Principles; What Are Your Main Governing Principles in Navigating Life and Your Career

• learn how to work fast and accurate; I try not to recreate the wheel; I blow through the routine and dedicate more time for the creative or complex (high value) tasks; trust in work and character are earned; always bring something different to the table so think different (sometimes real estate folk are conformists)

• I do things that further my passions (1 or 2 things) and only work on things that help me do that either directly or indirectly; things seem to fall in place and a track record / story forms. I seek hard trends. Some call my way having a vision, others might wish for more conformity from me. I’m jet fuel for a growth engine. I’ve worked for large brands but thrive in growing small teams.

• going beyond myself to help others; it gives me a voice and call to action since I’m not naturally an attention seeker or materialistic person (experiences and some ego or impact seeking yes), and once motivated I’m tenacious. I repeatedly tell people my plans to do projects that are just enormous and I have a personal life interest in (not just money), and chip away at this for years. Power of believing.

1. Health is number 1 always.
2. Figure out what is important to you and never compromise. I set myself up for my perception of greatness over nominal paycheck and living in paradise. Never regretted it.
3. Embrace the grind and small victories and pleasures.
4. Don't waste time on small or unimportant people.

Vision and self-discipline will take you where ever and make whatever world you want.

Great thread. Big fan of the idea of making decisions based on strength (vs weakness) and of focusing on learning early in a career (over pay). A few of my own...

1. Find a way of managing your emotions: This one cuts both ways - both in terms of finding a healthy outlet, and in terms of making sure emotions don't drive your decision making. Going to the gym is a great (and time tested) stress-reliever - I'd also advocate simply having a hobby, something you are interested in, can dedicate your time to, and that you do solely because you want to. For some, this is the gym: for others, Lego models, knitting, horticulture, etc. The benefit of having an outlet if that you don't keep emotions bottled inside, making you a more stable personality in the office. It's also hugely important simply to talk to people - no matter how reticent a personality you may be. This can be a parent, a sibling, a partner, a childhood friend, whoever. As long as they're able to sympathise and you feel better at the end of the process, they're a valid choice. Simply "getting something out there" will make you feel better. In terms of your emotions not taking control of your decision making, this is less mechanical - and a weakness you may not even be aware of. On a basic level, hold your tongue until you've had a chance to properly assess your options (office outbursts are generally ill-advised and less cathartic than they at first seem). On a more complex / intimate level, be aware of your insecurities. There's no easy way of countering emotional biases (e.g. revenge, peacocking, over-aggression) without a degree of introspection. My best advice would be to question your motives: why exactly are you making certain key decisions? If it's not sincerely because its the most logical course of action (believe me, you'll likely know), re-evaluate what it is you really want to accomplish over the longer-term and attempt to realign your strategy with this aim.

2. Try and understand what it is that motivates other people: This can be over both the short term (i.e. day-to-day) and over the long term (i.e. entire career). If you can get even a vague inkling of what it is that's causing someone to behave in a certain way, not only will it likely make you more empathetic (and so less frustrated and less likely to initiate unnecessary conflict), but will also help inform how you approach that individual. As manipulative as it sounds, taking 5-10mins solely to consider why a person acts the way they do can hugely improve the way you interact with them to your advantage. This may mean that placating them 80% of the time is energy better expended than calling them out and escalating the problem at hand; alternatively, it may mean that delivering brutal, up-front honesty best accomplishes your ends. This, I've found, is particularly useful when dealing with superiors. Often they're operating under pressure that isn't immediately apparent to juniors - after all, often it's long term, slow-burning pressure that only occasionally comes to a head. Having a nose for when things are likely to boil over can keep you out of trouble and, more importantly, in your boss' good books. As an aside, ask people how they are and be willing to listen for 5-10mins. Not only will this help inform your above intel, but will also earn you significant social credit will almost anyone - credit that's not readily forgotten (people tend to remember instances of candid emotion, even if low-key, in a professional environment) and can help you curry favour.

1. Pay very close attention to the morals/culture/reputation of those you go to work for. Life is way too short to work for sociopathic assholes who view you solely as a commodity. How many marriages have they had? Do they love and talk about their kids? Is work the only source of fulfillment for them, or do they lead fulfilling lives outside of the office? Seek out bosses who you believe will mentor and reward you if you bust ass and perform. Once hired, always focus on making your manager look good.

2. If you don't want to eat what you kill, you have to become an expert, the most skilled person in the room at certain tasks. I've been able to increase my earning power pretty quickly by diving headfirst into complicated waterfall modeling, tax incentive financing structures, multi-phase redevelopments, and legal analysis of reciprocal easement agreements, environmental reports, development agreements, JV agreements, etc... Learn to take on and dominate what other people are scared off by.

3. There are way too many people in CRE finance that are targeting Director of Acquisition roles without understanding candidate saturation. I've talked to buddies who say they can't believe how many qualified applications they get even for analyst roles.

4. Focus heavily on building technical skills and getting broad exposure to a wide variety of development/transactions early on. Become the go to quantitative person when first coming out because you won't add any value elsewhere on the finance side. Read, read, read. Stop skimming the abstracts and actually read through leases, REA's, venture agreements, development agreements, management agreements, etc... At a high-level thorough knowledge of the contract structuring process is immensely important.

5. Stop emailing and pick up the phone and call people. Set up lunch meetings, after work drinks. Build a network early.

One for me is from JFK’s famous Moon speech from Sep 12, 1962 meant to stir in interest in the space program:

> We choose to go to the Moon in this decade and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard; because that goal will serve to organize and measure the best of our energies and skills, because that challenge is one that we are willing to accept, one we are unwilling to postpone, and one we intend to win, and the others, too.

Not trying to say what I do is literal rocket science, but when things get hard I find it important to remember not to find workarounds but to embrace the difficulty of it and use the project to “organize and measure the best of our energies and skills.”

You only have one reputation. If you give your word, keep it. It's never worth it to strive for the extra dollar if you're picking someone else's pocket for it. If everyone does well, that gets around, and you see more deal flow and friendlier counterparties. More trust. If you nickel and dime people, or obey the letter but not the spirit of agreements, you can expect other people to do the same to you.

(1) Success is the sum of small efforts repeated day in and day out - Robert Collier (2) Always remember your "Why" (3) Never be afraid to fail

Character - at the end of the day this (and/or your reputation) is what you are judged on. Anyone can calculate numbers or fiddle with models, but determining what kind of man you want to be will dictate who you will do business with and what business you will be involved in. You have to be true to yourself otherwise you lose any sense of a moral compass and will feel dissatisfied with your life choices.

Respect - listen to the elders. Their advice could be good or bad, both are useful. Always respect an old man that has lasted in a young man's game.

Risk - be comfortable with taking chances and risks. That's not to say to always take the risk, but understand it.

Trust yourself - self explanatory. If you know you are right or can contribute, say something.

Two others I'd like to add;

1) Numbers ALWAYS win Get as many people on your side as possible, from the jump. Even if your boss hates you, he's going to have to treat you with respect if you have the full backing of the rank and file or else he knows he gains disdain from his rank and file. Same thing when it comes to your personal/social life. Be good to people and sometimes keep your tongue bitten instead of being the contrarian and turning the room against you.

2) Impress the RIGHT people Numbers does always win, but at the same time, if there's at least ONE direct supervisor at your company that you kill it for, you only need one recommendation from your prior company for that B-school app. Per rule #1, you're going to be fighting an uphill battle without consensus support, but if you can't gain consensus at the very lease identify the key people who can provide you with something in your future and make an extra good effort to be good to them.

1. Know yourself well & your values

2. Live a value-oriented life, rather than a goal-oriented one

3. Live passionately, and capitalize on your strengths

(1) Your boss/principal/colleagues care about their children first and foremost in this world. By comparison, you are not even on the totem pole of caring. Understand that making money, earning an excellent living for their family, creating a legacy for posterity, and creating a company that she/he can pass on to the next generation is what drives people - and drives people to make tough decisions. Everyone is acting in his or her own best interest - and that is totally fine.

(2) Echoing what others have said...Go out of your way to make friends with your coworkers and genuinely take interest in their lives. Make just a few good, real friends here and there and before you know it you're 7 years in and have best friends in the industry who will open up their contacts book for you.

(3) I'm copying what @InVinoVeritas said because I think it's really important. "Once hired, always focus on making your manager look good."

There is the game and then there is the game within the game...

1. The best time to correct mistakes is before they've been made. Actively checking for mistakes in deliverables and/or flaws in your own logic generally is one of the most beneficial things that you can do for yourself. For one, you mitigate the number and scope of your blindspots which won't just save you from embarrassment at some point, it'll make you sound well thought out and smart (even if you're not especially smart) and ppl will perceive you as such. Second, the damage caused by a mistake and the complexity/difficulty in reversing the mistake are almost 1:1 directly proportional to how long the mistake goes unnoticed. This can range from having a model busted by one input that is impossible to go back and find once you've completed the model w/out noticing the mistake to making a mistake in interpreting a clause in a lease/PSA/JVA and losing both face and money as a result.

2. It's better to be excellent at one specific thing than to be relatively competent in a great many things. I turned down a job out of UG, at a time when I had no other offers, which had good exit ops & good comp for an A1, and I turned it down specifically because it was a generalist role. The "well-rounded" route to success is a myth - the only way that you're going to separate yourself is by being a killer at a specific thing and being competent enough to manage the things that are tangentially related to your specific thing.

3. A few general workplace rules that I think are important as a junior employee (which I currently am). (i) Never ask a question that you could have found the answer to for yourself. Your job is to reduce the workload for senior ppl, not to add to it by asking unnecessary questions. You will be perceived as the guy who is too dumb or lazy to figure things out for yourself and you won't be tasked w/ any important deliverables because you'll be perceived as a guy who creates work rather than gets it done. The best thing that you can possibly be perceived as when you're starting out is as a resource for senior folks to use in order to get things done quickly and correctly (ii) when you're asked to do something, regardless of how big or small a task it is, do what was asked, in the way that was asked to be done, nothing more and nothing less. The reasons not to do less are obvious, and the reason not to do more is because folks generally know what they want when they ask you to do it and that's what they'll ask you. Doing more increases your chances of making a mistake, not doing what was asked, and making whatever the deliverable was more complex than needed, which is a time-drag for whoever has to make sense of it. You've opened yourself up to a bunch of downside in exchange for no upside because ppl are never going to be upset w/ someone who consistently does what was asked, how it was asked to be done. All of this can be tied back to the idea that, until you don't have one, you job is to make your boss' job easier. If you do this unerringly, your boss(es) are going to like you and either give you internal advancement or recommend you highly to others when you decide to exit.

1) The times when you say "no" will be the most important decisions of your career. You have limited time, attention, and resources. Say "no" to bad or borderline deals. Say "no" to bad partners. Say "no" to bad uses of your time. Say "no" to fads and unproven tech. Paradoxically, the more you say "no", the more success you will have, and the more you will be able to say "no".

2) You are wrong, pretty much all of the time. This is an incredibly useful thing to know. Doesn't matter if it's true (...but it is). If you integrate this belief deeply into your personality, you will make far fewer mistakes than other people. When you know you're wrong, you are more likely to check your basic assumptions, more likely to listen to others, more likely to spot risk, and therefore more likely to ultimately be successful in your personal development, your career, and your relationships.

3) "...every man I meet is my superior in some way, and in that I learn from him." - Emerson.

1) See a task all the way through until it is completely finished.

Very few people do this. Many people just do their job and pass it along.

Being able to execute (and understand every step in the process) will make you more valuable, faster than any of your peers.

2) Dont lie.

**1) Not making a decision is a decision - ** Waiting for the perfect job for 12 months is worse than taking the not so perfect job now and being in a better place a year from now. Often times, the perfect is the enemy of the good. Make decisions based on what is in front of you and not hypotheticals you make up in your head.

**2) Take Personal and Professional Risks - ** Don't be afraid of making life / career judgement calls. Do you move / stay in a city for a job or girl? Both could blow up and leave you feeling like you made the wrong choice, but don't make the safe one because you are afraid of what could go wrong. Things often work out for the best, and the future outcome you're worried about now, might not even matter to you in the future.

**3) Start with a tune up game - ** Whenever you're worried about taking on a new set of responsibilities, start with a tune up game. Never underwritten a deal? Start with a case study, rebuild an old model, start with a small one, then graduate to the big time. Not comfortable on the phone? Take the opportunity to talk to brokers about fringe deals you know you're firm probably won't be interested in. Talk to the other young guys. Build the skill sets you need for tomorrow today, but do it in low pressure situations with small stakes.