At our weekly staff meetings, we often end with an appreciation moment, when we share what we admire about a person whose name is randomly drawn. It is a moving moment, as the recipient listens to the thoughtful, heart-felt words from 13 workmates.

When we first started the appreciation moments, I took my name off the list, thinking it was self-serving to require my employees to gratuitously praise me.

By the end of last year, everyone had had a turn. As we were wrapping up our last meeting of 2004, someone suggested it was my turn for an appreciation. I slouched back in my chair, not sure if I wanted to go through the ordeal; worried that people might have to drum up some superfluous comment for the boss.

I won't go into detail about the comments they shared for a few emotional moments. What humbled me most were a few themes that surfaced about Tribble Creative Group as a working environment. Several people said TCG was a healing place to come to; that it was a safe place to grow and to learn from our mistakes. And most people told a story about some impact I had made on their lives; an effect that I had been completely unaware of. At least one person used the word, "magic."

As I took this in, I marveled at how impactful and lasting a few words or actions can be on another person. And I realized that these people, the thirteen individuals who surround me everyday, are what it's all about. Twenty years ago when I started this business, I thought it was all about the events. But through the words and actions of the people here, TCG has created a positive energy that literally transforms the world around us. I think we could be repairing truck engines and somehow we'd still find a way to change the world.

In the movie "What the Bleep Do We Know," the heroine encounters an exhibit while waiting at a subway stop. It features the work of a Japanese scientist who, when photographing water molecules, discovered outside environmental factors actually alter their structure. The molecules were beautiful when photographed while classical music played and became deformed after a dose of heavy metal.

His most striking experiment demonstrated what happened when a series of jars of water were exposed to a variety of words. He left the jars overnight, with words taped to the outside of the glass. The jars with words like "love" and "peace" contained perfectly formed water molecules, while the one reading "I hate you. I will kill you" held distorted and misshapen ones.

As the heroine watches the tour guide's presentation, a stranger leans over to her and says, "If words can do that to water molecules, imagine what they can do to us."

I'm proud of what this company has accomplished in the past 20 years. It's exciting to know that we've been involved with most of Charlotte's major milestones in one way or another. But when I leave this life, I doubt many people will remember the events I've planned.

They will more likely remember the words I said, the actions I took, the feelings I conveyed. And I'll remember the mark that everyone at Tribble Creative Group made on me.

Years ago, I asked my assistant Delisa to find the hull of a wooden boat to be used as a prop for a nautical event.  Ever devoted to client satisfaction, Delisa searched far and wide.  She found it at a rundown biker bar, where a large man in leather greeted her at the door with a chainsaw and pit bull by his side.  To her credit, she didn't run.  And, the client got his boat.