by Iris Boers
Vivit EMEA Local User Group Liaison
It's all a matter of mindset - spotlight on the community work of one of our new Board Directors
If 2020 were a completely normal year, we would now be talking about the super sports summer with top events such as the European Football Championship, Tour de France, Wimbledon, and, as the absolute highlight, the Olympic Games in Tokyo. There would be glittering winners, perhaps some new superstars, but also those who would leave the pitch disappointed and dejected and have to learn to cope with defeats.
However, the handling and especially the coping with defeats are often the decisive factor for successful sports careers. It can take 10 years to reach the top in the top-class sport. And on the way to the top of success, defeats are also part of it. The decisive factor is how you deal with setbacks, how you master them, and how you can use them for your personal development. In sports, the best players usually look back on a series of defeats. A prime example of this is basketball legend Michael Jordan. At high school, he was certified as unsuitable for the competitive test and the school team did not want to accept him. Today the ending is well known to everyone - he is one of the greatest basketball players of all time. And even one of the world's best footballers, the Portuguese Cristiano Ronaldo, does not have the best starting conditions for starting his career. Coming from a poor family background, struggling with heart problems in his youth, his start into a professional career was not a self-runner.
Both examples are representative of many other successful sports careers and have one thing in common: in addition to their undisputed talent, motivation, willpower, networking, perseverance, and determination were the decisive factors for their later success. Now you may be asking yourself what all this has to do with the Vivit Worldwide Community and the answer is more than you might realize at first sight.
Today we would like to take a closer look at the "Vivit career" of our new Board Director, Pedro Mendes, and you will see that Pedro's longstanding commitment to community work is similar to many an athlete, he has also suffered some setbacks. The decisive factor for him is that his motivation, enthusiasm, and passion for working in the Vivit Worldwide Community has always been unchecked.
After three unsuccessful attempts to be elected to the Board of Directors (nominations for the Board Election), Pedro has never been discouraged and has always stood for the election: The result: Now in the fourth attempt, Pedro has been elected as Board Director – Communication Chair. At this point, we say again "Congratulations" and good luck in your new role.
Pedro Mendes joined the Vivit Worldwide Community as a member in 2013 and he serves as the Leader of the Portugal Local User Group. He is also engaged within the Vivit Speakers Bureau and in this context, he has received the Speaker of the Year Award in 2016 for sharing his practitioner’s expertise on data protection and recovery, Big Data, and Internet of Things through Vivit webinars and sessions at the annual Discover conferences in Europe. Members value his focus on the benefits and not only on the technology. Mendes said, "sometimes there is a gap between technology and benefits; that’s where I think we can make all the difference.” His efforts to deliver the best content possible are not only being recognized through this award, it is also the logical consequence that in his new role on the Board of Directors he is now responsible for the area of communication.
As the Communications Chairperson, he oversees the strategic coordination of all communications, public relations functions, and informational social media requirements of Vivit to ensure two-way communication channels are functioning. As a Service Manager at Warpcom and Proefit, he is used to acting as a bridge between customers and vendors, and now he can bring this long professional experience to his director role.
Pedro's commitment and enthusiasm are a symbol of everything that makes up the user community. The will to improve things, to share experiences and best practices, the motivation to learn new things, and share knowledge in an environment of teamwork and fun - these are the factors that make a user community so valuable to ALL participants. And this is where the circle to the beginning of the article ends: Business and Sport - In the end, it's all about the mindset. If that's correct, you can celebrate success in every area of life.
If you now feel like getting actively involved in the community work, then take a look the Vivit community page. There are many ways to get actively involved in the community work and one thing is for sure - it might take a little time, but you will get a lot back and you will have a lot of fun with it. Guaranteed!
