Last night we had our last practice group outing, and it was awesome. The Real Estate group’s summer associate event was a scavenger hunt in Brickell City Center. We were divided into four teams and the goal was to finish the night with the most amount of points. I was on Team 2 “Team Myles,” but, in all honesty, we were really “Team Ali” (more on this to come). While the true goal of the event was for us to get to know the Real Estate group, the really important thing to tell you is that our team won . . . by a lot. The winning team: Marla Berman, Myles Burstein, Ali Lehson, John Kuhn, Forrest Murphy, and Brian Trujillo (yours truly).
Let me first say some things about the event generally. The four teams were a balanced mix of summer associates, associates, and partners. The rules were simple: the teams had to work through a list of action items, each item was worth a certain amount of points, and the goal was to get as many points as possible in one hour. The list was on an iPad app and the items would prompt us to do things like taking a video or photo of ourselves doing X-thing in front of Y-place, and there were some trivia questions sprinkled in. At the end of the night we would all meet up at La Centrale – Enoteca for food and drinks, and, of course, to announce the winners.
Now, the fun part. Yes, Ali is incredibly competitive, but she is a phenomenal leader. I think the best leaders are the ones who are alongside you in the trenches sharing in the work. And this is precisely what our fearless leader did. She was the first one volunteering to complete some of the challenges, and she was the only one brave enough to do the Elaine Dance. So while Ali made it very clear that we had to win, or risk serious consequences, she carried the team to victory. But truthfully, regardless of the outcome, the whole event was a blast. There is nothing like stopping complete strangers to ask them if we can photobomb their selfies or singing Come Fly With Me to complete strangers. We also had to do a lot of random dancing. I am proud to say that I still remember the chicken dance, and I also learned that Forrest is a great flosser. I also heard that Sophi had to propose to a stranger – I loathe the fact that I did not see the stranger’s reaction.
All in all, this was a great way to bond with the Real Estate group. At the end of the night we all shared in some great food and funny stories. My takeaway at the end of it all was this: on par with the theme this summer, Bilzin Sumberg is filled with amazing people.