By Warren Kirshenbaum
When asked about the horrific on-field cardiac arrest suffered by Buffalo Bills player Damar Hamlin earlier this month, New England Patriots coach Bill Belichick pointed out that while football coaches and their players have a natural tendency to overly focus on the X’s and O’s — to the almost-exclusion of all else — in the end, “life’s bigger than this game.”
This post is not about the Cherrytree Group’s 2022 deals. Nor is it about the business climate we are facing, or the bright future of the renewable energy industry. It is about what’s truly important in life.
There are moments within everyone’s lifetimes which affect us profoundly; to cause us to step back and focus on what is really important. At Cherrytree, we personally experienced such an event a few days ago when a close friend very suddenly and unexpectedly passed away.
The impact on all of us here at the office…this week, this month, and likely for years…is significant. It has led to discussions about new resolutions that go beyond the typical ones each of us had developed for this New Year.
I would like to approach this year, and the years ahead, with a focus on being present, acknowledging and appreciating what we have, and to not be overwhelmed with the stresses and challenges of business, and of life. In the long run, these failures, stresses, downward spirals, unmet goals, financial and professional disappointments, setbacks and losses are not important. As Coach Belichick said, life is bigger than all of this.
The dysfunctional political environment we see in Washington is, in my mind, a searing — and very public — example of people losing the ability or desire to be human. Too many of our leaders seem to be braced in their corners, gleefully anticipating the next angry battle. I hope that virulent atmosphere finds some way to soften in 2023. It would set a great example for the rest of us.
Cherrytree’s mission statement begins:
“Cherrytree Group may be a for-profit corporation, but the overarching principle shared by every one of our employees and stakeholders is to do good work.”
And it ends with…
“…we strive to give our employees strong feelings of connection, of belonging, and a good measure of control. Yes, we are a company which wishes to succeed and to grow. But for those who partner with Cherrytree, our shared mission must be even greater to provide the mutual satisfaction of having helped effect positive change in this world.”
We’ll try our absolute best to live up to those ideals in 2023. And we wish all of our customers and partners the best for this New Year.
Warren founded Cherrytree in 2011 and has spent the past eleven years building a highly specialized tax credit consultation, brokerage, and syndication firm. He has relied on three decades of experience and a law background to focus on the structural and development finance aspects of tax incentivized real estate-based transactions — particularly in the environmental remediation (Brownfields), renewable energy, and historic rehabilitation areas.