You may think the secret to success is money, recognition or luck, but Steven and Randy Fifield, MHN’s 2015 Executives of the Year, shared that their success started with peanut butter and jelly. At the annual Multi-Housing News Excellence Awards on October 14th at Club 101 in Manhattan, the Fifields engaged in a panel discussion with Yardi Matrix Vice President Jeff Adler (photo, left), and shared some advice, insights and anecdotes from their long careers in real estate as Chairs of the Fifield Companies. While discussing the ins and outs of experiential marketing, Randy said that in order to make apartment living attractive to busy professionals with money to spend, she’d serve peanut butter and jelly sandwiches to people who work in the area and would stop in on their lunch break. “What they do is they work in the CBD (central business district) and then they come home to let the dog out because we have beautiful parks around the neighborhood, and they’d eat peanut butter and jelly because they could talk on the phone and nothing would drip on them and they’d let the dog out, have this great life and then walk back to work,” she said. Obviously the road to success is not literally paved with peanut butter and jelly, but serving homemade sandwiches is just one anecdote that personifies the Fifields’ knack for giving renters what they want before they even know exactly what that is. It’s not an easy feat, especially in a market where the renters themselves are evolving almost as quickly as their demands are. “The median age has been moving up; 95 percent of the renters are college graduates. The median income in virtually all these transit-oriented urban projects has been over $100,000. It’s a totally different market,...

Connect, innovate, and inspire were the themes behind the 2013 National Apartment Association Education Conference, and these attributes were obvious throughout the event. Marquee moments included Sir Richard Branson’s discussion of his business philosophies and Bert Jacobs’ reminder that optimism is powerful in the face of challenges. There were hundreds more small “ah ha!” moments just like them happening throughout this exciting event in San Diego. It all started with connecting.  Whether those connections are made through conversation, training, or via the Internet, and whether you are connecting with residents, with staff, or with yourself, they all intersect. The point of intersection often results in great personal growth.  Branson shared that people are the overwhelming reason he and his global businesses (which now reach even beyond the earth with Virgin Galactic) are successful. “Always look for the best in people. Treat them well,” he told his keynote address audience, where a packed house listened with rapt attention. There was no denying that the Thursday night block party in San Diego’s famed Gaslamp Quarter was all about connecting!  With a mouthwatering buffet of food and drink choices, a band rocking everything from ABBA to Usher, and 6,000 people crammed into four square blocks, there was a whole lot of connecting going on. For a first time attendee like me, this took networking to a whole new level. The conversations flowed naturally from the food and wine to what you do, what you’ve learned, and how much you enjoyed all the sessions that day. Inspiration shined brightly on Friday morning as Erik Wahl reminded us that when we were children, we all ambitiously acknowledged our ability to draw, even if today only a handful of us are willing to say the same. As adults, fear often...