The Leadership Issue | Cover Story
How easy is it to identify a “best boss” anyway? We
at Real Estate Forum had the experience of finding that
out as we shifted through numerous nomination forms
that contained shining examples of leadership from
colleagues, employees and team members. Surprisingly,
it was a hard decision to make. We say ‘surprisingly’
because statistically speaking, best bosses—or put
another way, good leaders—are hard to come by. For
instance, only 14% of CEOs have the leadership talent
to execute on their strategy, according to one survey. The
effect this lack of leadership talent has on a company and
its workers cannot be overstated. According to another
estimate, there is a 50% difference in the
impact that a top performing leader has
compared with an average performing one.
Perhaps it is different in the commercial
real estate space. Perhaps the rigor needed
to navigate our industry and the ease at
which it is possible to fail intuitively attracts the
best of the best. To borrow from a well known
expression, if you can make it in CRE you can
make it anywhere.
What is perhaps most astounding about
the leaders you will read about in the
following pages is the way they make it seem
so easy. Juggling multibillion dollar books of
business, implementing vision statements and
strategic goals and they still always seem to
know the name of even the lowliest employee
in the office. Smarts, intuition, honor, skill and
charisma. You can read about it over the next
few pages.
IN THE BUSINESS
