The Amazing Power of Interns and “Thank You”

The email arrived without fanfare, subject line: MCERF; the sender: Jim C. Mooney, President and CEO of Enginuity LLC, Mechanicsburg, PA.

The subject was not really about MCERF (the Mechanical Contracting Education & Research Foundation) but rather it was about what Jim wanted to say to MCERF, which was: thank you.  Mooney had just received a $1,000 internship grant that MCERF sent him to hire a superb young intern, Ryan Smith from Penn State Harrisburg.

So why is this noteworthy? Because it is so unusual today for someone to actually take time out of their busy day to say thank you to someone else for just doing their job. Seriously, who even does that?  Well…Jim Mooney does.

To be clear, Ryan is not Jim’s first intern; he’s not even the first one he received an MCERF grant for. But, Ryan is Enginuity’s first intern since Jim and his team decided to formally write down the things that they as a company believe. They did this to be able to communicate their “company culture” to all their associates, including interns! Jim told us, “One of our core beliefs is in the power of saying ‘thank you’; it goes a long way toward building and sustaining relationships.”

This simple courtesy made quite an impact when Jim’s email arrived. The grant was a thousand dollars…not insignificant, but in business terms, not even a rounding error for some companies! But it was important to Jim that he say thank you to MCERF for sending that grant, and now it’s important to young Ryan Smith as well…to know that his boss and his company do not take their business relationships for granted, nor should he.

When we queried Jim about why he hires interns, he said it was because one of the industry’s icons, Bill McClure, took a chance on him in 1982 and hired him as an intern.  He has always been grateful to Bill for doing that, including this message in his email: #thankyouBillMcClure.

When we mentioned to Jim how his efforts moved us and we thought it would have a positive effect on others, this was his response:

Thanks for recognizing us, but it was not our intention you do so; on the contrary, we wanted to recognize MCERF. My wife and I are involved in a number of youth-related organizations and are often soliciting funds. We realize how powerful, reaffirming, and energizing it is for donors to see tangible results. Keep up the good work.

We will, Jim Mooney, we will! Oh, and thank you.

Contact Dennis Langley to learn more about MCERF.