There’s No “I” in Alyce

By Mary Matton on August 6, 2019

Day three on the job at Alyce, our CEO, Greg Segall, shared with me that he has office hours available to the entire company twice a week. Anyone and everyone can book 1-1 time on his calendar to talk about whatever we want. I joined Alyce a few weeks before our Series A funding closed, and I booked a 1-1 meeting with Greg to learn more about it. After chatting through the process, I asked him, “What are you going to do with 11.5 million dollars?”

Without hesitation, he responded, “What are we going to do with 11.5 million dollars?”

I was blown away by this statement – still am to this day. Unwrapping the Possibility and pushing ourselves to challenge the status quo and think about performance as a team sport is truly the day-to-day life we live at Alyce with each other, and our customers. This simple statement of replacing “I” with “we” has changed the way I think in more ways than one.

A few weeks ago, I met up with an old friend to catch up. We went through the normal topics – travel, love life, and of course – work. He’s been part of the same established company for a long time and has things figured out there. Knowing that I recently started in a new position, he shared a story about a colleague who joined his team not too long ago. His new teammate began sharing suggestions their first day on improving processes and outreach plans. His immediate reaction was somewhat annoyed – saying the new teammate should really learn the ropes before sharing ideas on how to better them.

I couldn’t help but smile when he told me this story, as it made me think of my first day at Alyce. I walked in that morning naturally nervous, anxious, and not knowing what to expect. I was immediately welcomed by a warm environment (not just because it was May in Boston in an office that couldn’t fit everyone in there), but by so many smiling faces that were genuinely happy to have me there.

I spent the morning listening, learning, and observing anything and everything I could. After a few hours in a new field and new position, I shared the thoughts and ideas that came to mind with my team from everything I absorbed that morning. My team could have easily had the same reaction that my friend did, but that’s not what happened.  I wasn’t surprised when these suggestions were accepted, considered, and appreciated, and continue to be every day.

The one thing I remember from my first day, is that Alyce as a company and a product are one and the same. Just as our tool helps people be more human, we help each other be more human by supporting one another regardless of title and background. Every idea gets discussed (usually on Slack :D), and we decide together what the future of Alyce will be.