Some of my former coworkers and I got together on Friday to celebrate (and commiserate over) the 1-year anniversary of WaMu’s demise. It was nice to see everyone that was there, and also sad to know that most of our team has moved out of the area.

I’d been thinking a lot about my WaMu team over the last week, and not just because of the anniversary. I’ve also been going through some leadership development training with the MBA program. And all of my best examples of leadership, teamwork, and overall work place awesomeness come from this group. (I can’t speak for the leadership of the rest of the company.)

As I move forward in my career after the MBA program, I want to make sure I remember the dynamics of WaMu Research. I have a long list of things that we did right. Things like having an emphasis on improvement of our research and ourselves. The group also encouraged open questioning, and required collaboration. They hired smart (they hired me after all). And to back up our dedication to our work, we took time for fun.

Miss my WaMu family!