{"id":5480,"date":"2013-02-28T05:00:41","date_gmt":"2013-02-28T13:00:41","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.yardi.com\/blog\/?p=5480"},"modified":"2026-02-22T15:29:45","modified_gmt":"2026-02-22T23:29:45","slug":"finding-inspiration","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.yardi.com\/blog\/finding-inspiration\/","title":{"rendered":"Finding Inspiration"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Top<\/a>It\u2019s inspiring to hear the details of a success story, and never more so than when the person had to fight their way to the top. Talk to a female executive in commercial real estate, and chances are you\u2019ll walk away with more than a few such inspirations. Talk to 25 of them, and you\u2019ll be overwhelmed with good ideas, advice and insights. And regardless of whether you\u2019re male or female, you\u2019ll want to put them to use.<\/p>\n

Needless to say, finishing up work on Commercial Property Executive\u2019s March 2013 feature, Top Women in Real Estate<\/strong>, I had more new ideas than I knew what to do with. OK, true confessions, we didn\u2019t talk to all 25\u2014a few were so busy we never got them on the phone. But most made themselves available, and their stories provided a lesson in perseverance, ingenuity and dedication.<\/p>\n

While these traits might be expected of such a group, some less likely characteristics also emerged during the course of our interviews. Among them was what seemed an unusually prevalent (though not omnipresent) tendency toward self awareness, an ability to recognize and admit to strengths and weaknesses that doesn\u2019t always survive the climb to the top rungs of the career ladder. Beyond the admission, it was evident in an expressed willingness to listen and communicate, as well as to identify and emphasize the best characteristics of their team members.<\/p>\n

With self awareness can come humility and even insecurity, and while that latter trait might not seem a natural fit for aggressive dealmakers, two of the most successful brokers in New York City, Mary Ann Tighe<\/strong> of CBRE Group Inc. and Tara Stacom<\/strong> of Cushman & Wakefield Inc., admitted to it\u2014and illustrated how they put it to good use. Another top-ranked female executive, Christie Kelly<\/strong>, CFO of Duke Realty Corp., stressed the importance of learning from mistakes. \u201cIf you aren\u2019t failing at times, you\u2019re really not challenging yourself or your business team to be the best,\u201d she declared, in a loose reflection of 18th<\/sup> century poet Alexander Pope\u2019s lesson.<\/p>\n

A common trait among the group was a constant desire to keep learning from experiences and new opportunities. They look outward as well as inward for new ideas, and a couple even seek feedback from their children, putting faith in the honesty and perception of the young.<\/p>\n

Remembering their own experiences, most of them actively mentor others, in particular other women, both formally and informally. And they enthusiastically offered a variety of advice for anyone striving to advance in the industry.<\/p>\n

Among the most salient suggestions:<\/p>\n