Who is on your Dream Team?

My tip this week is a little specific to my company - but I think has some significance wherever you work and whatever your home life is like. Who is a part of your Dream Team? How can you make the team better? We can not do it?(whatever it is you want to do) without help along the way. Surround yourself with people who lift you up and who fill the gaps (we all have those too).

“Coming together is a beginning, keeping together is progress,

working together is success.”

- Henry Ford?

I’m just getting back from the first vacation my family has been able to take together in a couple years. It was so wonderful to come together and see how we all contributed to making it a memorable trip. It also allowed me to live what I talk about (see my last post) – I made some time each morning to really think and reflect.

At this point in my life, I am closer to hanging up my hat than I am to when I started working at IMA 30 years ago. As time inches along and I follow suit, I get progressively closer to another life transition. With that in mind, my message is less a tip but rather an observation based on a theme that seems to be popping up everywhere – coming together.

A few weeks ago, I was speaking to a new associate and I loved how excited he was to be at IMA. He said it was like the 1992 Dream Team?–?twelve of the best basketball players in the U.S. coming together to win a gold medal at the Olympics. They were all superstars in their own right, yet they showed great humility by always giving 100 percent and using their own strengths to better the team – all to be 1/12th?of the best basketball team in the world.

This new associate also said he chose IMA because he wanted to be a part of what we are building. And that made me think?–?IMA has undergone a lot of change in 30 years, and not everyone loves change. However, the prospect of growth and evolution makes me feel SO EXCITED.

Like I have told many of you, I am both excited and bummed (more excited than bummed) that I am starting to think about my next life transition. IMA afforded me incredible professional opportunities, and I’m blessed to be surrounded by so many talented people. Truly, my dedicated and skilled teammates are the reason for any success I have had here.

Why am I bummed? I’m bummed because I won’t be here to see the fruits of your collective labor years from now. It’s exhilarating to imagine what this team will make happen in the future, and I am thrilled for you to experience what lies ahead. But I think I have FOMO (fear of missing out).

On the other hand, I am incredibly excited to see the opportunities before you. You can achieve all you want by being you. With all the talent, expertise, heart and character (especially the last two!) of those surrounding you at IMA, you have an even greater chance to achieve what you want in life. And the same can be said about you and your impact on others. As a member of the dream team, your demeanor and actions define an environment that encourages others to thrive.

So, trust in the long-term vision. When my company merged with IMA over 30 years ago, I thought I would just be another number. But I wasn’t. I became a part of the team?–?a team that empowered me to be successful in so many aspects of my life. I would not be the person I am today if I hadn’t been a part of this team.

And now look around you. Wow - talk about dream teams. The IMA is made even stronger with recent and established partnerships like Towerstone, Eydent, Waldman, ESS, k.p.d., Bolton, Diversified, and more. We can take on anything and win.

You all can choose a future at IMA that is unlike any other company in the industry. You might even have an opportunity to create a position that doesn’t exist right now, allowing you to flex your strengths to bring unique value to the team. You are surrounded by the best of the best, and you have a chance to learn from them and grow. You have leaders and co-workers who want you to achieve your professional and personal dreams.

“If you want to lift yourself up, lift up someone else.”

- Booker T. Washington

You are a part of this team – a big part. It’s up to all of you to come together to make IMA the best it can be. It’s up to each person to help craft an environment that encourages others to be the best version of themselves.

Like on my morning walks, the future is bright when you are a part of the light.

“Teamwork makes the dream work.”

- Bang Gae