I want to share something meaningful with you.
As a 14-year-old, I went to Military Boarding School in Chattanooga, Tennessee, for my 4-year high school experience. I struggled. It was academically tough.
This school just presented me with its highest honor — the Distinguished Alumnus Award. It was deeply humbling, and it caused me to reflect on the people and values that shaped my life.
In my remarks, I shared something I’ve said countless times over the years: I love McCallie. It was the place where I learned to fail safely, grow steadily and discover the habit of being a lifelong learner.
I wasn’t the most accomplished student or athlete (3rd string on the soccer team), but I found purpose serving as the school photographer — documenting the achievements of others and learning from them along the way … others I admired.
More than anything, McCallie grounded me in values that have guided every season of my life: Honor, Truth and Duty. And its motto — “Man’s chief end is to glorify God and to enjoy Him forever” — has stayed with me as a reminder to hold service and joy together in healthy balance.
During the ceremony, I shared a story about two photographs that hang in my office.
- One shows my father sitting at his desk in a brand-new building on Brickell Avenue, and in the background, a new corporate HQ building he was developing on Biscayne Bay, in 1970.
- The other shows me as CEO, at my desk years later, just as his building behind me was being demolished (imploded) in 1996. To make way for a new, bigger building – Just 26 years later!
Both images remind me of an important truth: Real estate can create an illusion of permanence. Buildings rise and fall. What endures — what truly matters — are the lives we invest in. Our influence is measured not in structures, but in people.
Don’t get me wrong. I love designing and developing buildings that will inspire people and hopefully enrich people’s lives — but ultimately it is about people. As Winston Churchhill famously said, “We shape our buildings; thereafter they shape us.”
As I looked out at the McCallie Alumni community that night, I saw a chapel full of men from many graduates who have and are giving their lives in service to others as senators, doctors, ministers, lawyers, educators, business leaders and volunteers.
I was reminded again that legacy is not what we build, but who we build. It’s the belief that drives my work today — and the work we continue to do at The Allen Morris Company and All In Leaders. In both, our mission is to Inspire, Impress and Improve the lives of others!
Thank you for being part of that vision.