“I am convinced that nothing we do is more important than hiring and developing people. At the end of the day you bet on people, not on strategies.”

– Lawrence Bossidy, Former COO of GE

Real estate investment managers can be so deal-focused that one of the foundations of their success—the developing and retaining the best human capital— can lose priority. A firm with the right people in place will win business from clients, but institutions are demanding more involved and direct relationships with managers. Senior executives may forget this occasionally, but the Human Resources participants in NAREIM’s HR Council Meeting in Chicago on August 7th think about it every day. According to NAREIM President and CEO Gunnar Branson. “The concept of shared ownership is intrinsic to real estate, more perhaps than any other industry,” he said. “In real estate we know that people who feel like stakeholders will stay in place longer and treat properties better—the question is how we can foster that sense of ownership in our employees as well as our tenants and investors.” To read the full report, click here.