March 16, 2020

Some of you have asked for my original note from the start of "lockdown", so here it is.

All,

JLL has a purpose – we shape the future of real estate for a better world. Each of us, as well, have a purpose – whether or not we’ve taken the time to write it down on a piece of paper.

While JLL’s focus on a unified, shared purpose is somewhat new, it’s incumbent on all of us to act, champion, honor and live that purpose through easy times, and tough times. Purpose can’t disappear in the face of adversity. No – instilling purpose must become an even more important aspect of our business and personal lives.

We can sometimes find it hard to easily connect what we, and our team members, do every day to a broader purpose for JLL or humanity, but I thought I’d share an experience from the weekend to help us dig deep, understand purpose, and connect people to purpose.

My dad’s been in a tough fight with cancer on and off for the last 14 years. He’s won more battles than he’s lost, giving him the chance to spend time with his new grandkids, and more time with family – and this weekend brought a new battle. With severe pain in his leg and hip building over the last few weeks, that he attributed to twisting something while working out, he finally went to the ER on Saturday. He was diagnosed with a broken femur and collapsing hip joint, and they recommended a hip replacement as soon as possible.

Notwithstanding the evolving severity of the Covid-19 pandemic, they called an orthopedic surgeon in with cancer expertise Saturday night, and he decided he was doing it Sunday – not wanting to wait so he could stabilize dad. And guess what happened – everyone showed up to do their jobs to make it happen. The cleaning staff was there, the cooks for the kitchen were there, the security staff was there, the nurses were there, and the doctors were there. They all showed up to do their jobs, and everyone was essential to making it happen. It wasn’t lost on me, that on Saturday and Sunday, amidst all that was going on, we saw the head hospital administrator several times walking around, connecting with people, and making sure the patients and staff had what they needed.

The surgeon would comment later that it was the best hip replacement he’s ever done, out of thousands. And I will surmise it was enabled, or driven, by a culture of leadership, that ensured through anything, people showed up, and did their jobs with excellence. Dad is tough as hell, and he’ll keep fighting, and I don’t write this for sympathy or support – everyone has challenges going on in their life. That’s just the reality of living in this great, but unpredictable world.

But I do write it to help us dig deep, and seek purpose. Every day, we do things to help people live their lives and take care of their families, and we help organizations support others, manufacture or distribute needed goods and supplies, and a whole host of other things that quite literally help the world turn. We can find purpose everywhere we turn.

Trust me, people want purpose, they want people to help guide them through these tough personal times, these tough business times, and they also want people that will lead them with a vision that we will prevail – as people, as business organizations and as humanity.

Do not miss today’s opportunities to lead – with empathy, with hope, with grit, and with vision. We have a bright future, and we have a lot do right now to lead our people and our communities forward to that future. We never get today’s chances back.