My first job upon graduating with a Finance degree from The American University was with The Rouse Company. Mr Rouse was all about creating Sense of Place before it was a thing. I joined one month before the company opened HarborPlace in Baltimore - my home town. I was so proud to be part of that organization- what they did in Baltimore at that time was truly transformational. That pride in place is critical although I didn’t know it then. I wound up as Assistant General Manager at Paramus Park - I learned a lot of what makes a great leader in that role. My leader and mentor, Phil Duffy, taught me the power of picking up trash. If I walked by one single gum wrapper then our team would see it, and they would do the same. And if they saw ME pick it up, they would know it was important. This has stayed with me for all these years. My good friend Lee Cockerell says that his wife Pricilla (who we love!) always said - be careful, they are watching you. It’s the same lesson! The other thing Phil taught me is the importance of taking care of your people! That was probably my early introduction to The Leadership Profit Chain that Disney teaches. Phil and I were in Oakbrook IL in 1985 working on a McDonalds deal. We stayed at their in-house hotel (where they do all of their training) and after our meetings, Phil and I went into the McDonalds gift shop. By the time we walked out, we had spent $300! And remember - it was 1985! I questioned spending that much money - after all, as the AGM I was responsible for the budget. Phil said - you have to take care of your people Ed! And I never forgot it. I will also never forget handing out the Hamburger University sweatshirts and hats to our people when we got back to Paramus - and I realized what he meant. That team would go to the end of the earth for Phil - and I know why. He took care of them, they took care of our shoppers (our Guests) and we ran what was then THE most successful shopping center in the entire Rouse Company portfolio. Both of those lessons stayed with me for life.