed the characters of the towns where they are located.
Our goal is to blend in and share, not replace the heritage of the communities where we hire. Since many of us come from different cultures, we love to share our heritage and understand the heritage of our new neighbors.
It would have been much easier for us to live in an area where cultural diversity is more prevalent, but we have a pioneering spirit that has become the underlying nature of our company. Each of us is tenacious about contributing to the places we live. We just couldn’t have done that in a more conventional location.
Thank you for letting me share my story.
Miguel Aguilar
Adam attached a note to the email. “You have to admire the tenacity of first-generation Americans. Their parents came to this country for a better life and their children are the embodiment of the dream of their parents. You almost have to wonder if tenacity is part of a person’s genetic heritage.”
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“Let me tell you the secret that has led me to my goal. My strength lies solely in my tenacity.”
– Louis Pasteur (chemist)