Propellor raises a few eyebrows. However, there's a "back story" to the name other than the fact that it encourages you to ask a question.
Propellors are incredibly efficient and elegant technologies for movement – propelling things ahead through rough seas and all kinds of turbulence.
There's also a family connection. My dad, Mike, is a retired pilot of large turboprop planes – big aircraft with enormous propellers used to fly long missions over coastal areas. I used to marvel at how he could move these enormous masses of metal almost balletically through the sky – he was an accomplished technician. But more significantly, he based his long and highly respected career on a few key tenets:
• Respect and support your colleagues at whatever rung of the company ladder they happen to occupy. Good ideas and leadership come from all places within an organization, and he might add, as would I, rarely from the top.
• Excellence comes from inspiration, talent, focus and mainly, hard work.
• Question everything until you're satisfied with the answers and the results you've got.
• Celebrate! Camaraderie is important if you're going to enjoy your job – don't forget to have a good time with your workmates.
If you're going to move things forward, if you're really going to make good things happen, I believe these principles are going to anchor you through times of change. Propellor is the name that embodies these values for me.