Thanksgiving and the "joyful expert"

My family and I are spending the weekend before Thanksgiving in Santa Rosa, California. As a lifelong Charlie Brown fan, I finally made a pilgrimage I’ve wanted to do for years: visiting the Charles M. Schulz Museum. Last night, we capped it off by watching “A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving”. It’s a show that Theresa and I didn’t want to end.

On this viewing, I found myself thinking about Snoopy less as comic relief and more as the story's moral center. Schulz once described Snoopy as the one who “always comes through for Charlie Brown,” noting that he “can do almost anything, and he does it with style.”

Snoopy is a counterweight to Charlie Brown’s anxiety and an alternative to Lucy’s authority. In Schulz’s world, that “joyful expert” is the most desirable stance you can take: you help, you handle the hard parts, and you lift everyone’s spirits while you do it.

That, at our best, is the role XBE strives to play for you. The problems we work on together are real, complex, and often stressful. Our job is to bring competence and cheer to that reality, to quietly “come through” when it matters, to solve hard problems without adding drama, and to do it with enough style that the experience feels lighter than it would have otherwise.

Just like the Thanksgiving special itself, this all comes back to relationships. The thing I’m most grateful for this year is not a feature, release, or metric, but the trust you place in us. You’ve shared your business challenges, given us honest feedback, and worked alongside us as we learn and improve.

Thank you for letting us bring that "joyful expert" energy to your world. It’s work we take seriously.

From my family to yours, I wish you a warm, restorative, and happy Thanksgiving.

With gratitude,

Sean Devine
Founder & CEO, XBE