Looking Back (and Forward)

As I sit on the train making my daily commute, I contemplate a question someone asked recently, “How do you stay motivated for so many years without getting bored?”

Each day, I go to the office of a company whose predecessor firm I joined almost 29 years ago after answering an ad in the New York Times. The original Ackman Brothers firm was founded 80 years ago, and its mission was to be the premier trusted advisor in real estate.

And for 28 of those past years, I’ve walked into the same, old office building at 110 East 42nd Street. Inside those doors, I see five colleagues whom I first met nearly three decades ago, four others I recruited from NYU’s graduate program an average of 18 years ago, three I’ve worked with for the past 15 years, and my trusted assistant, who’s helped me for 25 years. Sound boring yet?

However, Ackman-Ziff is anything but. In addition to these colleagues—who make me excited to get out of bed each day—we have a spectacular team of 40 other highly educated people bringing intellect, honesty, youth, and vibrancy to our company. They’re like-minded, ethically centered, and all focused on the same mission: to provide the best real estate capital market solutions for all of our clients and be their premier trusted advisor, just like Ackman Brothers promised back in the day.

To accommodated our growth, we recently moved Ackman-Ziff’s headquarters to 711 Third Avenue, and I now have the pleasure of working with new(er) colleagues in Miami, Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Boston. As I think about my next 29 years at Ackman-Ziff, I am very excited about our future success and look forward to introducing new superstars, products, and platforms while continuing my work with multiple charitable organizations.

So that’s my long answer. My short answer? I’m lucky to be surrounded by integrity, intellect, and great people. That’s what keeps me motivated each day.

Creative thinking is just one part of what makes the Ackman-Ziff team the nation’s undisputed thought leader in real estate capital advisory. We continue to look for talented professionals to join our growing platform.

 Please see my previous posts Why I Get High Every Day, Let it Grow, The Walk, The Deep-V, and What's in a Name.