What makes a Pathfinder?
“One who makes a path or way where none had existed, as in an unknown region, wilderness, etc.”
Sprouting from a small startup company in 2013 and growing rapidly since, it only makes sense that commonFont selects an annual pathfinder to guide our scrappy, creative team to successful and sustainable growth. As we make a path through previously unexplored territory, ingeniously tackling new challenges and forging cF’s way, a pathfinder animal is elected based on key attributes that we wish to embody that year.
Past Pathfinders
Our first pathfinder, the 2014 Eagle, truly broke trail as it offered our nascent company a high-level perspective and soaring vision of our goals for the future. From the 2016 Wolf Pup embodying cF’s potential for growth and tenacity, to the intelligent and social 2019 Elephant who helped us build the cF herd by encouraging team building and community, to last year’s 2022 Ursus Arctos (affectionately known as Bear-Bear) who strove for leadership, confidence, and adaptability – each of our pathfinders has left its print on our team’s path to success.
2023 Pathfinder Traits
The cF team carefully selected four key traits to help us explore new territory in 2023. This year we’re embodying impactfulness, agility, generosity, and an entrepreneurial spirit. Which organism could possibly stand on the shoulders of great pathfinder-past and uphold these traits?
The Emperor Penguin?
The Jellyfish?
Maybe even Shrek?
Through a democratic and lively campaign season, teammates have the opportunity to nominate an animal and team up with fellow believers to make a case for their nominee. The election process is creative, wildly entertaining, and just mildly cutthroat. A fair and unbiased selection committee makes the final decision and presents it to the team.
The 2023 selection process–as always–was a tough decision, but the clear winner of the 2023 cF Pathfinder was the swift and kind-spirited Sea Otter.
Pathfinder Awards
Each quarter, the team can nominate their peers for a Pathfinder Award, which is based on a key trait each quarter. Two Pathfinder Award winners are selected based on how they embody the pathfinder trait that quarter, one selected by the team as a whole and one selected by the Leadership Team. If you ask any commonFonter, they’ll likely say this is a highlight of each quarter because we get to celebrate and lift up our amazing peers.
The Pathfinder Spirit
While the cF Pathfinder is specific to our team and company, and even specific to the year, we believe it can serve as an inspiration and positive influence for everyone. No matter how you forge your path, we hope you feel empowered by the Sea Otter to be impactful to your community, to be agile and evolve to meet the moment, to be entrepreneurial and scrappily face any challenge, and to be generous and build up those around you. To us, this seems like a path worth following.
