Kevin Fitzgerald
Kevin M. Fitzgerald has focused his career on working worldwide with Corporate Real Estate executives that maintain aggressive real estate goals with limited human resources. Corporations prefer to work with fewer suppliers who provide more answers to their needs. The challenges remain the same in the commercial real estate industry. Clients are asking for more and more from their service providers. It’s incumbent upon us to be able to package up all the different services we offer for our clients -- in a way that’s understandable to them, and through a mechanism in which they have ease of access to all those services. For us, through our proven systems and processes its our biggest opportunity, the integration piece. Today's global marketplace demands a consistent level of service. Solutions to critical issues are being rewarded.
Homepage: http://www.naiswfl.com
Posts by Kevin Fitzgerald
What Motivates the Motivators?
Aug 15th
Recently it occurred to me that the leaders in our industry by their actions are motivators? But where do they find the source of their motivation? There are those who are self motivated, those that need to be motivated and others who couldn’t be motivated for any reason in the world. Similarly you’ve heard about those who make things happen, those who realize something is happening and then some who don’t have a clue what’s happening.
When we were young it was our parents whom we looked to for motivation and encouragement. Often times we were rewarded with kind words, extra privileges or even an allowance. But who or what motivated our parents? Why did some parents stay home and others go off to work? Why did some choose to work with their hands and others who chose other venues? When did our parents stop being our source of motivation or are they still that source today?
For me as I got older it was coaches in the various sports I was blessed to have played in. The coaches that dangled motivation out in front of you every practice in the form of a carrott, “If you work hard, keep your nose to the grind stone you will succeed and have a better life”. There was also motivation in the form of recognition from your school and your teachers; All Star games, honor societies, the theatre and perhaps student government.
By this time in your life you have a firm grasp if you are a self motivated person or someone who needs to be motivated. It shows if you choose to go off to higher education or if your choice is the work force. In the commercial real estate industry I’ve found those with the most success learned long ago that they must be self motivators. If they have that special something deep inside that never allows you to give up, keep your glass half full and treat others with respect then success is within their grasp.
My friend Vance Caesar taught me to have more “get to’s” than got to’s and it really changed the way I greet each new day. We all have a choice to make when our feet hit the floor whether our motivation will come from within and it will be a positive start to the day or if we have to wait for our spouse, children, boss or some other outside choice to get us going it might not be as positive because that motivation may not come on that day.
The sooner we understand that what happens to us is life, how we react defines our character and gives us the opportunity to motivate ourselves and others. What is your choice?
Nothing Personal-Just Business……Really?!
Jun 21st
If you are fortunate enough to be in the same industry for a lengthy period of time you see trends come and go as quickly as some of the people. Whether you’re an attorney, accountant, teacher or even a professional commercial real estate advisor you’ll see people at conferences and conventions. After years of this if you’re lucky you develop a relationship and a friendship that will last long after your professional connection is changed.
This isn’t always the case. People come and people go. Company’s come and company’s go but business friendships can go on forever even though you may be carrying different cards. It’s always hard to hear that a colleague is leaving to pursue other endeavors. The conscious mind appreciates the opportunity they have been given and you see all the positives it will afford that person, but the unconscious mind wonders and sometimes wanders to that place where if you’re not very careful your relationship, that friendship could be altered.
This was evident in my dealing with the corporate world in the 1990’s. If he or she was on our team that was great, but if they left and went to work for the competition then they had crossed over to the dark side and were amongst the Evil Empire. It’s the same person doing the same job for someone else.
We are very lucky in our organization because we truly have become a professional family. From the very top of the enterprise, since 1978 it was a given that if you believed in the mission and shared the vision that it would become clear what your path to success would look like. Sure every family has that strange Uncle that no one wants to talk about, but he’s still our Uncle and you’d better be careful what you may think of him.
We talk about being different from the competition. What are your differentiators? You can search your soul and rack your brain but what I’ve observed is that no matter what differentiator you might come up with, I’ve found that the most important differences, if you’re going to succeed, are that you know each other, you like each other and you look for reasons to work together. Coming to every opportunity as a servant is always a rewarding position and one that is never a disappointment.
When a valued colleague leaves your organization or industry or and entire company decides to follow a different path, while it gives you pause, you have to realize it’s nothing personal, it’s just business…..Really!
See the Invisible and Do the Impossible…
Feb 7th
That’s the sub title of a new book by Daniel Burrus with John David Mann, Flash Foresight. This is a really an interesting concept when you stop and think about it. That’s really what we do in Commercial Real Estate isn’t it? McDonald’s or Walgreens wants the northeast corner of Spoke and Oak, but there is already a flower store, a card shop and a bicycle business operating in that space. That really doesn’t matter to McDonald’s or Walgreens.
As a professional you have to manufacture the space necessary. Almost 25 years ago as a new agent in the commercial real estate industry, I met a developer named Steve Nardi in Chicago who was a part of our network (New America Network) back then. About 100 of us were standing in the vacant, newly constructed 8th floor of his brand new building along the I-88 corridor in suburban Chicago. The building had 11 floors and not one square foot was occupied at the time.
Nardi stood there and described the kinds of tenants he would attract and when they would arrive and what he would have to do to finish the Class A Office project. Nardi asked us all what business we thought we were in. That was easy commercial real estate I said. No, he said that we were all in the manufacturing business….manufacturing opportunities for our customers and clients. That notion has always been in my mind whenever I’ve been faced with a particularly challenging assignment or situation.
Many of the solutions have come because I have been blessed to be associated with NAI Global, the world’s largest commercial network. NAI is supported by more than 5,000 full time commercial professionals in 55 countries working together with our corporate staff and our strategic alliance partners to give our membership an unmatched competitive edge. This will be my 25th year as a commercial real estate service provider and at this year’s convention I will assume the duties as Chair of NAI Global’s Leadership Board. This year we will try to see the invisible and achieve the impossible….together.
What’s in a name?
Nov 25th
We name our children, we name our pets, we name our boats and other things, but have you ever thought what the thought process might be when buildings are named. Throughout history buildings have traditionally been named for President’s, war heroes and physician’s to name a few. What about a personal dedication, something that means so much to you that you want to share it with others. A decision that identifies the love and devotion you have for someone else. A decision so important that you want to share it with a particular community. Who would you name a building for if you had the chance?
I’ve been very lucky to be included in a decision by a man who wants to name a building for his recently deceased wife at our Church. Now this is certainly a natural desire and a somewhat easy thing to do as details come to fruition and the dedication is embraced by the recipient, in this case the Church. What I found so very interesting was how this man came to this decision. It is a love story that spans more than seven (7) decades. I sat in amazement as this man talked about how he met the eventual love of his life as a young man in the military in Paris.
