I was of course overjoyed with the news that my colleagues in our London office and Hong Kong office had been hugely successful in their respective HFM Awards Ceremonies as HFM is a leading global publication covering the hedge fund industry and these high profile awards (which are judged on the basis of client feedback) are undoubtedly very well regarded in the industry.
But, and I can shamefully admit to this fact only now, another part of me was a touch envious.
The feeling is comparable to the one of sitting on a substitute's bench and watching your team romp home to a glorious victory without you. Whilst of course externally you smile and whoop with delight, there is another part of you that wishes you could just get a chance to run onto the field and contribute in some way to the success.
Well, our chance to do that very thing came when we found out a few weeks ago that we had been nominated in the US as well and so finally the BVI, Cayman and Vancouver offices had their potential opportunity; could we come on in the 80th minute and bang home the third and final goal?
My preparation started very badly when I soon realised that my twenty-year old tux was not going to quite cut the mustard, even after a rather excessive use of baby oil (which, to be clear, is normally reserved for my young twins and not, as it happens, to squeeze me into other items of clothing). A normal work suit would have to do and as we flew in from our respective offices, we didn't know quite what to expect.
The awards themselves were in the truly beautiful Cipriani 42nd Street in New York which meant that this was the footballing equivalent of coming on to play in the Maracana in front of 90,000 Brazilian fans. The tension in the Harneys camp was turned up to eleven.
And so, after engaging in some serious meet and greet action, our opportunity to contribute to the global brand presented itself, finally our category was going to be announced. We were up against some formidable foes and so this was a veritable 35 yard free-kick with minutes to go.
So, like any good footballer and to summarise our 2016 marketing strategy in a football metaphor, we just closed our eyes and hit the damn thing as hard as we could.
GOAAAAALLLLLLL – Harneys wins Offshore Law Firm of the Year.
The surprise moved quickly onto elation and I had the pleasure of heading up onto the stage with co-blog author Lewis Chong and Marco Martins, the Managing Partner of our Cayman Office. To absolutely crown a truly wondrous moment for the team, our theme song selected by the judges to go up onto the stage with was "Regulate" by Warren G (ft. Nate Dogg of course). It took all of my strength and willpower not to break out into the introductory rap:
"Harneys. We regulate any launchin' of these funds. We're damn good too. But you can't be any geek off the street. You gotta be handy with the keyboard, if you know what I mean. Earn your keep. Harneys, mount up!
It was a clear Caribbean night...."
Or something like that anyway.
But the even better news from our perspective was that according to some of the feedback, the launch of this very blog was a fundamental part of our achievement and that makes me incredibly proud of the whole blog team who work ridiculously hard to try and keep the items relevant, up to date and as interesting as we can. A true team victory.
Now, back to the perplexing mystery of why my tux didn't fit. Must be something to do with the air...