"You just try to be nice to everybody, 'cause you know everybody's got a dream."

Yesterday I was asked what I consider to be my greatest professional achievement. Huh. That one stumped me for a bit. I could share my experience leading the people side of a massive commercial lending transformation. I could talk about standing up the first centralized trust administration function for a super-regional bank. I could go on and on about major financial institution merger work. But thinking about those didn’t make my heart race. Then I started thinking about the smaller moments. Watching someone I’ve coached take the lead in a presentation to a client and nailing it. Helping someone learn a concept they’ve struggled with and seeing the lightbulb come on. Listening to someone claim their space in a room and feeling their confidence rise and rise. Those are the things that make my heart race. That’s what I’m most proud of.

So many times in my career someone’s heard me ask for help or heard me describe what I want to accomplish. And they – a big wide world of “they’s” out there – have been nice enough to listen to me and help me move in the direction of my dreams. Sometimes the help was huge, and sometimes the help was something tiny. But every single one of those kindnesses are the very building blocks of my accomplishments. Of my dreams.

Be like Dolly. Build others’ dreams.