Michael Jacoby

Michael Jacoby’s first job out of college was in a Washington, D.C. hotel working the graveyard shift. It only lasted nine months, but it laid the groundwork for a career that has spanned decades. A people person, he was energized by meeting hotel guests from all different sectors and from all over the world. He brings that enthusiasm to his work today as the head of a commercial real estate and investment business. He sees real estate as a way to connect people by designing gathering and meeting places and is using technology to modernize the industry and the future of development. He talks with us about finding a passion and a mentor and advises us to study something we really find interesting – no matter what it is – so when the right opportunity emerges, we’ll know it, just like he did.

You’ve run both a business and an investing firm. How are the two related and what lessons have you learned from each that applied to the other?

My company owns commercial real estate like shopping centers or office buildings. We manage the operations, lease properties, and provide consulting services. Those things require different skills. I started in sales, and the people skills, listening skills, and leading skills that I learned as a salesman were invaluable as I then moved to being the actual developer and owner of commercial real estate. Sales skills were helpful to raise money from investors, banks and lenders, and to recruit other people to join my organization.

How would you describe your business to someone who doesn’t know it?

We’re obsessed with connecting people and places. That’s what real estate does; it provides a place for people to come together. I think that in the future, shopping centers and retail will become our place to gather and see one another, laugh, share meals and have conversations. That connection of human beings and getting together with your friends is going to happen in places that haven’t been built yet.

How do you motivate your employees?

We do have something to motivate them with. It is an acronym - TRIBAL. TRIBAL stands for teamwork, respect, integrity, balance, meaning life balance, accountability and leadership.

Your first job was at a hotel. What lessons did you learn when you worked there that helped you later in your career?

The first thing was I learned about having a mentor. The general manager of that hotel was a great guy, and he was the one who actually pointed me to a career in another industry. To this day, I still have people who help me be a better CEO. I have a coach who helps me be a better businessman. I have advisors in various professions like lawyers and engineers and architects. I learn from them every day. Having a good mentor was one of the primary things that stuck with me from that very first job. Working at the hotel, I met interesting people from all over who worked for interesting organizations – the World Bank, International Monetary Fund, Kennedy Center performers, Secret Service details – all of whom stayed at the hotel. I was exposed to pretty worldly people and realized that I wanted a career where I got to meet interesting people like that on a regular basis. And that has stayed with me. I seek out people that I find interesting and people that I can learn from.

You have stated that you value honesty and dedication more than anything. How do your employees, friends and customers reflect those values?

When we recruit and train people, we talk to them about doing their best and giving it their all each and every day, and we remind them, and we hold them accountable. Part of the hiring process is to make sure we’re hiring the right people in the first place. As far as honesty is concerned, we use the word integrity, which is part of our core values, and we talk about it all year long in our company.

How do you find the right balance of personalities in your employees to help businesses run smoothly? For instance, do you just look for hard workers, or are creativity and kindness equally valuable?

Respect is one of our core values. Respect means you respect the other folks. There’s a book called Good to Great which is about finding the right people, and then it’s my job to make sure they’re sitting in the right seats. It’s also my job to make sure that we’re all pulling in the same direction. Sometimes you have to switch people around a little bit to make sure that they’re sitting in the right place.

What is your best advice for our generation as we figure out what we want to do with our studies and career? 

Find and study things you find interesting right now. Always be learning about something new and interesting and that way, when the right path shows up, you’ll know what it’s all about. Be smart, independent, strong and dedicated, and pursue your passion.

Gen Z is very concerned with social issues and often puts their money where their beliefs are. How do you approach this as a business?

My duty as a leader is to make sure my company is successful. My general school of thought is that a rising tide floats all boats. Generally speaking, if my people as a whole are doing well, feel safe, are employed and have purpose, then things fall into place. If my people are uncomfortable, scared and concerned over issues like climate change, then it’s something we need to take seriously. There are things we can do. We can encourage our engineers to design buildings in an energy efficient way. We can maximize the amount of green space that we have at our shopping centers or buildings. That makes our people proud of the buildings we build, proud of themselves, proud of the properties we manage. We get involved in issues where we think we’d make a difference in the world. 

What is your approach to diversity and inclusion?

We’ve always had a pretty diverse workforce. When you go to cities like New York, Washington D.C., San Francisco or Miami, international gateway cities, you meet a lot more people from around the world. The world is getting smaller. If you want to be competitive, it helps to be inclusive.

What was your favorite subject in school when you were our age, and did you do well in school?

My best subject in middle school and high school was history. My father was a Holocaust survivor.  He taught me to pay attention to what was going on in the world. I always read the newspaper as a kid to see what issues were going on in the world.