Personal Business

What is a remarkable person? Can remarkableness be defined? Is it measured by one’s income, Alexa rank, books or movies sold? More often than not, I find that remarkableness sneaks. I used to think that it was some solid mass that exists independently of all other forces and somehow comes to embody a person, but I am realizing now that it is a complicated, viral force, that is inspiring and hopeful.

In the online world, remarkableness is far more accessible and quantifiable. A video’s remarkableness is evident from is views on YouTube; a web site’s remarkableness for advertisers is directly proportional to its ROI on CPM. But, working at a .com where quantifiable results are the bottom line, I need to remind myself of the upper lines as well.

Thursday was Todd Herrold’s last day at Register.com, and his remarkableness has officially snuck up on me. Todd Herrold is not a household name (yet), though if you’re a Daschund-lover, there’s a good chance you are familiar with hotdogblog.com, the web’s number one Daschund-lover community. Putting that, an MBA from Wharton, an amazing new job with a company he still hasn’t told anyone about, and a long list of other accomplishments aside, there’s something else about him that puts him high on my list of remarkable people.

He treats people well. He works with people with not just a basic level of respect but an enthusiasm about ideas, about doing great things online, about creating online communities. It was amazing how universally positive were the sentiments toward Todd when he announced his departure: admiration, respect, and the sense that he left a company with as much class as one could imagine.

Too bad it was so short, Todd, but something tells me we’ll cross paths again. Thanks for your remarkableness; I’m hoping some of it rubbed off.

Good luck,

Josh