As we know now, too much debt in many sectors of our economy resulted in a very fragile economic system; we’re paying the price for this now. The process of reducing the debt level is painful for everyone. The levels of debt were high for virtually all assets and businesses in this country. From consumer credit to Investment Bankers and everything in between, too many loans at too high levels. All based on the premise that value only goes one way, up. Well as the saying goes what goes up… Commercial real estate unfortunately will not be immune to this…

As a CEO, getting engaged with your workforce is one the best things you can do to drive performance, engender workforce loyalty, and boost morale. The topic of “employee engagement” is something that many CEOs tend to struggle with. I’ve written before about the critical importance of CEOs and entrepreneurs having an external focus. Long gone are the days where the executive leadership of a company can remain sequestered in their offices with an internal focus on hard metrics. Given the current economic climate it takes far more than cost-cutting to survive. It is the CEO who focuses on the…

“Leadership Lessons from Abraham Lincoln” is the second in a two-part series celebrating Presidents’ Day by examining the leadership traits of George Washington and Abraham Lincoln. In yesterday’s post I examined the unimpeachable character of our first president, and in today’s post I’ll examine the resolve of our sixteenth. It is an astute person who studies history and applies the lessons learned to their present day life as a method for preventing the completely avoidable mistakes that plague many. I hope that these brief examinations into the lives of George Washington and Abraham Lincoln will help you become a better…

It’s not uncommon in today’s world to wonder “where have all the leaders gone?” When you want to find great examples of solid leadership, you need only look back to our nation’s founders. Since we’re headed into Presidents Day weekend and the commencement of Lincoln’s bicentennial celebration, I thought I’d take this opportunity to author a two part series in which I’ll examine the leadership characteristics of the two presidents for which the holiday is celebrated; George Washington, and Abraham Lincoln. In this week’s column I’ll begin by taking a brief look at the life of George Washington in an…

On Tuesday, February 10th, Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner outlined a comprehensive plan intended to stabilize our financial system. In the address, Secretary Geithner outlined the new administration’s goals for strengthening our economy: to get credit flowing again to families and businesses, and impose new measures and conditions to strengthen accountability, oversight and transparency in how taxpayer dollars are spent. This so-called “Stability Plan” is a step in the right direction towards restoring our economy, and has some elements that will favorably impact the commercial real estate industry. For example, by leveraging private capital and allowing private sector buyers to determine…