Developing Leaders Talk Business with Jack McKinney
On October 2nd, a handful of Chicago Developing Leaders spanning nearly every field of commercial real estate sat down with Jack McKinney, President and Founder of J.F. McKinney & Associates, who discussed his ascension in the business, insights on the industry, and recommendations for success in the field. The young professionals had a great discussion with one of Chicago’s commercial industry icons over a couple of beers and pizza.
“I kind of fell into the commercial real estate business”, explained Jack. After graduating from the Kellogg School of Management, he took a job in sales at IBM. Using his connections and his extensive sales experience at IBM he started working with a real estate company. He quickly realized that the office landlord rep side of the business was lacking serious professionalism compared to other occupations. Bringing that serious professionalism to the office landlord rep side, he ended up outselling the other office landlords and was consistently more successful than his competition.
The highlight of the evening was when Jack was asked what suggestions he had for young professionals who are looking to become successful in the future. He believes that his crystal ball is opaque, but was adamant that any young professional should always chase experience as opposed to a paycheck. “There are people who have been in the business for 20 years with only one year of experience,” he says. Jack advocates that young professionals should “embrace risk as your spouse” and never stop asking as many questions as possible. He believes the more one can expand his or her horizons through questions and experience the more it will benefit your client.
Submitted by Ned Frank, Colliers International