Lessons - Make a Bet on Yourself | Bob Richards - Executive Vice Chairman at Cushman Wakefield

Now the real, I guess the real like hockey stick growth curve in your career would be when you started your own brokerage. So what differentiated you that made you, because not now look at where you're at, like this is the, you know, this is the epitome of real estate and commercial real estate. You're there now. How'd you get there? Back. Yes. So, you know, I mean one, you know, when I talk to younger people, I think one important lesson is don't be afraid of moving on from success, right, because think about it. I was 30 years old at the time. I had only been in the business a year and a half and I was fortunate to be, you know, the top salesperson in that real estate company with probably, I don't know, 40 brokers, you know, a year and a half in. And so it was kind of like, why would you ever leave this company to go to this fledgling boutique, balance and a carter, but I just knew in my gut that I was going to have more opportunity and a wider runway than after being with that organization and having a great run. I think one of the things that really fueled my desire there was, was leadership and having a chance to lead an organization, you know, wasn't as rewarding to just do another deal or a bigger deal, but it was a chance to kind of help young people and, you know, we ended up, you know, starting the company, you know, in July, whatever that was, three months before 9-11. So talk about not a whole timing. And you know, we went from at that point, it was bigger organizations, but we just thought there was a better way to have a smaller boutique company. And one of the really interesting things we did was we went as opposed to straight commission, we went on a salary bonus program. So as opposed to everybody eating what they killed, whatever everybody earned, we brought in and twice a year sat down, subjectively bonus the non-partners and split amongst the partners equally, what was remaining. So the team work and the knowledge sharing and the support that we developed there really differentiated ourselves. And then, you know, after the horrible 9-11 and the economy and the tailspin, you know, when people were, you know, thinking about trying to get rid and market their excess property, they said, you know, we can go with the normal folks or we've got this young aggressive energized group and they were like, listen, we can take some chances because we got to get rid of this space, you know, if the man that had been swimming with, I think we would have had a really much harder time, you know, getting going, but the fact that the economy was in a bad, a bad place, and you know, one and only you could kind of, you know, have your head down and say, oh geez, you know, no one can make it work in this environment. It was the total opposite for us. That's amazing. You were 100% like you, it was funny, it's funny because it was a, it was a poor economy. For most people looking outside in, it's the worst possible condition you could possibly ever expect. Right. But that's opportunity. Yeah, not in a malicious way, it's, it's opportunity in like, you have to, you have, you're going to work hard, you're going to hustle, you're going to differentiate, you're going to take advantage of the fact that no one else can get this done and you're going to have a team and a culture that supports this, this kind of mindset, how did you find people that were, they were right for this, bring into your firm. It was really hard and it was really happenstance. I mean, frankly, like, you know, the, you know, so it's Richard's Barry Joyce. I mean, John Barry, I had done some work with, um, and Mike Joyce, um, we, we were playing in a pickup hockey league. And I remember just saying, you know, who's that number 11 as a, that's Mike Joyce and you could just see the way that he competed on the ice. And then, you know, we, we filled in other like-minded people with, within other geographies to cover, but we just had that mindset. And, you know, once again, by doing the compensation, the way we did, um, it just fostered this, uh, sort of brotherhood of, of commitment, um, and it, it, it paid great dividends. What about, uh, this one, make a bet on yourself and take the chance to be a difference maker. Yeah. Walk me through that. Well, I mean, I, I, I just thought, you know, as we said, we have, uh, an opportunity to work with some great organizations, which gives us kind of great reward. But, um, you know, I think people, you know, I think in, in, in our role, they're, they're looking for, um, uh, advisors that could kind of help steer them into what, you know, an educated person, uh, experienced person thinks is going to happen, right? Because there's, there's constant decisions, should we sign a three year lease, should we sign a five year lease, is the market going to give us, is the market going to get better. And, um, you know, especially in the real estate brokerage world, I always like to say, you know, um, uh, to, to clients when they're asking about their advisors, um, uh, I'm like, when you have real estate broker tells you not to do a deal. That's when you have an advisor and not a broker, right? I don't think we should go transact right now because I think it's going to be better in three years. You're not going to find a lot of salespeople that are going to say, I'm going to turn down today's commission because, you know, hopefully, I'll be working with this company in three years and we will transact. So, you know, that, that's, that's what I mean by making a bet on yourself and it's, it's once again, people that kind of get stuck in, in roles that, after a while, they just don't find rewarding, um, they're, they're, they're not really, you know, passionate about it. They're not having that much fun at it, but they're afraid to make a bet on themselves and, and, and do something else and take a chance. Finish as strong as you start. And obviously everybody thinks that that'll make sense. But what have you seen? And we can talk about in a commercial, commercial, real estate context, sales context and just, you know, as a, as a good business individual or professional, walking through that concept. Yeah. I mean, that's a lesson I learned from a mentor of mine's wife, um, you know, it was the headmaster of a, of a private school where, where two of my kids went and she was always like finished strong. It's sometimes easy to, you know, start things, get almost to the finish line and fade. You know, you got to get through the finish line and be just as engaged at that point in time as when you were first even, you know, pitching a, a project. So it's just so important and, I mean, it happens in real estate all the time, especially in commercial real estate where, um, you know, you get to like, uh, an M.O.U. where it's called the letter of intent in real estate where you, you, you nail the business terms and then you start negotiating the actual lease document. And there's a lot of people that just get it to the business, to the L.O.I. and then just kind of keep their fingers crossed that everything's going to work out and the two attorneys are going to work through the lease. That's not how we were, you know, we, we, um, you know, provide extensive lease comments to the in-house counsel or outside counsel for our clients and are on every lease negotiation call. You can fade early or you can stay on. And I think our clients really appreciated and, you know, once again, the, the Christmas and resources we have people in our organization that are attorneys and operating expense experts in measurement of properties experts and project management experts that dig into every detail of that lease and that's how you separate yourself from the pack of dropping off before you even started talking about, you know, issues that'll cost hundreds of thousands if not millions of dollars over the course of a, you know, 15 year major lease.