Guest Blog: ‘Human Capital’ with Matt Slepin

This is my inaugural blog for Multi-Housing News. I’ve been writing columns  for awhile, but this is my first ongoing blog. Since this is a new venue for me, I wanted to start with a mission statement on what readers can expect.

In the real estate business, we focus on deals, deals, deals. Sometimes we talk about operations and the art of maximizing value in properties and portfolios. But it usually all relates to deals and financial returns. This column will explore a third front—the human capital side of the real estate business with a focus on the multifamily sector. I will try to discuss both perspectives (companies and people and their own careers), so I hope this blog will be helpful from a professional and personal standpoint.

As a real estate recruiter, these are the issues that I deal with everyday. I try to understand what makes a company great and why—what makes excellence outside of the sticks and bricks in real estate organizations, teams, and cultures? How do companies persist through leadership and generational changes, mergers and acquisitions and painful market cycles? How do they successfully hire, groom and promote people?

I’ll also flip it over and think of these topics from the perspective of individuals managing their careers in the real estate business. How do you flourish and gain satisfaction, both psychically and economically through your work? How do you execute your own career in a way that serves not only your employer, but your career advancement, passions, and net worth?

An additional theme will be the role of passion and achieving excellence in the business world. The headline and key driver, especially in the real estate business, will always be to maximize the economics. But the people and companies we most admire, including some of my own non-real estate heroes like Steve Jobs and Bruce Springsteen, show that passion and excellence are drivers that can also achieve outsized financial results. The intersection of money and passion will be a recurring theme in this blog.

So…that’s the mission of this blog—exploring the human capital side of the real estate business. I will tell it like I see it and do my best to provide useful tips, fresh perspectives and a highlighted focus on matters that are too often ignored. Hopefully this blog will generate ongoing dialogue on these topics since feel free to pop comments and questions back anytime!

Matt Slepin is the founder and managing partner of Terra Search Partners—an executive search firm focused exclusively on the real estate industry. The company has worked with some of the largest multi-family developers across the nation. Headquartered in San Francisco, the firm also has locations in Los Angeles, CA, Seattle, WA and Washington DC. For more information, please visit terrasearchpartners.com or e-mail matt at [email protected].