Entries filed under 'staff'

FGI CEO, Nate McLaughlin, decided to go out, grab a bunch of food and have a BBQ for his rockstar employees today at lunch. See the photos below. We had BBQ chicken, potato salad, a variety of locally grown fruits and salad.  A nutritious and delicious break from the normal Monday work. 

Next time you're in the neighborhood, come by. Nate is always looking for the opportunity to show off his culinary skills for clients, partners and employees. 

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We hear the word thrown around in business all the time. “We’re innovators; Innovation is key to our growth; innovation is what our business is all about.” The list goes on. I wonder how many companies out there have innovation as part of their mission statement, positioning statement or core corporate mantra? My guess is it’s a LOT!

In today’s rapidly changing world, innovation is key to being competitive. Without innovation, companies and their products quickly become relics of the past – the world keeps turning folks and with it a world of change with every spin.
Despite the never-ending need to innovate on the product side and a robust investment in product innovation and research and development, many companies neglect the innovation on the talent side and with it, leaders are hesitant to innovate from the inside out.

Fear of change results in a state of paralysis and again…if you’re not moving forward, you’re moving backward. Technology, culture, capital, people, and the way they all work together are constantly changing, so if your team isn’t innovating on both a personal and cultural level, you can be assured others are, and in the process, leaving your place in the market, in the dust.

Innovation begins at the personal level - call it your spirit, your heart, your soul or whatever else works for you – but change needs to happen from within before it can be rolled out to a department, an organization, or an industry. And sometimes the most dramatic innovations that positively affect companies aren’t on the product or service side at all, but are aspects addressing the more intangible, such as talent, marketing, process, or culture.


As human beings we must adapt to change – it’s an inherent force of nature – as our environment changes, so must we in order to best thrive in our surroundings. Change isn’t always pleasant, nor is it always a fearless process of flawless execution. Quite often it’s scary, dubious, unsettling and packed full of ‘what-ifs’. But then isn’t that core to all challenges in life? Imagine a life without challenge and without personal growth and innovation…pretty boring stuff.

What all this comes down to is defining innovation and how it fits into your personal world and your company’s culture. Think about innovation differently. Innovate on the very definition of the word and through this process you’ll find personal and professional windows of opportunity for innovation that set you and your company apart from the pack.

Change – it’s a good thing. Well Martha said that until she found herself in a jail cell.

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Here at FGI, there is a new face walking around the office. We are pleased to welcome Guy to the Treehouse as our new VP of Strategy! With every New Year, comes change and Guy has already stepped up to the plate by introducing the team to the new 2011 marketing plan. And from the looks of it, we can expect big, new changes for FGI that we couldn't be more excited about.

Guy has extensive industry experience having worked for RealNetworks, Communicate.com, Bang On Communications, Photochannel.com, RollingStone.com, Film.com, Rhapsody.com and his own freelance and consulting work. He's been a Senior Copy Writer, Marketing Director, Creative Consultant, eCommerce & Creative Strategist, not to mention a social media, SEO/SEM and advertising guru.

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FGI's crack development team continues to grow with the addition of Adam Perry. Well, sort of ...

Adam has already been working with us for a while now. As a contractor. And after helping us solve some really thorny dev problems, we decided it would be best to bring him onboard full time. So we bought out his contract. And we couldn't be happier with the decision.

Prior to his work with FGI, Adam was a software development engineer for Intelius and for Amazon.com. He has a bachelors degree in computer science from the University of Texas in Austin.

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We're all really excited here at FGI to welcome a new member to our team: Preston Clark!

Preston comes to us from Tyler, Texas, where he was working as a freelance web developer. He's been working here for a while now, but I've just gotten around to snapping his picture and writing a blog entry. He's been a little too busy to pin down, otherwise. You can read a little more about Preston here:

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