Jodi’s Journal: The call for a torchbearer

If you missed reading to the end of my recent story on Michael Jensen, I’m about to bring it to the top of this one.

I recently sat down with Jensen, a prominent real estate agent in the Okoboji, Iowa, area. Even if I hadn’t known he was a go-to representative of lakefront real estate, a drive around West Lake Okoboji would have made it readily apparent as his signs sat in front of the few available properties.

But I was there more to talk about some of Jensen’s other work, which includes taking ownership of the historic Central Emporium shopping center and helping broker a deal that will redevelop part of Smith’s Bay while preserving longtime icon O’Farrell Sisters restaurant.

You can watch the sit-down interview here:

But the thought that really captured Jensen came from Jack Jacobs, a Sioux Falls-area restaurant manager who now runs Mullets in Okoboji as part of a franchise group that brought the Des Moines-based restaurant to the Central Emporium this season.

I asked Jacobs for his impressions of Jensen, and after praising him as a landlord, he pointed out the broader role this real estate agent plays in the community.

“He’s really, really intentional about the history, and I think … seeing a need for someone to be the torchbearer,” Jacobs said. “Who’s going to bring this into the next generation? Who’s going to tie the history into the future? And I think he’s done an incredible job doing that.”

The torchbearer.

Jacobs put more succinctly to words what I had found myself thinking as I learned more about what Jensen is doing in his hometown. Sure, he’s selling million-dollar-plus lake homes and condos, but he’s also taking on historic preservation projects. He runs 60 rental homes to provide workforce housing.

He sees the big picture — that you don’t build a true destination with just luxury homes around a lake. You need places to shop locally like the Central Emporium and memorable mom-and-pop restaurants and quality housing for those who work in the service sector.

“It’s good that people know honestly, like, I sell your lake house, (and) the money stays here. I spend the money right here,” he told me.

It made me think, naturally, of Sioux Falls. And of the many torchbearers who have helped carry on the community’s legacy and build it to what it is today.

But what of those in their 40s, like Jensen, beginning to see significant success in business? Or even those in their 20s and 30s positioned to have an earlier impact?

Are we fostering a culture in this community that calls on those who succeed in business to invest in the bigger picture?

Jensen did it after starting as a residential real estate agent, but there are plenty of successful professionals of his generation in other fields too — health care, financial services, entrepreneurship. Imagine if more also stepped up to invest in the sort of Sioux Falls where they want to spend the next half or more of their lives.

And while capital helps, time counts too. Time to mentor, to serve on boards, to volunteer for nonprofits and to serve in elected roles. There are multiple powerful ways anyone can invest in the future of a community.

Think about the concept in your own business too. Who are your torchbearers? Are you hiring and developing the sort of people who will look at the big picture of what it takes for your organization to evolve  — both the internal and the external factors that will determine your future success?

And when you decide who do to business with, are you taking into consideration what Jensen said? People who will redeploy their success into making your community stronger?

Torchbearers don’t lead alone. They inspire others to rally around toward a common goal.

We’re fortunate to have many of them in Sioux Falls. Ideally, our next generation will bring a similar spirit as I saw lakeside to the east.

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