Steampunk — helping US Federal Government do-things-it’s-never-done-before
I’ve never been more inspired at work — as I was at my new job during Steampunk’s All Hands this month. I got goosebumps as our CEO Matt Warren told the story of how our company got its start — by being unconventional and helping the US Federal Government do-things-it’s-never-done-before. (Steampunk has 5+ years under its belt, but the company has grown so fast that it needs to tell its story over-and-over again to an ever-increasing amount of new employees).
Our CTO Sean Dillon told the story of Steampunk helping US authorities take down criminals online by hacking data on Social Media platforms. Our Chief Design Officer (CDO) Jenifer Sessums told stories showcasing how no one does Human-Centered Design for clients like Steampunk. Mac Newell, Director of Employee Experience, talked about how we at Steampunk get-more-comfortable-with-being-uncomfortable by engaging with each other in a community of learning that is co-created by each one of us — all in the sprit of “WE not ME.”
While I listened to these stories, I thought back to how my career started 25+ years ago. There was a 1993 book my mentor, life-long friend, and college Political Science professor, Dr. Greg Julian, made us read: Reinventing Government by David Osborne and Ted Gaebler. The book was popular for more than a decade. At one of my first jobs, the President of the Dominican Republic even got the World Bank to sponsor a conference on the book’s findings.
The point is… the same forces of “entrepreneurial spirit,” “transformation, “disruption,” and “doing government differently”… mentioned in the book (Reinventing Government) have… well… been in books. At the All Hands, I truly felt part of a revolution. I felt part of something bigger than ourselves. At its core, Steampunk is all about helping our nation’s government to be innovative, disruptive, and transformative.
I am excited to be a new #Punk. And I am honored and grateful for the opportunity to be part of Steampunk and its great American journey. A big shoutout to my new colleagues… especially my fellow Disruption Design Punks… Joshua Rose, Missy Thomas, Michele Jackson, Aftan Snyder, and Grace Haider… all of whom are in this historic first-week-working-at-Steampunk photo above.
