The Masters.......

excerpt from the daily message to the company.....

"I'm really happy" - Hideki Matsuyama, 2021 Masters Tournament Champion

Good morning! I was able to take a couple of days to rest and recharge last week with the family for Spring Break. Team, be sure to take the time to rest and recharge this year. Protecting your mind, body, and spirit is incredibly important not only during Covid but throughout your life. It helps you focus on solving problems, minimizing stressors, and winning. On a lazy Sunday afternoon yesterday, I turned on the TV and watched the last 6 holes of the Masters with Patty. And in case you missed it, history was made in sports yesterday.  

Hideki Matsuyama won the Masters Golf Tournament in Augusta, GA becoming the first Japanese man to win not only the Masters but any of the 4 Majors. After he sunk his putt on the 18th, the crowd erupted, he humbly waved to the crowd, hugged his caddie Shota, and walked off the course to sign his card making the win official.  

There were a couple of things that struck me.  

One was how well he held everything together as he won golf's version of the Super Bowl. I also thought it was amazing watching Hideki's caddie Shota after the win. It is customary for the champion to receive the flag from the 18th hole. Shota removed the flag from the pin, replaced the flag-less pin into the hole, and then Shota turned, faced the 18 holes that they just conquered, removed his hat, and bowed respectfully toward the course that gave them hell over the previous 4 days. It was an amazing site and one that I am sure will be replayed for years to come.  

There were moments where I thought it was going to fall apart for Matsuyama on the last 5 holes. He had a pretty commanding lead heading into the last 5 holes, but as the announcer so eloquently and obviously put it "it's not over until it's over" (I laughed and turned to Patty "really, it's not over until it's over?...Patty I could be a golf announcer!).  

Golfers at the Masters usually have fantastic collapses in the last couple of holes of the 4 day tournament. Their minds start racing, you can see it in their play, feel it watching their facial expressions. They realize that they are about to win the single greatest golf tournament in the world, and the wheels just fall right off. And like many golfers in the history of the Masters, when Matsuyama hit it into the water on 15, I thought this was where the wheels would unfortunately fall off for him, the pressure and mind games would mount, and one of the other golfers would pounce on the leader Matsuyama. He was up 4 shots when he hit it in the water, then the lead continued to shrink to 2 shots up. He held strong and pushed through winning the tournament by 1 shot. It was awesome.

Team - like Matsuyama, we know the pressure and stakes will be high as we continue to challenge the status quo and our name continues to rise on the leaderboard. We know there will be times we end up in the water or the sand traps, how we respond will be critical. Strong in adversity, focused on solving the problem, and pushing for the win - each and every single day!! Mental strength and focus!!

We have another huge week this week. As you saw in my note to the entire company on Saturday, V&V is finished. Now it's GO TIME for Operations, Marketing, and the Sales teams. Operations will start loading AccuTabs for evaluation and sale this week and will prepare documentation for official release. Marketing will launch the collateral, customer presentations, and training for the new software products. And Sales will begin showing and demonstrating the benefits of these 2 new software products. Team, I am convinced these 2 new AccuTab products will help clinicians treat their most complex and critical patients. 

In addition to the new product launches, we have 5 major evaluations underway this week in Texas, Florida (x2), Georgia, and Virginia!! Let's GO win!!

Read Matsuyama's quote at the beginning of this message again. 

Happiness is a true appreciation of all of the hard work it took Matsuyama to get to that moment. To reach the pinnacle of golf after so many failures and near wins. To have for just one moment the pressure of a golf crazed nation and their expectations and hopes that are pinned on you removed and replaced with absolute celebration and elation.  That is happy. It is pushing through defeat and absolutely crushing adversity....over and over until you win and when you do you say "I am really happy".

Have a wonderful day team!!

ALWAYS FORWARD!!!!!

Joe