What does that mean?
While building the legal structure of my consultancy a challenge I faced was choosing a name. I wanted it to convey ideas of improvement, enhancement and achieving new heights while relating back to aviation in some (hopefully) clever way. Of course, it also had to be unique enough that the web domain and social media handles were still available. I eventually found something that worked, and it ended up having an unintended consequence which at first annoyed me, but I quickly realized it is an opportunity for me start a conversation with potential clients and I will explain that shortly.
First, let me take a minute to explain that our roots come from aviation and like the military, we tend to create acronyms and abbreviations for almost everything. In aviation, “V-speeds” are standard terms used to define airspeeds that are important or useful to aircraft operations. These “V-speeds” are derived from data obtained by aircraft designers and manufacturers during flight testing. Using “V-speeds” is considered best practice to maximize safety and performance.
Many of these “V-speeds” are defined in federal aviation regulations and specifically, Vy (pronounced by saying both letters… ˈvē ˈwī) is the speed for the best rate of climb. This is the speed a pilot would fly during a climb to quickly reach cruise altitude because it allows an aircraft to gain the most altitude for a given unit of time. Another “V-speed”, for example Vx, would have you climbing at a steeper angle, but the forward progress would be less than climbing at Vy.
Photo Credit: Airplane Flying Handbook (FAA-H-8083-3B)
At VyClimb \ˈvē ˈwī ˈklīm\, our aim is to promote safe & efficient operations with safety forward organizations to increase crew engagement, protect lives and create greater stakeholder confidence. We help you, your team or your organization climb quickly to new heights.
Now, back to the unintended consequences of a name like VyClimb. Often when someone sees my business card, the logo on my shirt or even my email address they pronounce it as a single word saying, “Vieclimb…what does that mean?” The first few times I heard this I was surprised that they did not pronounce it right because in my (incorrect) view of the world everyone knows how to pronounce Vy so were they messing with me? At first, I told myself that anyone that did not immediately recognize it as Vy must not be my target audience and I just smiled and went on to briefly explain my services. What I quickly learned is that in most cases the people that knew how to say it were not actually the people that would be hiring me. Yes, these mid to high level managers and directors were the people that would often benefit the most from my services but typically the highest-level decision makers did not come from an aviation background. So, rather than being annoyed or even disappointed that maybe the name I picked was a bad choice, I changed my point of view and decided to use it as an opportunity to give a little training on the topic. Now, when someone says it as one word, I try to politely correct them and briefly explain the how and why behind the name and this makes for a more memorable first contact.
How can this story help you? Keep this story in mind the next time the results of your efforts are not quite what you expected and instead of feeling bad just step back and find a way to make the best of the situation.
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At VyClimb, part of our mission is to lead the aviation industry and the companies it serves to an elevated level of operational excellence to create greater stakeholder confidence. For more information or to discuss ways we may be able to help you please contact info@vyclimb.com.
