level

new FA
WELCOME TO THE TEAM
article by jill niebuhr
I have two quotes that I have had posted at my desk
at work for over ten years. The first is from Joe Weider
whom many consider the father of body building.
“Strive for excellence, exceed yourself, love your
friend, speak the truth, practice fidelity and honor your
father and mother. These principles will help you to
master yourself, make you strong, give you hope and
put you on the path to greatness.” The second is from
Richard M. DeVos one of the founders of Amway. “The
easiest thing to find on God’s green earth is someone
to tell you all the things you cannot do.”
When I came to Russell on May 26th I made the
decision to only put one of the quotes up. It is
easy these days to find a nay sayer. There is always
someone to say the owner isn’t reasonable, the sub
didn’t do what they were supposed to, we didn’t
submit the right price for the project, the schedule was
too short, and the list goes on.
When I decided to take the leap and leave my known
working world of over 14 years there were nay sayers
but the interesting thing is many of the strongest
questions of me changing jobs were from within me.
I have always been a glass half full type of person for
most of my life. I have had to be. My life, like many
others, has had its share of disappointment and bad
events but I always seem to come out the other side
with a better perspective and attitude on life.
I showed up on May 26th and figured out over the next
couple of weeks that I needed to meet and engage
with more than 80 new people, learn about 43 active
projects, lend help where I could on 28+ projects
we are actively trying to secure, move my family, say
goodbye to friends of 10 years and learn a new town.
My glass half full was teetering on 1/3 full. But based
on past disappointment and the type of person I am I
knew I had two choices, think of the negative of lots of
work, sweat and goodbyes or the positives of getting
to know a great new work environment, conquering
new challenges and the opportunity to make even
more friends.
Sometimes it is difficult to see the full half of the glass
but it has served me well throughout my life and I
encourage each of you to approach the upcoming
months and years of growth, changes and the
occasional ‘organized’ chaos with an open mind and
optimistic attitude that the end result will be better
than the starting point. I also encourage each of
you to think about your personal and professional
lives and determine if maybe a little glass half full
mentality might make life and work a little better. I’ll
leave you with one other quote that I have always
liked from Richard M. DeVos, he said, “Life... It tends
to respond to our outlook, to shape itself to meet our
expectations.” Choose your outlook wisely and know
there is always someone at Russell that is there for
support.