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A little bit Spock and a little bit Captain Kirk.

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I work with my husband. And I love it. It’s something I’ve wanted to do since I was 8 years old and read a book about a family who live in South America and the husband was a Doctor and the Wife helped him at the clinic. I thought it would be cool to travel the world and learn languages and work side by side with the man of my dreams. Of course, there would be some kids in the picture. 4 was a good number I decided.

25 years later I met Michael. He matched me in the right ways and complimented in other ways. A few years later, and a few kids later, we started Robots and Pencils. (I made it to 4 kids with the help of some twins).

What makes us a success is what we are partners. I believe every business needs a Spock and a Kirk at the helm to create a balance.

Sales

Kirk: Michael is a sales guy. He’s comfortable surrounded with lots of people and loves sharing stories and analogies that help educate when it comes to the software business. People listen to him and love his animated speeches. He takes huge pride in the entertainment factor of his speeches.

Spock: Me, I’m happy in a room by myself (or with Michael) or with my children playing in the room – quietly. Public speaking terrifies me and shuts me down. My heart races and I can’t think. I say dumb things and my tongue takes on a mind of its own. And, sometimes I’m a bit too blunt. I don’t know how to put ‘syrup’ on things as Michael puts it. So, I suck at sales. I can do it if I have to, but it take’s a great deal of brainpower to be ‘nice’, as regular humans put it. I wish everyone could just say what they mean, because it is so very inefficient to add syrup to everything I say. Its easier just to be alone but not always possible. So I will continue my training from Michael on how to be more human.

Team Bonding

Kirk: The team loves Michael. He regularly cracks jokes at the teams’ expense, and somehow they think it’s funny and still love him. When Michael enters a room, it all gets a bit livelier and laughter is soon heard bouncing off the walls.

Spock: When I enter the room, everyone works, I hear the beautiful sound of the keys clicking on the keyboards and feel the energy of the brainpower in the room and it lifts my spirit. I tell Michael to stop distracting the team.

Business Building

Spock: I’m good at seeing things clearly without all the emotion that can cloud judgment on hard decisions. I have an intense focus on task completion and goals. I also know from experience, that without the right blend of crazy and natural talent, you can’t be a good sales person.

Kirk: Michael is a true entrepreneur in every sense of the word and loves the hunt of anything business related. In the beginning of Robots and Pencils, Michael was pulled in countless directions by people who wanted Michael to be part of their business. I vehemently argued with him not to. That we needed his special sauce focused at R and P. A few years later, he saw this was true and I am still in the process of shutting down all these businesses that were created. Blah. We do have partners with R and P, but we act as the talent and as a supplement to the already super talented partner. Examples of these are Leslie Roberts, who is our educational partner spearheading apps for learning, and Stephen Butler who is driving Gummii, a new type of Math Tutor app that combines games with Math.

Hiring 

We’re both a mix of Spock and Kirk and take the same approach:

At R and P we look for the right blend of talent, quirkiness, and work ethic.

Talent is easy to spot in a pencil’s portfolio and a quick code test tells us lots about a robot. This is the easy part. We have Spock-like zero tolerance when it comes to talent.

Finding the right level of quirkiness takes a bit of Spock and Kirk. If a robot or pencil has an uncanny capacity to care about their craft, they will fit the quirky (creative genius, too smart/talented for your own good, super geek etc) requirement. A portfolio and art test or code test tells us a lot (Spock), as will a casual interview where we make the potential hire feel very comfortable (Kirk). Michael told me that he knew he had found the right graphic artist at a past venture, because of the way she spoke about fonts during an interview. Her passion came through as she almost teared up talking about her favourite font, one she had created herself.

I can usually figure out work ethic through a casual interview that puts the interviewee at ease. Although, I can sense laziness with Spock-like accuracy. I once asked a potential office manager what their dream job would be and he said, “laying on a beach with a cocktail in my hand, isn’t that everyone’s dream job?” I wondered out loud how that was an actual job, and he didn’t know how to answer that for a few awkward moments, then he stuttered for a few more moments about ‘vacations or something’.

I don’t want someone on the team who doesn’t want to be there. Michael and I actually like to work. Michael and I will never absolutely retire, because retirement feels to us, like a punishment for sucking. I may change my attitude about this when I’m 70 - but I love my job and love doing stuff. Work is fun for me.

I feel pretty lucky to be doing what I love with the man I love. I love the team we have at Robots and Pencils. They are a special group of talented robots and pencils. Everyone has something to add and it creates a wonderful environment of collaboration, learning and creating. The robots and the pencils, the Spocks and the Kirks, it’s a blend of the sciences and humanities that make us who we are.

 


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