We've been hearing a lot about the work and culture at M&A advisory firm Palm Tree. Today, we're taking a step back to learn about the "secret sauce" that has made the firm so successful.
Joining us are Co-founder/MD Dave Wolinsky and Chief of Staff Dieema Wheaton to share Palm Tree's core values and how they shape culture, recruiting, life, and more at the firm.
If you picture yourself as a "Stay Frosty" type of person, reach out to the firm to inquire about current job opportunities - Palm Tree is always looking to bring talented people into its team.
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Transcription: The Backbone of Palm Tree: Culture, Values, and Recruiting
MC: Stephanie Knight
Dave and Dieema, we really want to welcome you both to the Strategy Simplified podcast today. How are you doing?
Palm Tree: Dave Wolinsky
Doing great, how are you?
Palm Tree: Dieema Wheaton
Couldn't be better.
MC: Stephanie Knight
Oh, glad to hear it. Glad to have both of you on. Today's conversation is going to be around getting to know Palm Tree more from a culture and values perspective. Of course, for our listener base, we'll talk about recruiting as well. Many of our listener base are looking to launch into consulting or make a lateral move within consulting. So they will be really interested to hear about what type of people that you're looking for, and what you can speak to your expansion efforts right now.
But as we jump in and start off, just wonder if you could both share a summary of your background and the stops along the way that have led you to where you're at now. Dave, could you kick us off?
Palm Tree: Dave Wolinsky
Yeah, sure. Happy to. And thanks again for having us on. It's a pleasure. But not to bore you too much with my details. But my story starts in New York, where I was an investment banker for four years with Goldman Sachs and Jefferies. As part of realizing that New York wasn't for me, I moved over to San Francisco in about 2010, where I was a banker again for a year after I transferred to Jefferies.
And then I started to develop the idea and foundation for Palm Tree with my co-founder Pardis Nasseri. He and I actually met at Jefferies, which he then was only there for about a year, went off to a private equity firm called Platinum Equity. We kept in touch, and about the time we were both sick of our current situation, we decided to forge Palm Tree. So that's me in a nutshell.
MC: Stephanie Knight
One of the co founders of Palm Tree with us today. By no means wanted to kind of shorten your response. We want to give credit to the pathway that led you to this company, Dave. We're excited to hear a little bit more about it as we move forward. But Dieema, we really want to give you a chance as well. What's been your pathway to Palm Tree?
Palm Tree: Dieema Wheaton
Excellent. I started my career off at KPMG in audit, and then moved from KPMG to Universal Music, wed and decided that I would be a stay at home mom. A new adventure for me. Had a few kids and then returned back to the workforce at Sony Pictures Entertainment. And then had another child and decided home was the best place for me. And lived out that journey for a while until I was introduced to Palm Tree.
And interestingly enough, I met with Pardis first, then Dave, and wasn't sure if I was ready to reenter the workforce, but knew that as my kids continued to age up that I would need to find something for myself, but I was really picky. And so I thought if I'm gonna go back, it's going to be on my terms. But when you meet great people, you understand that timing is everything. And so it was at that time I had a long conversation with Pardis I thought I am, this is the place for me. And then subsequently met with Dave and I thought, yep, and I've never looked back.
MC: Stephanie Knight
I am excited to dive into more of that. But with our listener base, just so that we've level set with everybody, if our subscribers have not yet listened to the other conversations that we've had with Palm Tree, Dave, could you just give us a quick intro about the firm and the type of work that you do?
Palm Tree: Dave Wolinsky
Yeah, happy to. And I'd encourage everyone to go back and listen, because there's some interesting tidbits on there. We have some big shoes to fill here, Dieema, in terms of follow up. There's been some pretty good interviews out there. Shameless plug. But that said, so Palm Tree is an M&A advisor consultant that primarily works with Private Equity firms on the consulting side, and small to middle market businesses on the investment banking side.
What we're trying to do is be a consulting firm that's exclusively focused on the steps and the process of mergers and acquisitions. And that usually follows a rhythm of identifying an opportunity, evaluating it, transacting, improving, and then transacting again. So what Palm Tree does is try to work with you throughout that entire process. We don't identify transactions, although we can on the investment banking side through an offering we have called growth transaction services, which helps with add ons and things like that.
But we have things you do before you acquire a business, which is what we call financial due diligence, sort of like kicking the tires of a company and telling exactly what the opportunity is and what a fair valuation would be in order to buy it. We then have a post-acquisition process improvement, or I should say business improvement division to us, which allows us to work through the office of the CFO to make a business better and more valuable. And then we have an investment bank that helps you transact on either side. So by working with all facets of an M&A process, we try to cover things from I'd almost say cradle to grave.
MC: Stephanie Knight
It definitely sounds quite unique to me that you can partner with an organization along so many steps of the process. Dave, how does that translate - what impact does that have on the culture that you've created within Palm Tree? Is it just as unique?
Palm Tree: Dave Wolinsky
Yeah, I think, rather than maybe even call it unique, I would call it in a way special, at least special to us. You know, the foundations of our culture come in our core values, which we'll talk about in a little bit. But I think that the culture here is very collaborative, and collegiate. And those are things that we try to focus on, a culture of learning and kind of pushing yourself to do better. Those all come out in our core values, and the folks that we look for in this organization and the work that we do. Because M&A is very dynamic, in the sense that no two businesses are the same. No two situations are the same. And it requires you to kind of apply what you've learned, but also think on your feet and get a little creative. That's what I like about it.
MC: Stephanie Knight
Dieema, what would you want to add on to that in terms of Palm Tree's culture?
Palm Tree: Dieema Wheaton
So I think Dave said it best. The one thing that I would add is that it's refreshing. And by refreshing, it's knowing what should be and actually coming in contact with what is. So we all look for, as professionals, certain environments. You want the stimulation, you want to be around people that you can actually work with. But you also want to be in an environment where you feel appreciated. You're seen, you're heard, and you're valued. And so when you come in contact with all of those elements, it is quite refreshing. And that to me is the culture of Palm Tree.
MC: Stephanie Knight
So we've heard some of these words used already: collaborative, motivating, refreshing. In terms of just cutting to the core of what you believe Palm Tree's culture to be, Dieema, are there other kind of key core words that come to mind?
Palm Tree: Dieema Wheaton
Absolutely. Authentic, professionally stimulating, supportive. Those are all key things that come to mind when I think of Palm Tree.
Palm Tree: Dave Wolinsky
I got one too, if you wouldn't mind me interjecting. How about fun. I actually enjoy being here. I mean, culture and these things, it really boils down to something very, very basic. When people ask about culture and what it's like to work there, it's very simple. I don't want to hate where I work. That's really all it means. Look, what we're trying to do, because M&A can be very difficult. It's a difficult environment, I use this phrase all the time. I say you're working with a group of very smart people trying to make a difficult decision on a shortened timeline, involving a lot of money with limited or imperfect information, over and over and over again.
And because of that, it can create this sort of high tension, pressure cooker environment. And as a result, what we try to do is take some of that momentum and dynamic and turn it on its head so that people are really enjoying themselves, and not just feeling the oh boy, what's going to happen next. Kind of take that and harness it in a good way. And as a result, really have fun with it in the process. I think that as much as that work can be challenging, doing it in an environment that ultimately is positive, enjoyable, with people that you really like, because the work I can't necessarily change.
But making sure that we're in a good positive room that has good positive people and share some of the core values that we all hold near and dear to our own selves and personality, that's what makes it fun. The fact that I don't know what's going to happen at work today, but I know I'm gonna get to see Dieema, and that's enough for me.
MC: Stephanie Knight
Thank you for adding that. Absolutely. Dave, how have you seen that evolve over the lifespan of Palm Tree?
Palm Tree: Dave Wolinsky
Yeah, that's a good word, evolution. You know, some people kind of throw in the word change, you know, what's changed about Palm Tree. I don't necessarily think things have changed, I think that they've evolved. And what that means to me is that a lot of the core roots of what we started with are still there, it's just a bigger plant, Palm Tree right now, right? You start out with some palm tree seeds, and you become a proper palm tree. Now that said, a lot of what we started out with, the embracing the unknown, the dynamic nature of M&A, the needing to be able to think well on your feet and apply your learning.
All that is still here, it's just in a little bit more of a structured environment, because we're kind of pushing up on close to 100 employees now. And rather than Pardis and I and another guy sitting around a table, where we can sort of look at each other and talk about this, it needs to be in more of a structured way. Because we can't be in every room at all times. But if the resident personalities, and the different aspects of what we all share as our ideals and what we want to have happen for the, not only the business, but the engagement and our clients is alive, we don't need to be in every room. So it's a little bit more of a structured method, but a lot of the same roots of what makes us fun.
MC: Stephanie Knight
Absolutely. It makes total sense to me that as an organization like Palm Tree grows and evolves, the culture really comes into view, because it is that combination of unspoken ways of working and expectations. And now that you're not able to, as you said, to be in the room, are we still able to put the face of Palm Tree, kind of the brand reputation and image that you want to have in the marketplace, the way that you want to work with your clients, the way that you want to move through these M&A diligence and transactions, that that would be consistent. And then you would have grown that understanding, beliefs and expectations among your workforce. Right? So for that to build and grow over time, and for you to feel confident in that speaks a lot to, I would imagine, the success of your leadership of the organization.
Palm Tree: Dave Wolinsky
I don't know about that, but I'll take the compliment. But to your point, you said it really well that in if you can't be in every room anymore, right? Dieema can't be in every room anymore. Your ideals need to be there in every room any more. And that's why even just this past year, we took a refreshed view of our core values in order to make sure that we don't lose what's gotten us to this point in terms of evolution, because growth for the sake of growth, I think ultimately doesn't usually end up working out.
But growth for the right reason in the slow and steady pace that mirrors the values that you really hold near and dear. Something that you're willing to lose money over in order to make it true is what can make you have a collaborative and consistent effort in terms of approach, and the different types of people that are here in order to make sure that we're all heading to the same place in the same way.
MC: Stephanie Knight
Dave, why don't we go ahead and just jump in there with you around this revisiting and perhaps revising the core values that Palm Tree wants to live in, day in and day out. What was that process like, and what sort of conclusions did you come to?
Palm Tree: Dave Wolinsky
Yeah, so my co-founder had a friend, and I would recommend this guy to anybody. His name is Darius Mirshahzadeh, and he has a book called "The Core Value Equation." They went to school together, Darius and Pardis. And I'll send Darius the bill for this the shameless plug here later. But ultimately, what we came up with was that we wanted to take a different approach with our core values, such that they were not just a bunch of words on a board, but something that you really lived out and were sticky.
Something that people can easily remember, it's something that people can really gravitate toward and that are consistently true that no matter what decision you're making, or what work you're going to be doing, these are the things that will lead you on your way. And I can kind of talk through, if you feel it would be a good time, what we ended up coming out with. But through Darius, his process, you go through words, and phrases and things among the leadership team and kind of find the common threads between you. And after several iterations, months and months of going through that, we came up with the following five values: Palm Tree quality, Palm Tree first, rooted in integrity, perceptive perspective, and my personal favorite, there's one called stay frosty.
Now, each of these have their own meaning. But I have my own little phrase to help people remember because they do have several subsets underneath of them. I don't have all that committed to memory, but here's the way I remember it. Palm Tree quality means do your best to be the best. If you're someone who likes to be in an environment of high performers and push yourself to continually do better, this is a good place for you. Palm Tree. Palm Tree first means we over me. If you're someone who thinks about team and culture and collaboration, not just trying to cut down others to get yourself ahead, which unfortunately I think exists more commonly than it really should. If it's really about team and the team experience, and we over me, not just individual performance, Palm Tree is a good place for you.
Rooted in integrity means bend, but don't break. The poetry and palm trees name, if you've ever seen footage of a hurricane, there's only one thing that survives the gale force winds of a hurricane and that's a palm tree. It bends all the way down, all the way, touches the ground. And then the storm passes and it pops right back up. It never ever gets uprooted. Right? Ever. You never see a palm tree get uprooted the same way an oak tree does or a maple tree. It's flexible enough to move in any direction, but strong enough to withstand any storm. So the bend but don't break means don't lose a sense of yourself. Don't get uprooted. But you're going to have to adapt to certain situations in M&A because everything is always going to be different across the different situations that you encounter.
Perceptive perspective means think like owners. If you're someone who takes ownership over your work and looks at it from the view of what your client wants, and what would you do if this were your business, Palm Tree is a good place for you. And last but not least, stay frosty is kind of the secret ingredient in the sense that it means stay cool, stay centered, ice in your veins. If you're someone who doesn't let the pressure get to you and has a way of naturally keeping yourself on good footing, despite the sensible kind of insanity that M&A is, this is a good place for you.
MC: Stephanie Knight
I really appreciate you walking us through that and sharing those core values with us. Dieema, I'd like to turn it over to you. If you could just share your what these core values mean to you and your perspective on this.
Palm Tree: Dieema Wheaton
Absolutely. But first, I would like to go back to that statement that you made about leadership because I think that as we're tying our core values in, it is important to point out that it all starts with the leadership. It all starts from the top and it flows down. And I think this is the time that we take a moment to celebrate our leaders who actually embody and in their everyday actions display our core values. They are living examples. And I think that's so important because at times companies can put out what their core values are, but they may not model them. And if they don't model them from the top, they never have a chance to flow down properly. They kind of haphazardly come in from individual employees who opt to buy in or not.
And here at Palm Tree, you don't have that opt in option. If you are Palm Tree, you embody these core values. And I think that's so very important. And I'm happy that I am in a place where the messaging is consistent, that it's not like you're at this level, so you don't have to do this. I always love to use the example of the head chef and the busboy, and here at Palm Tree, it's everybody. If the table needs to be cleaned, and the head chef isn't plating something, or preparing something to be plated it, he's busing. And that's what I love about Palm Tree, we are truly a team.
And that ties back into that authentic, that ties back into that refreshing, because it's what always should be, but isn't necessarily the case, always. So in going back to our core values, I will have to tell you, that while I value all of our core values, the ones that really sit with me on my heart, would be our rooted in integrity, and that how you do anything is how you do everything. It's not only relevant in the workplace, but it's one that I've taken into my home to share with my kids. Because I think it's a great way to instill that real value, that real pride. What do you do when no one's looking? How do you do it when no one's looking?
And the other one that I love is just stay frosty. It is, I think, by far the coolest core value. Like I think companies have the like da da da da da. But that stay frosty. It's one that makes you feel good and do good. And to me that's important, right? I love that. Here we respect diverse opinions, background, and perspective, which all result in the best outcomes. Like, here we're saying it all, be who you are. Our ears are open, you have a seat at the table. Bring your knowledge and together we will work well to make a difference while we're all doing our best. That's a line that that sums it all up. And have fun while doing it like Dave said. Where do you get that? Where do you get a chance to essentially work hard, play hard and be given permission?
MC: Stephanie Knight
I wonder, is there an example or a story that comes to mind that that helps embody one or more of these core values at Palm Tree?
Palm Tree: Dieema Wheaton
Yes, I will tell you, initially coming to Palm Tree, I love to say this. I don't love to say it out loud. But I will. I felt like I was a much more rigid person. I tend to be very structured in my every day activities. However, I have had such an amazing opportunity here both professionally and personally. Because Palm Tree has given me the opportunity to stretch and grow. They have given me permission when I did not give myself permission. I came in and I thought finance, that's what I do. That's how I do it. I don't do anything else. And Pardis tapped me on the shoulder and said, I want you to do operations. Nope, that's not my thing. I don't do that. I don't you know, no, no no, I don't want to do that. He was like, Oh, I see it in you try. Not the happiest, but a team player. Did it, and fell in love.
And he would always say things to me like no. That is rare to just to see and that whole thing about the Palm Tree where you are able to bend and touch the ground but not break, slowly but surely I realized the power in my personal bend. I had always stood up strong and tall and proud, thinking that if I wavered in any way I would be weak. And then I learned and understood my internal power, from my professional relationships to understand that you can still be tall, you can still be strong. But there is power in the ability to pivot, especially in the midst of a storm.
And when you can work out a place where you can grow both professionally, and you can take that and infuse it into your personal life and have lessons that help you to continue to grow, and impart that wisdom onto your family. And watch. It's almost like a true investment where that seed is implanted, and you see the harvest pop up in other places, it is like nothing else I've ever experienced.
MC: Stephanie Knight
Thank you for sharing that. I appreciate it. Dieema, would also love to better understand, of course, Dave, Dave's been around from day one co founder, right. But you've been a Palm Tree for a long time as well. We've been talking about culture and these relatively recently revisited core values. What are some of these aspects that stick out to you about why you've stuck around?
Palm Tree: Dieema Wheaton
It's so easy for me. I found my place. You know, I think in life, we search for our person, we search for our purpose, we search for our place, I have had a healthy career, I have worked at wonderful companies, I left the workforce to stay with my family, which was a wonderful experience rearing my children. And coming here, knowing that all of that preparation was for me to be here, it led me to this place. It is my reason. This is this is where I was always meant to be. And I have taken every step personally, to get here without even knowing what here was.
Palm Tree: Dave Wolinsky
It's really cool to hear you say that, Dieema, because I think one of the things that's sort of implied, but maybe not quite understood about culture is that one of the fundamental things we have as human beings after food, water, shelter is a sense of where I belong. And that's what culture ultimately is. Things like religion, allegiance to sports teams, that's all fulfilling, I mean, many things, but ultimately a sense of belonging. And by finding the right people in the right culture, you're identifying kind of where you belong. I think also it's a fallacy to think that culture is one size fits all. That can't really be.
Similar going all the way back to college days, thinking about sororities and fraternities that you wanted to join, it's again that sense of belonging. Doesn't mean that everybody belongs in that room, but there's probably a room for you. Two doors down, three doors down, whatever it is. But what I hear Dieema is expressing is she feels at home, she feels like she belongs. And it's good to hear because I sincerely hope that Dieene stays here the of her life. At least my life I can say that much.
MC: Stephanie Knight
Well, Dave, I'm sure that our listener base would love how you are applying these core values and these culture principles, the sense of belonging to the recruitment process. Yet Palm Tree is continuing to grow and expand, you're bringing on new colleagues into the team. How are you using these core values and culture to help screen candidates?
Palm Tree: Dave Wolinsky
It kind of goes again to the sense of evolution. We've always screened for culture first. And we still do that. And while we may not explicitly say, tell me how you're Palm Tree first, tell me how you're rooted in integrity. We asked them about their work experience, what they do in their life. That can get to the heart of that. Are they somebody who rarely takes pride in their work or are they kind of are they kind of passive, if they're not willing to adhere to Palm Tree quality, push yourself to do your best to be the best, probably not going to work out.
The second screen that we do is entirely technical, because I'm sort of of the opinion that depending on the level that you're coming in at, if you don't have those key ingredients, the core values to start with, I may not be able to teach you anything that you're going to need to know once you come in. But if you have those core values at the start, you're gonna do just fine, you're gonna do just fine. So we ask how do you work under pressure, give me an example that's stay frosty, you know, tell me a time that you had to take on extra responsibility, and that you had to really get in there and take ownership of a process or work, that's perceptive perspective, etc. Things of that nature get into the culture, and core values of that person, whether there's alignment between what who we are, and what environment they're coming into, and who they are.
And then not only applying those culture principles and core values in the recruitment process, but I'm sure that helps impact the way you look at employee engagement and employee growth as well over their tenure of relationship and lifecycle within Palm Tree. So how do you think about that? What's the typical career progression for somebody in Palm Tree, and what's your perspective on employee growth and career development?
Well, what Palm Tree tries to do that's a little bit different, especially for the junior tiers, I think it's a fallacy for you to be young in your career, and be expected to know what you want to do. I think there's a natural intellectual curiosity that exists when you're young, especially if you're someone that wants to go into M&A or, frankly, wants to join Palm Tree. The people here generally like puzzles, I think that's another kind of this is very difficult, but it's gonna work out pretty well, if I put the hard work into it. And I'm going to stick with it.
So as a result, what we try to do is rotate people around to different disciplines within M&A. You could do some engagements in investment banking, some engagements in financial due diligence, some engagements in what we call transitions and transformations, which is really just a fancy word for post close finance. And by rotating around like that, you not only get a chance to figure out what you like, and what you're good at. It's reciprocated. We get a chance to see, hey, what do we think you're good at and what could you make a career out of?
From there, you specialize a little bit more until you get to a certain place that you start managing people, then start managing teams. And then finally, at one point, you'll be expected to either source work or become sort of a super expert in a specific discipline. And I'm a firm believer that, especially people that identify with this type of culture, letting them pave their own way is important in terms of do you want to go into FDD? Great. Do you want to be a banker? Good. Do you want to source work? Great. You don't want to source work? Good, no problem.
I think that it allows people to kind of figure out who they are, but still maintain that sense of belonging that is important in order to, in some ways, flexible enough to move in any direction, but strong enough to withstand any storm, right? It kind of resonates with the right type of folks who want to explore and understand what other options are out there and how they could go about it in the best way that that fits for them. Because in the in the spirit of what people call work life balance, I call it work life harmony, I think saying that it's a strict balance is also you know, not exactly correct, but finding the right harmony and what works for you and what you like to do, can make you a more positive person and overall happier person in your overall life. So I try to maintain that sense of autonomy to a certain degree.
MC: Stephanie Knight
I mean, I think from my perspective, the opportunity, the breadth of experiences that someone could get at Palm Tree is supremely unique. Someone not knowing if they truly want to do investment banking or broader financial services or consulting client services in an advisory lens, or beyond the PE side of the house. You could give them that breadth of experience and give them an opportunity to then have those data points to make an informed choice in terms of their path forward. That's really unique.
Palm Tree: Dave Wolinsky
Yeah, and not to mention a more well rounded financial individual that comes out on the other side. So even if they choose a certain discipline, understanding perspectives from other sides of a circular table is really powerful so that you can make a better, well informed decision for everybody overall, and understand what certain people are going to need at certain times. It's pretty powerful stuff.
MC: Stephanie Knight
Dieema, I wonder what else you would want to add on here in this conversation in terms of employee growth and the career progression of your employees.
Palm Tree: Dieema Wheaton
So when we talk about employee growth and career progression, I think what we do have to look at is, what support are you receiving as an employee. A lot of times employees have the annual performance review, and then they find out, Oh, goodness, I've done this whole thing wrong for a year. And now I have to start over? Well, we have devised a completely different system. We do quarterly reviews. And within that quarter, depending on how many engagements you've worked on, and the hours that you've acquired within those engagements, you could have multiple opportunities to be reviewed. What that does is it creates an opportunity to get a real time evaluation, so that you have an opportunity to improve. That also helps you to avoid solidifying skills that maybe weren't so detrimental that someone tapped you on the shoulder before your typical annual review.
But there are things that you can make small tweaks, maybe your work product's good, but your your team spirit or your attitude towards things need to be tweaked just a little bit. The quarterly reviews are opportunities to do quick resets. And they're really, if you think about it, opportunities for personal development and growth at every stage. That means that someone is invested enough to sit with you, and speak with you about how you're performing and what things you can do to get on whatever track you want to be on. Maybe you want to be fast track, maybe you want to even raise your hand and say, hey, I want to look at this opportunity over here. You have the time to sit with someone that is senior to you to have those conversations at a minimum on a quarterly basis. And to me that's so important.
MC: Stephanie Knight
Establish feedback loops, consistent iteration there can only make us better, right? Especially when paired with a growth mindset, then getting people to speak into your work in your life that way. That's that's a that's a really great value add for sure. Well, we've had a really great robust conversation. I know we're starting to run short on time. Dieema, I know that there's a lot of the of our listener base who surely would love to know more about what the open roles are and how they could apply. Where's the first place they should look?
Palm Tree: Dieema Wheaton
I am going to point you to the most important place, and that is our Palm Tree website. And that is palmtreellc.com. Go to our careers page. I think that is where you want to start. You can also go over to our senior leadership page and and look at some of our leaders. The very people that I gave that applause to for just really leading us in the right direction, not only from the start, but through the pandemic. A shameless plug. And I guess we do this here. But during the pandemic, we all worked together. We were able to not lay off a single person related to COVID. And I think that's so important.
There are personal sacrifices that our senior leadership team took above and beyond anyone else. And usually, it doesn't happen that way. It usually happens at the bottom and everyone else at the top is safe. But we did it a different way here. And we continuously do it a different way. And I think that's why we continuously see the results that we see. We bend when it's time to bend, we stand tall when it's time to stand tall. And most importantly, we shine while staying frosty.
MC: Stephanie Knight
I love it. I want to give each of you an opportunity to speak to anything that you didn't feel like we hit in this conversation, anything that a prospective Palm Tree Associate should know about. Dave, anything you'd want to add here.
Palm Tree: Dave Wolinsky
You know, the one thing I can think of is that a lot of people asked me you know how many folks are you looking for and at what level. There's really two spickets that I think don't turn off here. One is finding new clients, finding work and the sake of growth. The other one is finding good people and the sake of growth. So I typically work with a hiring plan each year according to growth that we want to hit. But that said, I'm very opportunistic in terms of when we hire and who. So I encourage anybody who's interested to apply anytime. And assuming that there's a lot of overlap in our core values and other things, we'll be happy to take you on.
MC: Stephanie Knight
Appreciate you adding that. Dieema, anything else you'd want to add on to this conversation?
Palm Tree: Dieema Wheaton
I would just close by saying here at Palm Tree we care about the whole person. When you come to Palm Tree, you are assigned a responsible senior leader who guides you through your career and helps you with your full reviews, but especially when we get to the end, and we're looking at our annual reviews. You also are assigned a mentor, someone who just kind of holds your hand and gives you direction, like this is kind of how we do it. It's less stuffy, but still giving you what you need. And on top of that, we go one step above that and we give you a peer.
And oftentimes, you're assigned multiple peers. And all of this happens within your first two weeks of starting at Palm Tree. All these people are tapping into you your first week, actually. And your peers are people who are just like, we're going to rally around you, we are your safe space. Welcome here. So you don't start here at Palm Tree, and I like to think you don't want to start at a company and you look up as 12 o'clock and the building's empty, because everybody went to lunch. And you're like, Well, where are the places to eat around here. We have created a full crew for you, that will, in essence, in this virtual space, because it's not happening now.
But through the responsible senior leader, through the mentor, and through the peers, you have your lunch buddy. You have somebody that tells you how it works here, and ways to be successful here. And just that you are appreciated, and most importantly, welcomed here.
MC: Stephanie Knight
So as we wrap up our conversation here, at Strategy Simplified, we love to get to know our guests a little bit more on a personal level. It's not all business around here. So I would love if Dave, you could kick us off. What's one piece of content that has inspired you lately? Could be something you're reading or watching or listening to.
Palm Tree: Dave Wolinsky
Oh, boy, that's hard. I listen to a lot of podcasts, like an embarrassing amount of podcasts. But I recently listened to one on Churchill. I find him fascinating, especially with the way that he used words. Very few folks out there are as masterful of the English language as he is. But also, what he said was so simple. And there was one that I kind of call on again and again, that I use for inspiration, which, whether you're getting through the trials and tribulations of growing a business, or M&A or just you know, some of the challenges that exist in the world today, and that's from the great Winston Churchill where he said, if you feel like you're going through hell, keep going. I feel like that's just so simple yet so effective in so many ways, when you're I mean, think about it. Just keep going. And I use it all the time.
MC: Stephanie Knight
That's inspiring. Absolutely. And I see the analogy there to the Palm Tree as well. Dieema, my same question over to you. What's something that you have been consuming, that's inspired you lately?
Palm Tree: Dieema Wheaton
So I will have to tell you that I too am a podcast junkie. Every morning I listen to "Up First" and "Consider This," just so that I can know what's going on in the world in case I just get busy with life and other areas. But I will tell you, since the pandemic, one thing that I have been attempting to do is to meditate. I'm not very good because I don't have a quiet mind. But we had an off site a few years ago, and during our Palm Tree off site, we brought in someone to help us meditate and I just thought this is just not my thing. And then Palm Tree paid for a one-year subscription for anyone who wanted to follow up with meditating. And I thought okay, and I had it, and it wasn't until the pandemic when the world Stop that you realize, maybe I need to be centered.
And so I think I'm inspired by tapping into that. I'm thankful for the introduction to it. But most importantly, I love just taking two, three minutes. I'm a short meditator, so, but I love taking two, three minutes to just quiet the storm, before I set out on a very busy day. And that I think inspires me, knowing that I'm going against the grain of something that normally I wouldn't do, but that it's good for me. And when I'm done with it, I see the benefit.
MC: Stephanie Knight
Thank you for sharing that. And Dieema, in our conversation today, you talked a lot about the positive impact that Palm Tree leadership and colleagues have on each other. I wonder if you could speak to one piece of wisdom across your career that's been shared with you by a mentor.
Palm Tree: Dieema Wheaton
Oh, wow, I've had so many beautiful people touch my life. And I think I am who I am today, because of the wonderful influences that have touched my heart along the way. I will say that the best piece of advice that I have gotten throughout my career, and consistently is just show up, and essentially, show up fully. In essence, the best way to wrap that up is to, when you show up, show out. That means if maybe you didn't feel like doing XYZ task today. But once you've committed to it and once you've gotten there, just give it your all. Touch it once. People love to say that they don't have enough time to do something right. But they always have time to do it over. So be that person that comes in and gives it your all your first time so that the rest of the time you can capture back and do what you need to do for you, for your family, and for anyone else.
MC: Stephanie Knight
Thank you for sharing that. There's a lot of wisdom there for sure. Dave, would you close this out? I know that Palm Tree is not all work and no play. Do you have any fun travel plan or something on your new travel bucket list, somewhere you're hoping to get to?
Palm Tree: Dave Wolinsky
I have a bucket list. It's pretty extensive. But I have two young kids so it limits travel these days. We're planning on going to Sicily. My mom is, if you really want to slice the the apple, half Italian, half Sicilian. So we're gonna go back there in about a year. But bucket, list if I could spin a globe independent of costs or anything like that, I think I would choose New Zealand. A lot of really interesting, cool scenery that almost doesn't look real to me that I see in pictures of New Zealand. I think that would be fun.
MC: Stephanie Knight
Well, I have loved getting to know both of you and more about Palm Tree. Just really want to thank you both again for taking the time.
Palm Tree: Dieema Wheaton
Thank you.
Palm Tree: Dave Wolinsky
Thank you. Stay frosty, Stephanie.