It was 1999 when this loop started. Cyclades had helped the first generation of Internet companies (notably, Yahoo!) to figure out how to manage large Internet data centers and Google called us as they prepared to build some very large ones. It quickly became our largest customer (Cyclades was acquired by Avocent in 2006).

As I left Avocent in 2009, I took some time to reflect on what I had learned with the Open Source Software Community and working in a 3000-employee organization with 7-8 layers of management. I was convinced that a new generation of collaboration-oriented enterprises would redefine the concept of large company in the 21st century.

At the time, I collaborated with John Lima and we wrote about the concept of “Click-Company“, a customer-focused enterprise that had fully embraced digital media that was less hierarchical and more collaborative. Our thoughts derived substantially from the ideas of Marshall McLuhan who, as early as the 1970’s, had anticipated the emergence of digital media and predicted its effects in society and the economy.

Google had grown and was the real-world example of a Click-Company. I applied for a job in product management there in 2012. Joining Google did not materialize, so I spent the next few years involved with a diverse range of projects and roles in the entrepreneurial ecosystem. In 2016, was back in a corporate project at Opengear and helped to develop a technology and product roadmap centered on NetOps automation. Opengear was acquired in Dec. 2019 by Digi International.

Earlier this year, Google contacted me and we started a conversation that culminated with an opportunity for me to join the gTech technical platform group. gTech mediates the interaction of Google products with consumers, customers, and partners. My start date is set for Jul 20th, 2020. I feel honored for joining a company I have admired and been following since its inception.

Joining Google closes a loop in my career and opens new ones. I hope to bring people and ideas together, because that is what moves us forward. I will apply all I have learned in the past and want to contribute to a better Google and a better world.

This week is the time of the year when we in the US take a break from our busy lives to express Gratitude. I have plenty to be thankful for this year.

Gratitude is a positive emotion we feel in acknowledgment of a benefit we have received. Saying “Thank You” is the way to express that emotion which is the basis of life in community. It recognizes that we depend on one another to live, to be ourselves.

We get used to say “Thank You” as a matter of social protocol. This is the time to bring its meaning back to consciousness.

In my native Portuguese, we say “Obrigado“, which is not my favorite expression because it equals gratitude with indebtedness. Literally, it says “I owe you something”.

In my travels around the world I have always taken interest not only on the local word to express gratitude, but also on its literal meaning and the social attitude behind it.

My favorite form of “Thank You” is the one used in Malaysia. “Terima Kasih” sounds very friendly and it literally translates to “Receive Love”.

I am no historian or linguist, but I theorize that words equating gratitude and indebtedness have roots in a period in history where gratitude was used as social currency between levels of hierarchy, where favors were exchanged for political loyalty. Words that equals gratitude with love reflect a more equal exchange between peers.

As we evolve towards a world where stronger relationships are people-to-people rather than people-to-organization, gratitude has to be more like love and less like indebtedness.

With that in mind, I would like to say Thank You for reading, agreeing or disagreeing, providing feedback and teaching me through interaction this year.

Here is a list to say Thank You in other languages.

Happy Thanksgiving.

This week is the time of the year when we in the US take a break from our busy lives to express Gratitude (and eat, shop, etc).

Gratitude is a positive emotion we feel in acknowledgment of a benefit we have received. Saying “Thank You” is the way to express that emotion which is the basis of life in community. It recognizes that we depend on one another to live, to be ourselves.

We get used to say “Thank You” as a matter of social protocol. This is the time to bring its meaning back to consciousness.

I grew up in Brazil and my native language is Portuguese. We say “Obrigado“, which is not my favorite expression because it equals gratitude with indebtedness. Literally, it says “I owe you something”.

In my travels around the world I have always taken interest not only on the local word to express gratitude, but also on its literal meaning and the social attitude behind it.

My favorite form of “Thank You” is the one used in Malaysia. “Terima Kasih” sounds very friendly and it literally translates to “Receive Love”.

I am no historian or linguist, but I theorize that words equating gratitude and indebtedness have roots in a period in history where gratitude was used as social currency between levels of hierarchy, where favors were exchanged for political loyalty. Words that equals gratitude with love reflect a more equal exchange between peers.

As we shift towards a business environment where stronger relationships are more people-to-people and less customer-to-company or people-to-expert, in Social Business, gratitude has to be more like love and less like indebtedness.

With that in mind, I would like to say Thank You for reading, agreeing or disagreeing, providing feedback and teaching me through interaction in 2012.

Here is a list to say Thank You in other languages.

Happy Thanksgiving.

This week is the time of the year when we in the US take a break from our busy lives to express Gratitude.

Gratitude is a positive emotion we feel in acknowledgment of a benefit we have received. Saying “Thank You” is the way to express that emotion which, I believe, is the basis of life in community. It recognizes that we depend on one another to live, to be ourselves.

We get used to say “Thank You” as a matter of social protocol. This is the time to bring its meaning back to consciousness.

I grew up in Brazil and my native language is Portuguese. We say “Obrigado“, which is not my favorite expression because it equals gratitude with indebtedness. Literally, it says “I owe you something”.

In my travels around the world I have always taken interest not only on the local word to express gratitude, but also on its literal meaning and the social attitude behind it.

My favorite form of “Thank You” is the one used in Malaysia. “Terima Kasih” sounds very friendly and it literally translates to “Receive Love”.

I am no historian or linguist, but I theorize that words equating gratitude and indebtedness have roots in a period in history where gratitude was used as social currency between levels of hierarchy, where favors were exchanged for political loyalty. Words that equals gratitude with love reflect a more equal exchange between peers.

Just to tie it back to Social Business, my main writing topic, I think we are shifting from a business environment where stronger relationships are more people-to-people and less customer-to-company or people-to-expert. In Social Business, gratitude has to be more like love and less like indebtedness.

Here is a list to say Thank You in other languages.

Namastê (from Sanskrit), used in Nepal and India, is a salutation that roughly translates to “I honor the Spirit in you which is also in me” (“Thank You” is “Dhan-ya-vaad”). It feels to me like how the ideal Thank You should be like.

With that in mind, I would like to say Thank You for reading, agreeing or disagreeing, providing feedback and teaching me through interaction in 2011.

Happy Thanksgiving.