Finding Our Greatest Teachers at Work

A dear colleague with a long tenure at Cutter Associates recently retired. In addition to traveling the world and continuing her education in languages, she plans to use her newfound free time to enhance her photography skills.

As happens when we honor retirees, we feel sad that we won’t interact as often, but we also reflect about why we admire this person and how he or she will respond to life beyond the 9-to-5 hustle. In this instance, we know our colleague will excel at her traveling and linguistic pursuits because she has demonstrated strong commitment to these more-than-hobbies over the years and passed along these passions to her son. And we can’t help but think her greatest strengths as a researcher will translate well to photography. Among her most admirable qualities, she demonstrates the following:

• The inherent curiosity, focus, and ability to look at something from various points of view
• The inclination to see the big picture, but the intellect and fortitude to see and understand the details
• A thirst for learning and experience that allows one to observe change and trends over time
• The ability to express herself (in both the written and spoken word, and yes, of course, in pictures)
• A desire to share her perspective and her ability to influence others

During her career in asset management research, she studied new trends and kept up with change, while being thoughtful and deliberate to not follow every shiny new thing. She brought in many voices and saw issues from various points of view. She freely offered her knowledge to anyone with questions. She advocated for completeness and a global perspective. She accepted new challenges. She was patient with others. She never settled when there was an opportunity to learn more or deliver information in a more accessible way. She was thoughtful, committed, present, and supportive. And when we think about her many strengths, it makes us want to be better too.

We offer these reflections as a tribute to our newly retired friend (though she is humble and will absolutely hate that we have done this blog with her in mind). She is fondly thought of as one of our greats and an inspiration to all of us in our professional and personal pursuits.

Laura Jesson has more than 20 years of experience in the financial services industry as a project manager, business analyst, and consultant. She joined Cutter Associates in 2013.