Dave Gerhardt

Let me make this abundantly clear, I am not the most prolific LinkedIn poster, so please bear with me. 
 
 Today, I had the privilege of being able to take the time to walk in London. 
 
 I know, to many, it’s not always a pleasure, but that said, walking is my preferred form of transport. And it is a privilege. 
 
 As part of my walk, I was lucky enough to catch a view of the below. To many, it’ll be a random photo of a random boat. To others, it’ll be somewhere they’ve maybe spent a few hours. So why is it important to me? Keltec colleagues, take note. And Compaq/Sun people, please reply. 
 
 It reminds me of the start of my IT career. 
 
 John Fison
 
 It was the mid-90’s. 
 
 IT as an industry seemed so new. It was absolutely relationship based. It was so exciting. Digital became Compaq. Sun became Oracle. It was suits and ties and B52’s. It was a cocktail wheel and sales floor surfing. It was one day out and many nights lost. 
 
 High Holborn was the place to be. Loved it. 
 
 Resellers became integrators. Vendor managers became deal makers. End users became friends. And most importantly, those friends became sounding boards for new opportunities. 
 
 I feel incredibly lucky to have had a 30 year career in IT, and I will never ever forget those people that have had an impact on my IT life. 
 
 And before you start to think, that that’s based on a well-worded email or a nicely phrased case study, don’t get me wrong, they’re great. But, my real thanks go to the people that have said thank you; the customers that have said “great job”, or the ones that have said, “I couldn’t have done that without your support”. 
 
 The only thing better, is to hear previous colleagues and collaborators say, “I can’t wait to work with you again “. 
 
 How great an endorsement is that? 
 
 I’ll take that every day of the week. And, as my experience has built from a neuro-diverse perspective, you take it as: you really are OK. 
 
 OK, for me, is my best form of great. 
 
 That won’t make sense to a lot of people, but I’m not sure that there’s a better way for me to say that I understand how diversity plays a part of your day today. 
 
 So, to people that have allowed me into their professional lives, and employees that worked at resellers like Keltec, thank you. To my colleagues at that time, and there are absolutely too many to name in one LinkedIn post, Ian R (TBBF) says thank you. 
 
 And if you’re wondering what TBBF stands for, you were never my friend 🤣🤣🤣 xx
 
 Lindsay Dean, Noeleen Flanagan you might not think that this mail relates, but it’s absolutely about you and your support. Love you both x
 
 John Fison lots of people owe you a debt of gratitude, and over the last 30 years, they may have been slow on coming forward, me included. To Keith Colman, John Fison and Brian Griffiths