Butter Babies: A tale of synergy, love, loss, and mutual growth

Leadership is the first place I ever felt real confidence.

I love being on hardworking, motivated teams who get excited about the goals, fall into flow together, and then suddenly realize they’re about to crush their goals. That moment when the whole team lights up — when everyone vibrates with momentum — that’s my favorite part of the job.

I love watching people find their stride and learn to use their own learning style as an asset. Once you can see your patterns, you can adjust them so much more easily. And that’s if you look at them with curiosity, with the mindset that understanding the “why” is what launches you forward. (Spoiler: it is.)

Building that kind of environment — where everyone feels supported, challenged, and connected — is what makes a team cohesive. When you care about each person and care out loud about the numbers, the branch, the community, and the realities of the job, people lean into their strengths. They listen to each other, help each other, and they call it out when someone is doing great.

When we finally hit our hardest goal?

I literally stood up, hugged my counterpart, and then immediately texted my old boss — the one who had stood by me in the trenches. I was so proud, and I knew she was too.

But the relief I was hoping I’d feel didn’t come. Instead, it split into two realities: praise behind one door, and behind another… blame, dismissal, and a kind of organizational whiplash I still don’t have the perfect word for. Not dramatic — just deeply misaligned with the work we had actually done.

This is the best team I’ve ever worked on.

I’d do it every day if I could.