Vincent is an Ascend Technologies Senior Engineer for ServiceNow. He shared what it means to be part of a team.
What is your favorite sports team?
Pittsburgh Steelers and Cloud9 (League of Legends) for eSports
What sports have you played?
I currently don’t play any team sports but have played football, basketball, soccer and baseball in my youth. I’m a downhill skier and have been since I was three however never really competed. Disc golf and skateboarding are my current go-to sports.
What do you remember being the most valuable lesson or quote from a coach or someone that supported your team sport?
I think the most valuable lesson would be from my old baseball coach. I had been playing with him for two years previously as a right fielder. If you know much about baseball, right field is often seen as boring and gets little action. However, after playing my role seriously there for two years, unprompted I was asked to take over at first base. This was something that surprised me. Here I am with the position with little action or importance for our team being moved up to a position that is active in every pitch. I stepped up and handled the position without question and it gave me a new love and passion for baseball not to mention I did well.
What lessons have you learned from being part of a sports team?
Out of that I learned that you can feel like you are not in the view of those that make the calls yet you still are and to take on a challenge head on when presented with it and take it with confidence when someone with power asks you to make the step without asking them first. It helped build confidence in both my abilities and that I had a valuable role within the team regardless of where I play or have played in the past.
What do you like the most about being part of the Ascend team?
Ascend takes on the big dogs! I’ve been with this group of talented people for 7 years now. While we’ve all grown through that time and we’ve always been able to approach both the little and the big guys, provide exceptional support, take the experiences from working with these clients and build upon what we already do well. It challenges us and gives us ample opportunities to get involved in exciting new technologies as we keep flexible and adapt to the market as well as making room for being flexible for our employees. All this with maintaining a down to Earth, accepting, friendly and fun culture within the team.
How do you relate the team experiences you have had to the way your team functions at Ascend? How have the experiences supported your success at Ascend and in your boarder career?
It comes down to how coaches and teammates both help you reach your success. Your coaches push you and drive you to do well, but they understand that the work is yours to do. If you want to hit the home run, they’ll pass you practice ball after practice ball, but you have to swing the bat. They will give you pointers for what work is needed to fill in weak areas. However, your coach is there for all players and has to make time for them. It’s this reason that on a great team it’s the players that are there for other players as well. When you can have leadership direct players to fill in the weak areas and the teammates can work among themselves to hash out how to best fill the gap, you’ll make it to the big leagues.
At Ascend, we’ve got just that sort of team. Our leaders toss pitch after pitch to us and the ones we miss, they step in and tell us how to hit it next time. Our employees are quick to answer calls for help and ready to jump into the mud to give us the extra edge. Best of all when you hit that homerun, the team cheers and they cheer loudly.
What is your favorite team slogan, cheer or theme? How do bring this into your daily life?
Favorite team slogan: Spartan Strong
As an MSU Alumni, I live it every day. Bringing it to daily life I take each day knowing that strength doesn’t always come in numbers; take time to grow, become strong, stand tall and fight even when the odds are against me. Knowing I have the confidence to hold strong when pressured to collapse, be it from work, emotions, sickness or force. I’ve worked my whole life for the day in front of me and I’ll always take it head on.