Commercial Development

After initial sales experience, he assessed his interests and chose to challenge himself to master all aspects of a different business expected to continuously evolve.

RR was born in Minneapolis, Minnesota, the oldest of two children including a younger sister. His family moved to suburban Philadelphia, where he graduated from high school. His father was a salesman specializing in metallurgic products (e.g. copper tubing and refrigeration) involving business travel within the US; his mother was a homemaker who once worked for the Red Cross in an administrative capacity. 

In high school, RR was an above average academic student who enjoyed reading, writing and social studies while also proving himself capable at math courses despite no interest in pursuing a math or science-based career. 

GENERAL CAREER DIRECTION MAY BE DECIDED IN HIGH SCHOOL 

Both of RR’s parents were college graduates so it was always assumed that he would also head to college. By the time RR graduated from high school, he already knew that he was interested in a career within the business world rather than in law or medicine. 

CHOOSING A COLLEGE WITH A CAREER PATH IN MIND

To choose a college, it was important to RR that the curriculum would offer business related courses. Secondary issues were reasonable proximity to home and that at least one high school friend had opted to attend the same college. 

During RR’s college years, all able-bodied males of age 18 were required to serve in the military, which commitment could be delayed for up to 4 years while enrolled in college. Officer training programs (R.O.T.C.) were offered for most service branches (Army, Air Force and Marines) to allow college students to attend classes full-time while participating in brief, on-campus military training and two-week summer camps. 

FIRST JOB: PRODUCT SALES

In the Spring of his college senior year, RR and his other business major classmates interviewed with various companies for employment until the military would order them to active duty. RR accepted an entry level sales position with an international chemical manufacturing and sales company, with the specific responsibility to visit potential customers within hospital medical departments, to (hopefully) persuade them to buy his employer’s medical x-ray film rather than the same type of product produced by competitors. This sales position lasted a few months until RR received his Army orders to report to full-time, active duty, for which the Army assigned him to its Transportation Corps, where he served in Thailand for a year before concluding his military service stateside with an honorable discharge. 

This first sales experience was not sufficiently interesting to RR as a final career path, so he declined to pursue the same employment following his military service.

MILITARY PROVIDED LEADERSHIP EXPERIENCE 

Looking back at his service as a military officer, RR realizes that one can study leadership in books but like most other things, experience is the best teacher. An early incident stands out: Second Lieutenant RR, newly commissioned after college graduation, was inspecting a platoon of younger enlisted soldiers prior to their assigned duty to appear “all shined up” for marching in a parade. As he moved from eyeballing one soldier to the next, RR told a young soldier, a Private, that his brass needed polishing. To RR’s surprise, the Private then poked his finger into 2nd Lt RR to tell his officer that his brass also needed shining! Such insubordination to an officer could not go unchallenged but no leadership book had covered such an incident so what to do? Thinking quickly, RR ordered the Private to come to his Officer’s quarters following the parade, at which time the soldier appeared contrite while RR administered appropriate discipline. 

Later during his Army officer service, RR found himself commanding soldiers older in age but less in rank who had to report to him; at various times, RR was involved in either disciplining or counseling older soldiers of lesser rank, which convinced him that he could be an effective leader. Such “on the job” leadership experience would prove invaluable for RR’s eventual business career. 

SECOND JOB CHOICE BASED ON PRIOR JOBS’ EXPERIENCE

Following the conclusion of his military service, RR had to decide whether to return to his first sales position or to seek a different opportunity. He was not enthusiastic about the prospect of selling one type of product while slowly climbing the corporate ladder within the sales department of a large corporation. Instead, working with an employment recruiter (whose fee for service would be paid by an eventual employer), RR accepted a sales position with another major corporation but with the prospect of broader responsibilities, potentially better financial compensation and more interesting work involving first the sale of the product (paperboard used in product packaging), then coordinating with his company’s manufacturing, printing, dye cutting, box production and shipping processes plus resolving any customer dissatisfaction.  

HARD WORK EARNS PROMOTION

While working within his second sales job, RR’s dedication to learning the basics of the broad sales and product delivery process earned him the opportunity to transfer to the company’s New York office, where he would be involved with more important customers with greater opportunity for advancement and financial compensation. 

FIRST BIG RISK

While living in vibrant New York City, a social friend who had achieved both undergraduate and graduate degrees, persuaded RR to return to graduate school to learn the broader world of business and earn a Masters in Business Administration (MBA). RR took the risk and achieved his MBA from the well-recognized University of Virginia. 

MENTOR’S ADVICE: SELF-ASSESS YOUR INTERESTS

The same friend then gave RR career altering advice: instead of accepting interviews from multiple businesses offering employment to newly minted MBAs, first self-assess your personal abilities and interests to try to find a match between your interests and the business opportunity. Having done that, RR utilized his experience in selling a product line to decide he would rather work in an aspect of business which would involve constantly changing factors requiring him to constantly learn new skills. In RR’s view, this pointed to the field of commercial real estate, where land values would be based on ever-changing factors such as the national and local economies, there would be complex issues of zoning and financing, all of which would be impacted by civic and society trends. So, lots of moving parts, never boring, always interesting.

CAREER ZIG ZAGS TO MATCH INTEREST

Now intent on matching his business interest with an employment opportunity, RR accepted an offer with a mortgage banking firm. However, a national economic recession soon appeared, which slowed business opportunities for his company. Fortunately, RR’s dedication to learning this business was recognized by his employer, who shifted RR to another aspect of the same company: brokerage of commercial properties. 

LESSONS LEARNED

Thus, some lessons learned: (1) an individual cannot control the national economy so be ready to roll with it; and (2) your hard work in any aspect of employment will likely be recognized by management and lead to other opportunities. 

ANOTHER RISK CHALLENGE ACCEPTED

While appreciative of his employer providing an alternative business opportunity, RR soon realized he was serving as only a financing “middleman” between buyers and sellers, without interesting challenges for himself, during the real estate transactions. Accordingly, RR looked for a “better” (more interesting, more challenging, more financial rewarding) business opportunity, which he found in Philadelphia with a prominent developer, who provided RR with the chance to head regional mall development teams of architects, lawyers, construction, and leasing specialists. 

SMALLER IS SOMETIMES BETTER THAN BIGGER

After five years further broadening his experience in additional aspects of commercial real estate, RR took another business risk by joining a smaller organization where he hoped to make a larger impact serving as a Senior Vice President for real estate development involving acquiring land, construction, and planning improvements for such market segments as retail, commercial offices, and distribution warehousing. 

BEWARE ANTI-TEAM CONDUCT

One of RR’s business moves appeared promising at the outset but after a few years, it became apparent that the managing partner was looking out for only his own self-interest and this situation would never change. Accordingly, RR decided to move on and learned that two other executives at his level had independently reached the same conclusion and similarly departed. 

ROLL WITH WHAT YOU CAN’T CONTROL

Some economic recessions are worse than others: some can cause a small slow-down in business; some can cause most or all business to quickly disappear. In one instance, RR was completely unemployed for 6 months through no fault of his own.  Personal savings and unemployment compensation has its limits for supporting oneself and a family. RR needed to both earn a living and return to the flow of business. He found employment in a city several states and five driving hours away. At least that work offered interesting challenges beyond the paycheck: planning real estate improvements around a university campus (an urban, state funded school of about 20,000 students) to include housing, classrooms, an athletic facility, and offices. Completion of this development project – covering 10 city blocks – to the satisfaction of his university employer and all those who would be using the real estate coincided with an upturn in the economy and the opportunity to avoid the hassle of commuting and being away from his family by accepting a new employment opportunity with a Philadelphia based business needing RR’s expertise in their acquisition and sale of their commercial real estate. 

HARD WORK AND EXPERIENCE OPENS NEW DOORS

Consistent with RR’s continued parlay of his ever-broadening real estate experience, after several years RR found an even better opportunity as VP of real estate for a corporation involved with acquiring and managing real estate internationally. 

CAREER SATISFACTION

From a college student majoring in business without a specific career direction, RR moved his business career ahead one job and one day at the time by accepting the daily challenge to learn everything he could about each business. His career journey was not always straight ahead; there were setbacks caused by the economy and by at least one self-interested manager. But he bounced back because he worked hard and was willing to bet on himself while taking the inherent risks of changing jobs to continue to meet his expanding interests and abilities. 

In addition to fair compensation related to his success in sales or real estate development, RR sought satisfaction from his daily tasks. Note the evolution of RR’s career story: gaining experience in sales but finding more satisfaction in commercial land development. Others may find the rewards exactly opposite, i.e. in sales rather than related to land development. There is no single answer for everyone.

Sales career satisfaction is found within persuading customers to purchase your product or service and then coordinating your team to deliver as promised.

Land development career satisfaction is found within coordinating your team to acquire a good real estate opportunity, create a development plan (involving, for example, one or more uses such as residential, offices, educational, athletics, civic enjoyment, etc.) and then overcoming inevitable challenges (e.g. zoning opposition, broad economic downturn) to bring the comprehensive plan to fruition, to the satisfaction of all interested parties. 

RR attributed his business success to continuously seeking more knowledge, listening to others with more experience and always devoting himself to the interesting tasks of the day.