April 13, 2025 • 31 mins
Dan shares how perseverance and continuous learning have been instrumental in his career trajectory and why he looks for a positive attitude and the desire to be a part of a team when building high performing teams. Dan also describes the four elements needed to distinguish oneself, and explains why leaders should support team members leaving for a new opportunity.
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Lan Elliott (00:00):
Hello and welcome to its Personal Stories.
My name is Lan Elliot.
On behalf of its personalstories, a nonprofit dedicated
to empowering personal success.
And today I am happy to have myfriend Dan Peak, the president
of Jones Lang LaSalle Hotels andHospitality for the Americas Re
region with us.
(00:21):
And if you're not familiar withDan, who has been in the
industry for many years,representing owners who are
selling their hotels, I hopeyou'll go to our website where
you can see more about his manyaccomplishments.
So welcome, Dan.
Dan Peek (00:36):
Great to be here.
Thanks, Lynn.
Lan Elliott (00:39):
Thank you so much for agreeing to come on.
Yes,
Dan Peek (00:42):
absolutely.
Lan Elliott (00:45):
Dan, I know you've had an incredible career because
I feel like we came up in theindustry and real estate almost
around the same time.
Could you share some of theinflection points in your
successful journey and if therewere factors that were
(01:05):
contributions to your success?
Dan Peek (01:08):
Yeah, I would say I think like a lot of people, I
didn't start out, I didn't beginwith the end in mind.
So my when I started my journeyto higher education, I thought
I, I studied journalism.
I.
So I was, I wanted to be a, Iwanted to be a broadcast
journalist.
That lasted for about a year.
And I found out that was not forme for whatever reason.
And I look back at the time andI was very young and I was like,
(01:30):
I'd always worked in hotels andrestaurants as a kid.
And I was like maybe there's acareer in that.
And so that really started ajourney of education thinking,
that I would work in theoperations world.
And that I started down thatpath of.
Training, going to hotel schooland.
Working for working for one ofthe big brands and working for
(01:51):
one of the independentoperators, managing hotels.
And and then realizing about thetime that we were starting a
family that there's someinherent challenges in the
operating world and and also hada curiosity about investing in
real estate.
And so did it be from a bridgeperspective, got into the
consulting world, which was aplace I considered when I got
outta school.
And I was welcomed back intothat part of the sector and
(02:14):
stumbled, literally stumbledacross the industry that I've
been in for the last 27 or 28years, which is, broadly
speaking, hotel capital markets.
And I would say, the first,those are several inflection
points.
First, not realizing that.
Hospitality was a career for me.
And then not realizing that, andthen coming, stumbling across
this idea of real estate andthen transactional real estate.
(02:35):
And again, you when you're earlyin your career, you don't know
that you're really on a path,but that, again, coming across
the transactional world firstwith a small firm.
Which was a, an incrediblelearning experience.
It was managing a small hotel,you did everything.
You, you did the analysis, youwrote the package, and you did
the execution with your partnersand you learned a great deal.
And so today those are in abigger firm there's a handful of
(02:58):
people who do that on everyproject, but back then you were
you were the handful of people.
And so that hands-on learningand.
And watching, what we do todayevolve as a business and become
bigger and more sophisticatedand more broad based was
fascinating, right?
So in and of itself, that was abit of a, that was a bit of a, a
tipping point for me.
And then I started to lookaround and realize I.
(03:19):
There seems to be a bigger realestate world out there and
trying to understand thatperspective that how did these
assets get financed and, whoraises the raises?
All this, where does all theequity come from?
It's not just sitting around.
And that's where I joined acompany at the time called HFF
and helped build a hospitalitypractice there.
And that was a company had avery big.
Presence in the debt businessand in the equity business and
(03:41):
in the other product types, andlooking for ways to create that
synergy.
And with hospitality alongside,office and multi-housing and
industrial and the many otherproduct types that exist in the
commercial real estate universe.
And and that's also where I Iwould say, stepped into more of
a leadership role where Irealized that, it wasn't about
me.
I had to build a team and I hadto go find and the, that was,
(04:01):
that's where I found my passion,right?
My passion was building a teamand looking for the, the next
generation of members of oursector and people I'd worked
with, when they literally fromtheir, from their first days in
our business.
And then, and then obviouslyevolved from there.
So I would say, identifying.
This is just something peopledid, which I had no idea at all.
(04:22):
And then identifying, or atleast, coming in, coming into
contact with different ways todo it and becoming a broader
business.
And then today, I sit as, one ofover a hundred thousand people
in a global company that youknow, obviously just not just
with no toe space, but broadly,touches the real estate world
literally everywhere around theglobe.
And that interconnectivity.
So it sort of contin for me hascontinued to evolve.
(04:45):
And, work with a much biggerteam and a lot of specialization
right across the board.
So it's been a fascinatingjourney, I'll be honest with
you.
And but when you see thosepoints, you it's you jump, you
you in a sense, you close youreyes and jump and take the risk.
And they turned out to be goodrisks.
Not all of them were perfect andthey all had bumps in the road,
but I would say.
Each step has resulted inprogress.
(05:07):
And I've never, you never stoplearning, right?
I'm learning things today.
I literally learned things todayabout my business and about the
people I work with and about theindustry I sit within that I
quite literally did not knowyesterday.
Lan Elliott (05:22):
It's fascinating, your journey, and I agree.
The area of the industry, whichis real estate and capital
markets, isn't so obvious to alot of people when you look at
the industry and like you, I hadto find my way there as well.
I'm curious if you think thereis a particular skill or trait
that has made you verysuccessful in your career.
Dan Peek (05:45):
That's a good question.
I would say I.
It is a difficult business.
It's one where the path isn'talways straight and it's not
always clear.
There's a lot of fog on thehorizon.
I would say my favorite word inthe English language, and I
think the most important traitfor someone who does what we do
is perseverance, is you have toget up every day and keep
(06:06):
moving.
And I remember.
There's been a lot of rough daysin our business.
When the market's difficult orthe project's difficult or the,
the two parties aren't seeingeye to eye, what have you in a
transaction, and you you're beatup at the end of the day.
I remember reading ColinPowell's book and he always
said, one of Powell's rules was,it all it always looks better in
the morning.
Go home, get a good night'ssleep, think clearly in the
(06:27):
morning, and always.
And then it's actually, it wasactually a great point'cause I,
inevitably this morning I quiteliterally woke up and I sent an
email to to, to my partner atabout five 30 in the morning.
And I didn't even tell him whatit was, but it was had some
clarity in the morning and I hada different perspective on
something we've been strugglingwith.
And so like little things likethat, but perseverance, keep
working away, keep chippingaway.
I think that's number one.
(06:49):
You need to accept the fact thatyou don't have all the answers.
Be willing to accept help,advice, suggestion, be open to
suggestion, right?
I think as we grow in ourcareers you can't have a
tendency to oh, been there, donethat, yeah, I get it.
You don't always get it.
And so there's, again, to myprior point, there's always
something to learn.
So always being willing toopen-minded and to learn.
(07:11):
And so I think those are reallytwo key things, but that.
Being able to persevere and anddo it with, do it in the right
way, in a positive way.
I think there's, you can becomepeople can become, a little bit
of, a little edgy right in, inour business.
And I think that's that's it.
Life's too short, wake up, doyour best keep moving forward.
Lan Elliott (07:30):
Yeah, I agree.
I think there's two reallyimportant things I wanted to
pull out of that, which is thisidea of to keep going, this per
perseverance, putting one footin front of another, because
especially real estate is verycyclical.
There are moments like we'vebeen in where there's
uncertainty and nothing happens,and you need to just keep
plugging away at it and knowingit will turn around and it will
(07:53):
come back.
It usually comes back strongerthan it ever was.
And the other piece of it istaking the space to clear your
mind to go do something else andjust trust that the answer will
come, or that you will have amore measured response than you
would've had in that moment.
(08:13):
I've been known, sometimes ittakes me a week to have a more
measured response.
But if you can give yourselfthat space and wait until you
can come back with the right,thoughts, the right approach.
It can make such a bigdifference.
Absolutely.
That's,
Dan Peek (08:27):
that to me is also always one of the benefits I
have of working within a largerorganization.
And there's benefits still tobeing in a smaller organization,
larger organization.
One of the benefits is a lot ofpartners with a lot of different
experience.
And a lot of team members who'veseen and different things.
And and one of the reasons Isay, I look at it, it's like I
have a big bag of tools and so Ican take a step back.
(08:47):
I can get advice and, at the endof the day, we're trying to
solve problems for our clients.
And I may, my, my naturalinclination is I like to use
the, I have a hammer and I liketo use the hammer.
It might require a wrench, itmight require a screwdriver, it
might require something else.
I can turn to my partners and Ican help, craft a solution that
(09:08):
meets our client's needs.
Because at the end of the day,it's the client's needs that
have to be met.
And I think, yeah, you're right.
Being able to step away and lookat something from a fresh
perspective to solve a problem.
Create a solution, right?
Is really the key to success inthis business, particularly as
things evolve and the marketevolves every day.
Lan Elliott (09:27):
Yeah, and I think also you mentioned not assuming
that just because you have ahammer that the hammer's going
to be the answer, and being opento asking other points of views
and being able to pull togetherdiverse ways of approaching a
problem and maybe finding abetter one than you would have
otherwise.
Dan Peek (09:47):
You completely agree.
Yeah.
Lan Elliott (09:48):
You had touched on high performing teams and you've
had to do this a few times, andobviously what you do in your
business, you are working forclients.
They always want the best pricesor maybe 20% better than the
best prices ideally, and havingthose right team members is
(10:09):
really critical.
How do you go about buildinghigh performing teams?
How do you think about it?
Are you looking for somethingin, in the people on your team?
How do you think about buildinga team?
Dan Peek (10:23):
I think it starts with attitude.
I think attitude is really themost important thing.
As I, someone who's a POS whohas a positive attitude, who
really wants to be part of ateam.
I think we play a team sport.
It is not an individual sport.
It's a team sport and we allbring different skill sets.
The degree to which certainmembers of our team can.
Analyze financial performance orcan look at a market or can
(10:44):
understand physical condition ofan asset or can understand
what's going on in the, on thefinancing side and the
complexity in the financingmarkets today, the complexity in
the structure of equity today isand so I, one.
You gotta bring together the,again, it's a little bit like
tools, right?
You gotta bring together theright players.
But that attitude is everything.
(11:04):
I think one of the, one of thejoys I've had is when you sit in
the chair, I've sat in for awhile now in a few different
places.
We describe that as playercoach, right?
So really, at the end of theday, we never become in our, in,
in our.
In our company and in thecompanies I've been in we don't
become managers.
We don't just sit behind a deskand orchestrate.
We work on transactions, we workon client situations and we work
(11:27):
together with the teams andthat, the player coach and that
and I, over time I've becomemore coached than player.
I still do both, but I'm morecoached than player and that's
the great joy of my career.
Is the coach role.
And so particularly with youngerpeople who are growing in the
career and having been there, isjust helping them find their
path and helping them becomepart of a high performing team.
(11:50):
And the other thing about ourbusiness is it's, it's like a
project based business, right?
So one day you're on this teamand another, and you're also
working on that team and you'reworking on this third team.
And so being able to figure outhow to work together and what I
loved and what I've been able todo over the years is is grow
teams that sort of, they in asense grow up together, right?
You you you build the culturetogether.
You just, you establish bestpractices together.
(12:11):
So in a sense, it's not a, it'snot a, you're not dictating
down, alright, this is how we doit this way.
Dot the, I cross the T but youlearn best practices and you try
to hold everyone accountable tobest practices, but you're
always open to new ideas.
And so I think high performingteams are, the best ideas come
from across the board and youalways ask questions, right?
(12:32):
If if you ever think back tosome, like when we were in
school, there was a lot ofstudying of different
manufacturing around the world.
I remember.
I, two things I alwaysremembered.
I always remember all thestudies that were done in about
Toyota's manufacturing process,right?
And they had that sort of fivefive or i, it was five or six
why's, when something wentwrong.
They always kept askingdifferent why questions, to try
(12:52):
to understand exactly whathappened and learned so that the
next time it was better.
And then I always remember JanCarlson's book, moments of
Truth, who ran ScandinavianAirlines, which I'll never
forget.
I talk about that all the time.
And when I see somebody dosomething really well, and it's
those are the two things.
It's sort every single day.
We learn that ability and it's ahigh performing team.
Always ask questions about, ifsomething went wrong, we ask
why.
(13:12):
Or at a moment of truth, whensomething went right, we
acknowledge it.
And so I think we just alwayslooking for, and I think it's
the best way to do that is when,is when you build that team to
together over time and youdevelop your culture and your
best practices together versushere's the 475 page handbook.
Just do it this way.
(13:33):
That doesn't work particularlyin our business where there's a
lot of creativity and a lot ofopportunity for growth.
And then lastly, I would saythat opportunity for growth is
really important.
I think there's certain,practices in our broader
industry that we sit withinwhere people get in a they're in
a role and they're in that rolefor a very long time.
(13:54):
And it becomes it becomes a bitof a negative cycle.
I.
Because it's okay, where do I gonow?
Where do what's next?
And I always want to, reinforcethe fact that no, you mean you
establish the ceiling.
Once you're, once you're ready,in a sense you develop your
replacement, you develop who'sgonna take your place on the
team, and then you move up.
(14:15):
And our job as leaders is tofind.
More space for you.
Where is there white space?
Where is there an opportunity?
Where are we not?
None of us have 50, 60, 70%market share.
There's always room for morepeople to go out and find new
business and find newopportunity, and so I.
A high performing team, as muchas we love to keep everybody
exactly where they are, isreally one that sort of
(14:36):
continually grows and createsmore what we call producers.
And so that's always aboutpriming the pump and maintaining
that growth the growth of theteam over time.
Lan Elliott (14:47):
Yeah, I think that's really important.
I always find that I get itchyonce I figured out everything in
my job and I've done all thethings I can see.
Then I start to look around andI get a little more itchy for
the next challenge.
I'm always looking for a newhill to climb.
And I think that long term viewof how do we continue to engage
(15:09):
the team members, how do wecontinue to challenge them and
grow them and make sure theyhave opportunities to go.
To the next level rather thanjust staying in the same spot,
right?
And I think it's a great way tokeep people if they're
continuing to be challenged andfinding new opportunities.
Dan Peek (15:27):
And that's one of the great things about being in a
larger organization is that,there are more, there, there are
more paths for everyone in theirfuture.
'cause not everybody's gonnafight.
It's not a straight line.
It's not.
Everyone's gonna start here andthen you go to this one, you go
to that one, you can go indifferent directions, you can go
off.
I know people who focus in onthe equity side and move to the
debt side, who focused in onthis product type and went to a
(15:47):
different sector, who started inone market and went to a, the
other side of the country.
Because that's where they sawopportunity and that's, that was
their calling.
And as a leader you need to besupportive of that.
When you have a strong teammember and they have a calling
to take the next level, and bythe way, sometimes that is a
calling.
Then they say, you know what?
I need to go do something else.
And I get that sometimes I'm sadabout it which I get because I
(16:11):
enjoy working with them.
But I also, if you listen andyou understand and you think
about who they are and wherethey want to go and how that
next step is gonna get themthere, you're supportive because
look, at the end of the day,that happened to me too.
I did not spend the last 35years of my career in the same
company.
I had to move around a littlebit.
I changed my jobs and changewhat I do and change the firm
(16:31):
that I work at to get to theplace where, you know, where I
am, and so I, I respect that inothers and that's just, that's
what we have to do.
And so it's, sometimes it's noteasy, but it is you wanna be
supportive of your team andwhat's right for them.
Absolutely agreed.
Lan Elliott (16:46):
You had mentioned you love being able to bring
people in at the beginning oftheir career and grow them.
What do you think is requiredfor a young person to
distinguish themselves?
What makes them stand out?
Dan Peek (16:59):
I'll go back to the original, one of my original
comments, which is attitude.
That sort of open openness,willingness, being a good
teammate.
That's, that, that's number one.
As much as we'd love you to be,to show up and be, the best
possible Excel modeler.
I think that's, that, that's agreat, that's great, but we can
help refine that skill.
That's easy.
You can get training for that.
But being a good teammate beinga good, being good in the
(17:21):
huddle, being good in the, beinggood in the, in the trenches
together, I think is number one.
Being willing to constantlylearn.
Being able to learn take somedirection, I think is good.
Communication skills have becomeare at a bit of a premium today.
I will tell you when we when webring in a young person who can
communicate and who can write,I.
It is.
It stands out.
(17:42):
It stands out.
It really does.
And taking the time to thinkabout what you're communicating
and writing is unbelievable.
There's a young, there's a youngwoman on our team who is like
the, she's almost like thedesignated proofreader and she
is.
Shockingly young and I to be theproofreader, but I look at it, I
like, I send something and I getit back and I'm like, I can't
(18:03):
believe I missed that.
It's that's one of the things welook for.
And, but it's, it, look, at theend of the day, it's that sort
of joy, right?
Positive attitude, that sort ofjoy and that willingness to
learn.
Is the most, is that's the key,right?
If you wanna, in a sense youwant to be a sponge, you wanna
absorb as many things as youcan.
And then, and then lastly, thoseskills that we're all gonna
require, which is you have toroll with it, right?
(18:24):
It's a little bit of thatperseverance and a little bit of
that dealing with adversity,right?
I would say that dealing withadversity in life.
Let alone business, let aloneyour job.
And that having to deal, we'veall had to.
And I think there's nothingwrong with that.
And I think so that ability todo so and having that sort of
toughness that, that.
(18:44):
Mental toughness, I think isanother one of those aspects to
distinguish yourself.
It doesn't, you don't have to beharsh, you don't have to be mean
or anything like that, but justmentally tough.
You keep moving in the samedirection, even though,'cause
it, because you're not alwaysgonna, like the decision a
client makes, we're gonna workreal hard and pitch something
and we're gonna lose.
We're gonna work really hard ona deal and it's gonna get to the
five yard line and it's gonnablow up and we're not gonna, and
(19:05):
it's not gonna succeed.
And you have to be willing toall.
Go home, shake it off, get upthe next day and come back and
just keep going forward.
So there's a lot of thingsthere, but it, at the end of the
day, it comes back to attitude.
Attitude is, it's noteverything, but it's a lot of
it.
Lan Elliott (19:22):
It's very hard to teach, so it's very hard
Dan Peek (19:24):
to teach.
All those things are hard toteach a lot of that's about your
sort of how you grow up andwhere you come from, and you can
learn'em.
Sometimes it's already there,and, there's a lot of, that's
growing up in, it's a playing onthe playground and being on a
team and being in a class and,going away to school, all those
things.
You you pick a lot of that upalong the way.
Lan Elliott (19:41):
Absolutely.
And I love that you mentionedseveral times this idea of
continuous learning, becausewhen you come out of school, a
lot of times people think, I'mdone with my learning, but
you're only just beginning andthen you learn how to do your
job.
Dan Peek (19:55):
Right,
Lan Elliott (19:55):
and you get really good at learning how to do your
job, and then it's not aboutknowing how to do your job, it's
doing all the other things thatwill continue to propel you
forward into leadership.
You'd mentioned the books thatyou had read.
I.
There is more than just beingreally good at your job.
If you really wanna go to thehigher echelons, you have to
also figure out how to become agood leader and do that growth
(20:20):
piece and learn how to do thatin addition to just being
excellent at your work.
So
Dan Peek (20:26):
for sure,
Lan Elliott (20:26):
calling that out.
Dan Peek (20:28):
Yeah.
Lan Elliott (20:29):
One of the important things that is needed
to really be successful arementors and champions who
support.
You in those rooms that youdon't get to be in.
How important is it to findmentors and champions and how
does one go about it?
Dan Peek (20:49):
I think it can be, it's I think, if I look back in
my life, my mentor started whenI was in middle school.
I remember distinctly.
Beyond just my family, right?
But people beyond my family whotook an interest.
And it was more than just, Hey,how you doing?
It was people who gave me sageadvice about things.
(21:10):
There's things in my head that Ithink of all the time from a
friend of my dad's who wasathletic director and the
football coach at my highschool.
And another friend of ourfamily's who a friend of mine's
father who always had the most.
Incredibly direct advice.
There was no, the no bs, yourdad might not, your mom and dad
(21:30):
might not wanna say this, butI'm gonna say this type of
thing.
And there was that along theway.
And those are things I neverforget.
And there were, and thenobviously there's people I've
worked with over, over theyears.
I think you can seek them out.
I think you can identify themand spend time with them.
But I, number one, it's thatwillingness, it's that positive
attitude.
You need those folks within theorganization who are going to
support you.
And I think the best way to doit is just, is to try to work
(21:51):
closely with'em.
And I will tell you that some ofthose.
Some of the people that I'vebeen you know, that some of the
people I've been mentors withwere like direct supervisor,
where I had a very closerelationship.
Some of them were people whojust took an interest.
And and, I didn't always take,take advantage of those things.
I'll be honest with you.
And that's probably a failure onmy part.
So when somebody within anorganization or within an
(22:13):
industry takes an interest inyou take advantage of that
follow up.
In a sense they're throwing youa line.
That means they probably arewilling to serve in that role,
and you should take advantage ofit.
It may not work.
May not be, but take it.
Don't turn your back on thosesorts of things.
Don't, you're not too busy.
To call back that individual whomight be 20 or 30 years older
than you who's seen it allbefore, or most of it before.
(22:36):
And who's willing to share, someperspective.
Just chat.
Just have a call.
One things I try to do iswhenever somebody reaches out to
me, or often it's, it'll be oneof my, one of my, somebody I
know in the firm will say, Hey,will you talk to so and and I
try to always say yes.
Because at the end of the day,somebody said yes to me when I
needed to talk to someone.
And like for instance one of my,what I would consider one of my
(22:57):
mentors here within the firm whostayed here, and now when I'm
back, we're still, we stayedfriends the whole time.
Very important person to me inmy life and knows my wife and
knows my family.
Called the other day and Icalled him right back and I was
just like, yeah, let's talk.
And we talked for half an hourand we talked for.
15 minutes about business and 15minutes about life and hung up
and felt better.
And those relationships reallymatter.
(23:17):
And so I would seek those peopleout.
I would seek people that youhave that you have some
commonality with.
And I would seek some peoplethat you think you have zero in
common with to talk to and totry to understand, because I
think that's really important.
Recently we had a dinner for oneof the, one of the most senior
people in the f in the firmwho's retired, who for all
intense is retired.
(23:39):
And and we were, and a bunch ofus were there and we all said
something.
And I, and they were all peoplewho've known him even a lot
longer than I have.
And I would come to me and I'mlike, at the end of the day I
was able to say a few thingsthat I don't think he, I don't
think that person knew.
To the degree that it did that,that made a difference to me.
And we probably talk to eachother three or four times a
year.
But it really made a difference.
One of the reasons I work at thefirm I do today, and I've worked
(24:01):
at HFF, probably the reason,right?
And so these things can reallyhave a dramatic impact on your
lives.
So I would seek those peopleout, and some, by the way,
sometimes you will seek out amentor or champion or whatever,
and they're not gonna beresponsive.
That's okay.
Don't give up on it.
Somebody else is out there.
But again, I would seek it out.
I would try to connect.
(24:21):
And again as much as it's easyto connect with someone who's
you think sees the world thesame way that you do connect
with somebody who doesn't,because you will learn an awful
lot from that dynamic.
And I think I, the, for sure Ihave people in my life that are
kind of mentors to me who.
We see the world verydifferently, but we have a lot
(24:42):
of respect for each other, andwe've gotten a, we both have
gotten a lot out of those thatconnectivity over time.
So you can't do this alone.
You do need people who look outfor you and at some point you
end up looking out for them.
I do.
I do find it's not a one-waystreet.
Sometimes it is, but I've oftenfound is I've been around a long
time that it ends up being atwo-way street, which, which is,
(25:02):
which I love because in a sense,if there's a way to repay that
when your mentor calls and asksyou for advice.
You know that it, that it had animpact on them, that they were
able to help you.
That now they, they trust youenough that they're asking,
they're asking the same of you.
And I think that's, those arespecial moments.
I've had many of those.
I've had a few, and they'respecial moments.
Lan Elliott (25:23):
Thank you for sharing that.
That's really beautiful.
And I think this idea that therelationship and the learning
can go both ways and be veryimportant for both people.
Yeah.
Dan Peek (25:34):
I, and I think, the mentors I've had the ones who
really get into it are the oneswho really think they're getting
something out of it.
Like they're really into it.
They're not just sitting there,oh, I've gotta talk to this kid
and I've gotta give'em 15minutes worth of advice.
No, they're actually realizingthey're getting something out of
it because they're learning.
They may be learning aperspective on what it's what
it's like for other people ontheir team.
What are they dealing with?
And by the way, thegenerational, as we talk about a
(25:55):
lot, right?
That there's a pretty big gap,in terms of the perspectives of
the world, like the post socialmedia world.
And now we're dealing with thepost pandemic world and
whatever, what the kids had todeal with.
We were in school, we went toschool from home, it didn't have
that same social interaction, etcetera, and some of the
challenges they faced, right?
And so to be able to interactwith.
With with other kids who, hadthe same situation, young
(26:18):
people, right?
As they're going into theircareers, and all of a sudden
we're saying, oh, we go to theoffice five days a week and this
is what it's like.
And, we're not on Zoom all thetime and all that.
So I, it's again, it just,again, it constantly evolves and
so being able to plug in withmore than just your immediate
team.
Mentoring is a great way to dothat and to learn more about
what's going on out there.
We just had our annual meetingand there was 700.
(26:39):
There used to be a hundredpeople.
I didn't know what to do with700 people, but there's a lot of
young people there.
And so it was really helpful forme to talk to people that are
the peers of my team, but thatthat, that aren't on my team.
So it was just like, Hey, what'sgoing on with your business?
How do you guys interact?
What's your team like?
So I can learn more that way.
Lan Elliott (26:57):
I think also a thread that has been throughout
this conversation is the idea ofcontinuous growth and learning
from many sources.
There's books, there's the work,but then there's also learning
from people who are at yourlevel, but also people who are
younger and learning a differentperspective.
I love the idea of making surethat you're talking with people
(27:18):
who think about things in adifferent way.
Than you.
Yeah.
Because sometimes it mightchallenge something.
Dan Peek (27:23):
Yeah.
Lan Elliott (27:24):
Dan, we're coming to the end of our time.
I had a feeling that it would govery quickly'cause I always find
lots of things to talk aboutwith you.
But I've got two quick lastquestions for you.
The first one is, what advicewould you give to your younger
self?
Let's say 22-year-old, Dan, whatwould you want him to know?
Dan Peek (27:46):
Don't be afraid to take a risk and try something
different.
You still, you can you can swingand miss and still get back up
to bat, it's just, it's not,because there's this fatalistic
view that, if I was listening toa basketball coach clip the
other day.
My son sent me, who's 27, soolder than the 22-year-old, and
he said, failure is fertilizer.
(28:06):
For what grows in the future.
And I was really powerful.
I, like literally, I have notforgotten it since the moment I
saw it, and it's true.
Don't be afraid to fail.
Don't be afraid to take a swingand miss, I'm not a baseball
person, but it's.
Sports analogy, right?
But don't be afraid to swing andmiss and try different things.
Don't, be willing to trysomething different.
It was the same way when I wasin school.
(28:27):
I had, I gave, I sat with agroup of kids.
I think we were, we were, whenwe were at Alice, right?
When we were talking to thekids, and I was like, study
something very different.
They were asking me what did I,what did I really enjoy when I
was in school?
And I was like, what did I love?
I took this government class,but was amazing, and I got to go
listen to Carl Sagan speaktwice.
That was like, that's what Iremember about school.
As much as I love, Jim Eisterteaching us about, management
(28:49):
contracts, which I loved.
Those were the two things Ireally remember was Ben Ginsburg
and Carl Sagan.
That's what I really, that'slike when I tell my kids, what
was it like Carl Sagan, soanyway, it's try something
completely different than whatyou're doing to try your, and I
try to do that today like I am.
I'm 59 years old and I'm tryingto learn how to play guitar.
It is ugly, but I'm using acompletely different kind of
(29:10):
side of my brain and it's it's Ialways, like, when I was 22, I
would've been like soembarrassed to do that.
Don't be embarrassed of any ofthat stuff.
So that's a very long answer, soI apologize.
Lan Elliott (29:20):
That's okay.
And you're reminding me I needto go practice the drums, but
the same idea I needed to useanother side of my brain and I
still pretty awful
Dan Peek (29:28):
just to check out and do something different.
Lan Elliott (29:29):
Absolutely.
Do something Yeah.
That you've always wanted do.
That's very different.
Dan Peek (29:32):
Yeah.
Lan Elliott (29:35):
And Dan, you've given us so much great advice
during the course of thisconversation.
Do you have one last nugget ofadvice you'd like to share with
our audience who is looking toadvance their careers?
Dan Peek (29:49):
Don't worry about what other people think.
Just do your thing.
Not to quote an old, white guy,Teddy Roosevelt said, right?
It's not the critic that counts,right?
The credit belongs to the personin the arena.
Just go out there and, live yourlife, build your career, follow
your dream.
Don't worry about, don't worryabout the critics.
Don't worry about what otherpeople think.
Don't worry.
(30:09):
Don't worry about being judged.
I spent a lot of time in mycareer worrying about what am I
catching up?
Am I keeping up with my peers?
Where am I relative to?
It doesn't matter at all.
I was older.
I was one of the older kids inmy graduating class.
I was like, oh, never gonnacatch up.
It doesn't matter.
It doesn't matter in the least.
Live your life.
Follow your dream.
Build your career, build yourlife.
(30:31):
Don't worry about what otherpeople think.
Just you know.
Live the best life you can bethe best member of your
community, the best member ofyour family, and you know the
best part of your team you can,and you know the chips will fall
as they do.
There's nothing you can do aboutthat.
So that's my advice.
Lan Elliott (30:45):
Beautifully said.
Thank you so much, Dan.
I really value your friendshipover the years and am so happy
that you were able to make sometime to share your learnings
over.
Your incredible career with ouraudience.
Dan Peek (31:01):
Wow.
Thanks so much, Lynn.
I really enjoyed theconversation.
I'm very excited about thepodcast and all the great
conversations you've had and somany to come in the future.
So I look forward to seeing youagain soon.
Lan Elliott (31:10):
Thank you, Dan.
Dan Peek (31:11):
Take care.
Lan Elliott (31:12):
And for our audience, if you've enjoyed this
conversation with Dan, I hopeyou'll go to our website, it's
personal stories.com, where youcan find many more incredible
interviews with hospitalityindustry leaders.
Thank you.
Hello and welcome to its Personal Stories.
My name is Lan Elliot.
On behalf of its personalstories, a nonprofit dedicated
to empowering personal success.
And today I am happy to have myfriend Dan Peak, the president
of Jones Lang LaSalle Hotels andHospitality for the Americas Re
region with us.
(00:21):
And if you're not familiar withDan, who has been in the
industry for many years,representing owners who are
selling their hotels, I hopeyou'll go to our website where
you can see more about his manyaccomplishments.
So welcome, Dan.
Dan Peek (00:36):
Great to be here.
Thanks, Lynn.
Lan Elliott (00:39):
Thank you so much for agreeing to come on.
Yes,
Dan Peek (00:42):
absolutely.
Lan Elliott (00:45):
Dan, I know you've had an incredible career because
I feel like we came up in theindustry and real estate almost
around the same time.
Could you share some of theinflection points in your
successful journey and if therewere factors that were
(01:05):
contributions to your success?
Dan Peek (01:08):
Yeah, I would say I think like a lot of people, I
didn't start out, I didn't beginwith the end in mind.
So my when I started my journeyto higher education, I thought
I, I studied journalism.
I.
So I was, I wanted to be a, Iwanted to be a broadcast
journalist.
That lasted for about a year.
And I found out that was not forme for whatever reason.
And I look back at the time andI was very young and I was like,
(01:30):
I'd always worked in hotels andrestaurants as a kid.
And I was like maybe there's acareer in that.
And so that really started ajourney of education thinking,
that I would work in theoperations world.
And that I started down thatpath of.
Training, going to hotel schooland.
Working for working for one ofthe big brands and working for
(01:51):
one of the independentoperators, managing hotels.
And and then realizing about thetime that we were starting a
family that there's someinherent challenges in the
operating world and and also hada curiosity about investing in
real estate.
And so did it be from a bridgeperspective, got into the
consulting world, which was aplace I considered when I got
outta school.
And I was welcomed back intothat part of the sector and
(02:14):
stumbled, literally stumbledacross the industry that I've
been in for the last 27 or 28years, which is, broadly
speaking, hotel capital markets.
And I would say, the first,those are several inflection
points.
First, not realizing that.
Hospitality was a career for me.
And then not realizing that, andthen coming, stumbling across
this idea of real estate andthen transactional real estate.
(02:35):
And again, you when you're earlyin your career, you don't know
that you're really on a path,but that, again, coming across
the transactional world firstwith a small firm.
Which was a, an incrediblelearning experience.
It was managing a small hotel,you did everything.
You, you did the analysis, youwrote the package, and you did
the execution with your partnersand you learned a great deal.
And so today those are in abigger firm there's a handful of
(02:58):
people who do that on everyproject, but back then you were
you were the handful of people.
And so that hands-on learningand.
And watching, what we do todayevolve as a business and become
bigger and more sophisticatedand more broad based was
fascinating, right?
So in and of itself, that was abit of a, that was a bit of a, a
tipping point for me.
And then I started to lookaround and realize I.
(03:19):
There seems to be a bigger realestate world out there and
trying to understand thatperspective that how did these
assets get financed and, whoraises the raises?
All this, where does all theequity come from?
It's not just sitting around.
And that's where I joined acompany at the time called HFF
and helped build a hospitalitypractice there.
And that was a company had avery big.
Presence in the debt businessand in the equity business and
(03:41):
in the other product types, andlooking for ways to create that
synergy.
And with hospitality alongside,office and multi-housing and
industrial and the many otherproduct types that exist in the
commercial real estate universe.
And and that's also where I Iwould say, stepped into more of
a leadership role where Irealized that, it wasn't about
me.
I had to build a team and I hadto go find and the, that was,
(04:01):
that's where I found my passion,right?
My passion was building a teamand looking for the, the next
generation of members of oursector and people I'd worked
with, when they literally fromtheir, from their first days in
our business.
And then, and then obviouslyevolved from there.
So I would say, identifying.
This is just something peopledid, which I had no idea at all.
(04:22):
And then identifying, or atleast, coming in, coming into
contact with different ways todo it and becoming a broader
business.
And then today, I sit as, one ofover a hundred thousand people
in a global company that youknow, obviously just not just
with no toe space, but broadly,touches the real estate world
literally everywhere around theglobe.
And that interconnectivity.
So it sort of contin for me hascontinued to evolve.
(04:45):
And, work with a much biggerteam and a lot of specialization
right across the board.
So it's been a fascinatingjourney, I'll be honest with
you.
And but when you see thosepoints, you it's you jump, you
you in a sense, you close youreyes and jump and take the risk.
And they turned out to be goodrisks.
Not all of them were perfect andthey all had bumps in the road,
but I would say.
Each step has resulted inprogress.
(05:07):
And I've never, you never stoplearning, right?
I'm learning things today.
I literally learned things todayabout my business and about the
people I work with and about theindustry I sit within that I
quite literally did not knowyesterday.
Lan Elliott (05:22):
It's fascinating, your journey, and I agree.
The area of the industry, whichis real estate and capital
markets, isn't so obvious to alot of people when you look at
the industry and like you, I hadto find my way there as well.
I'm curious if you think thereis a particular skill or trait
that has made you verysuccessful in your career.
Dan Peek (05:45):
That's a good question.
I would say I.
It is a difficult business.
It's one where the path isn'talways straight and it's not
always clear.
There's a lot of fog on thehorizon.
I would say my favorite word inthe English language, and I
think the most important traitfor someone who does what we do
is perseverance, is you have toget up every day and keep
(06:06):
moving.
And I remember.
There's been a lot of rough daysin our business.
When the market's difficult orthe project's difficult or the,
the two parties aren't seeingeye to eye, what have you in a
transaction, and you you're beatup at the end of the day.
I remember reading ColinPowell's book and he always
said, one of Powell's rules was,it all it always looks better in
the morning.
Go home, get a good night'ssleep, think clearly in the
(06:27):
morning, and always.
And then it's actually, it wasactually a great point'cause I,
inevitably this morning I quiteliterally woke up and I sent an
email to to, to my partner atabout five 30 in the morning.
And I didn't even tell him whatit was, but it was had some
clarity in the morning and I hada different perspective on
something we've been strugglingwith.
And so like little things likethat, but perseverance, keep
working away, keep chippingaway.
I think that's number one.
(06:49):
You need to accept the fact thatyou don't have all the answers.
Be willing to accept help,advice, suggestion, be open to
suggestion, right?
I think as we grow in ourcareers you can't have a
tendency to oh, been there, donethat, yeah, I get it.
You don't always get it.
And so there's, again, to myprior point, there's always
something to learn.
So always being willing toopen-minded and to learn.
(07:11):
And so I think those are reallytwo key things, but that.
Being able to persevere and anddo it with, do it in the right
way, in a positive way.
I think there's, you can becomepeople can become, a little bit
of, a little edgy right in, inour business.
And I think that's that's it.
Life's too short, wake up, doyour best keep moving forward.
Lan Elliott (07:30):
Yeah, I agree.
I think there's two reallyimportant things I wanted to
pull out of that, which is thisidea of to keep going, this per
perseverance, putting one footin front of another, because
especially real estate is verycyclical.
There are moments like we'vebeen in where there's
uncertainty and nothing happens,and you need to just keep
plugging away at it and knowingit will turn around and it will
(07:53):
come back.
It usually comes back strongerthan it ever was.
And the other piece of it istaking the space to clear your
mind to go do something else andjust trust that the answer will
come, or that you will have amore measured response than you
would've had in that moment.
(08:13):
I've been known, sometimes ittakes me a week to have a more
measured response.
But if you can give yourselfthat space and wait until you
can come back with the right,thoughts, the right approach.
It can make such a bigdifference.
Absolutely.
That's,
Dan Peek (08:27):
that to me is also always one of the benefits I
have of working within a largerorganization.
And there's benefits still tobeing in a smaller organization,
larger organization.
One of the benefits is a lot ofpartners with a lot of different
experience.
And a lot of team members who'veseen and different things.
And and one of the reasons Isay, I look at it, it's like I
have a big bag of tools and so Ican take a step back.
(08:47):
I can get advice and, at the endof the day, we're trying to
solve problems for our clients.
And I may, my, my naturalinclination is I like to use
the, I have a hammer and I liketo use the hammer.
It might require a wrench, itmight require a screwdriver, it
might require something else.
I can turn to my partners and Ican help, craft a solution that
(09:08):
meets our client's needs.
Because at the end of the day,it's the client's needs that
have to be met.
And I think, yeah, you're right.
Being able to step away and lookat something from a fresh
perspective to solve a problem.
Create a solution, right?
Is really the key to success inthis business, particularly as
things evolve and the marketevolves every day.
Lan Elliott (09:27):
Yeah, and I think also you mentioned not assuming
that just because you have ahammer that the hammer's going
to be the answer, and being opento asking other points of views
and being able to pull togetherdiverse ways of approaching a
problem and maybe finding abetter one than you would have
otherwise.
Dan Peek (09:47):
You completely agree.
Yeah.
Lan Elliott (09:48):
You had touched on high performing teams and you've
had to do this a few times, andobviously what you do in your
business, you are working forclients.
They always want the best pricesor maybe 20% better than the
best prices ideally, and havingthose right team members is
(10:09):
really critical.
How do you go about buildinghigh performing teams?
How do you think about it?
Are you looking for somethingin, in the people on your team?
How do you think about buildinga team?
Dan Peek (10:23):
I think it starts with attitude.
I think attitude is really themost important thing.
As I, someone who's a POS whohas a positive attitude, who
really wants to be part of ateam.
I think we play a team sport.
It is not an individual sport.
It's a team sport and we allbring different skill sets.
The degree to which certainmembers of our team can.
Analyze financial performance orcan look at a market or can
(10:44):
understand physical condition ofan asset or can understand
what's going on in the, on thefinancing side and the
complexity in the financingmarkets today, the complexity in
the structure of equity today isand so I, one.
You gotta bring together the,again, it's a little bit like
tools, right?
You gotta bring together theright players.
But that attitude is everything.
(11:04):
I think one of the, one of thejoys I've had is when you sit in
the chair, I've sat in for awhile now in a few different
places.
We describe that as playercoach, right?
So really, at the end of theday, we never become in our, in,
in our.
In our company and in thecompanies I've been in we don't
become managers.
We don't just sit behind a deskand orchestrate.
We work on transactions, we workon client situations and we work
(11:27):
together with the teams andthat, the player coach and that
and I, over time I've becomemore coached than player.
I still do both, but I'm morecoached than player and that's
the great joy of my career.
Is the coach role.
And so particularly with youngerpeople who are growing in the
career and having been there, isjust helping them find their
path and helping them becomepart of a high performing team.
(11:50):
And the other thing about ourbusiness is it's, it's like a
project based business, right?
So one day you're on this teamand another, and you're also
working on that team and you'reworking on this third team.
And so being able to figure outhow to work together and what I
loved and what I've been able todo over the years is is grow
teams that sort of, they in asense grow up together, right?
You you you build the culturetogether.
You just, you establish bestpractices together.
(12:11):
So in a sense, it's not a, it'snot a, you're not dictating
down, alright, this is how we doit this way.
Dot the, I cross the T but youlearn best practices and you try
to hold everyone accountable tobest practices, but you're
always open to new ideas.
And so I think high performingteams are, the best ideas come
from across the board and youalways ask questions, right?
(12:32):
If if you ever think back tosome, like when we were in
school, there was a lot ofstudying of different
manufacturing around the world.
I remember.
I, two things I alwaysremembered.
I always remember all thestudies that were done in about
Toyota's manufacturing process,right?
And they had that sort of fivefive or i, it was five or six
why's, when something wentwrong.
They always kept askingdifferent why questions, to try
(12:52):
to understand exactly whathappened and learned so that the
next time it was better.
And then I always remember JanCarlson's book, moments of
Truth, who ran ScandinavianAirlines, which I'll never
forget.
I talk about that all the time.
And when I see somebody dosomething really well, and it's
those are the two things.
It's sort every single day.
We learn that ability and it's ahigh performing team.
Always ask questions about, ifsomething went wrong, we ask
why.
(13:12):
Or at a moment of truth, whensomething went right, we
acknowledge it.
And so I think we just alwayslooking for, and I think it's
the best way to do that is when,is when you build that team to
together over time and youdevelop your culture and your
best practices together versushere's the 475 page handbook.
Just do it this way.
(13:33):
That doesn't work particularlyin our business where there's a
lot of creativity and a lot ofopportunity for growth.
And then lastly, I would saythat opportunity for growth is
really important.
I think there's certain,practices in our broader
industry that we sit withinwhere people get in a they're in
a role and they're in that rolefor a very long time.
(13:54):
And it becomes it becomes a bitof a negative cycle.
I.
Because it's okay, where do I gonow?
Where do what's next?
And I always want to, reinforcethe fact that no, you mean you
establish the ceiling.
Once you're, once you're ready,in a sense you develop your
replacement, you develop who'sgonna take your place on the
team, and then you move up.
(14:15):
And our job as leaders is tofind.
More space for you.
Where is there white space?
Where is there an opportunity?
Where are we not?
None of us have 50, 60, 70%market share.
There's always room for morepeople to go out and find new
business and find newopportunity, and so I.
A high performing team, as muchas we love to keep everybody
exactly where they are, isreally one that sort of
(14:36):
continually grows and createsmore what we call producers.
And so that's always aboutpriming the pump and maintaining
that growth the growth of theteam over time.
Lan Elliott (14:47):
Yeah, I think that's really important.
I always find that I get itchyonce I figured out everything in
my job and I've done all thethings I can see.
Then I start to look around andI get a little more itchy for
the next challenge.
I'm always looking for a newhill to climb.
And I think that long term viewof how do we continue to engage
(15:09):
the team members, how do wecontinue to challenge them and
grow them and make sure theyhave opportunities to go.
To the next level rather thanjust staying in the same spot,
right?
And I think it's a great way tokeep people if they're
continuing to be challenged andfinding new opportunities.
Dan Peek (15:27):
And that's one of the great things about being in a
larger organization is that,there are more, there, there are
more paths for everyone in theirfuture.
'cause not everybody's gonnafight.
It's not a straight line.
It's not.
Everyone's gonna start here andthen you go to this one, you go
to that one, you can go indifferent directions, you can go
off.
I know people who focus in onthe equity side and move to the
debt side, who focused in onthis product type and went to a
(15:47):
different sector, who started inone market and went to a, the
other side of the country.
Because that's where they sawopportunity and that's, that was
their calling.
And as a leader you need to besupportive of that.
When you have a strong teammember and they have a calling
to take the next level, and bythe way, sometimes that is a
calling.
Then they say, you know what?
I need to go do something else.
And I get that sometimes I'm sadabout it which I get because I
(16:11):
enjoy working with them.
But I also, if you listen andyou understand and you think
about who they are and wherethey want to go and how that
next step is gonna get themthere, you're supportive because
look, at the end of the day,that happened to me too.
I did not spend the last 35years of my career in the same
company.
I had to move around a littlebit.
I changed my jobs and changewhat I do and change the firm
(16:31):
that I work at to get to theplace where, you know, where I
am, and so I, I respect that inothers and that's just, that's
what we have to do.
And so it's, sometimes it's noteasy, but it is you wanna be
supportive of your team andwhat's right for them.
Absolutely agreed.
Lan Elliott (16:46):
You had mentioned you love being able to bring
people in at the beginning oftheir career and grow them.
What do you think is requiredfor a young person to
distinguish themselves?
What makes them stand out?
Dan Peek (16:59):
I'll go back to the original, one of my original
comments, which is attitude.
That sort of open openness,willingness, being a good
teammate.
That's, that, that's number one.
As much as we'd love you to be,to show up and be, the best
possible Excel modeler.
I think that's, that, that's agreat, that's great, but we can
help refine that skill.
That's easy.
You can get training for that.
But being a good teammate beinga good, being good in the
(17:21):
huddle, being good in the, beinggood in the, in the trenches
together, I think is number one.
Being willing to constantlylearn.
Being able to learn take somedirection, I think is good.
Communication skills have becomeare at a bit of a premium today.
I will tell you when we when webring in a young person who can
communicate and who can write,I.
It is.
It stands out.
(17:42):
It stands out.
It really does.
And taking the time to thinkabout what you're communicating
and writing is unbelievable.
There's a young, there's a youngwoman on our team who is like
the, she's almost like thedesignated proofreader and she
is.
Shockingly young and I to be theproofreader, but I look at it, I
like, I send something and I getit back and I'm like, I can't
(18:03):
believe I missed that.
It's that's one of the things welook for.
And, but it's, it, look, at theend of the day, it's that sort
of joy, right?
Positive attitude, that sort ofjoy and that willingness to
learn.
Is the most, is that's the key,right?
If you wanna, in a sense youwant to be a sponge, you wanna
absorb as many things as youcan.
And then, and then lastly, thoseskills that we're all gonna
require, which is you have toroll with it, right?
(18:24):
It's a little bit of thatperseverance and a little bit of
that dealing with adversity,right?
I would say that dealing withadversity in life.
Let alone business, let aloneyour job.
And that having to deal, we'veall had to.
And I think there's nothingwrong with that.
And I think so that ability todo so and having that sort of
toughness that, that.
(18:44):
Mental toughness, I think isanother one of those aspects to
distinguish yourself.
It doesn't, you don't have to beharsh, you don't have to be mean
or anything like that, but justmentally tough.
You keep moving in the samedirection, even though,'cause
it, because you're not alwaysgonna, like the decision a
client makes, we're gonna workreal hard and pitch something
and we're gonna lose.
We're gonna work really hard ona deal and it's gonna get to the
five yard line and it's gonnablow up and we're not gonna, and
(19:05):
it's not gonna succeed.
And you have to be willing toall.
Go home, shake it off, get upthe next day and come back and
just keep going forward.
So there's a lot of thingsthere, but it, at the end of the
day, it comes back to attitude.
Attitude is, it's noteverything, but it's a lot of
it.
Lan Elliott (19:22):
It's very hard to teach, so it's very hard
Dan Peek (19:24):
to teach.
All those things are hard toteach a lot of that's about your
sort of how you grow up andwhere you come from, and you can
learn'em.
Sometimes it's already there,and, there's a lot of, that's
growing up in, it's a playing onthe playground and being on a
team and being in a class and,going away to school, all those
things.
You you pick a lot of that upalong the way.
Lan Elliott (19:41):
Absolutely.
And I love that you mentionedseveral times this idea of
continuous learning, becausewhen you come out of school, a
lot of times people think, I'mdone with my learning, but
you're only just beginning andthen you learn how to do your
job.
Dan Peek (19:55):
Right,
Lan Elliott (19:55):
and you get really good at learning how to do your
job, and then it's not aboutknowing how to do your job, it's
doing all the other things thatwill continue to propel you
forward into leadership.
You'd mentioned the books thatyou had read.
I.
There is more than just beingreally good at your job.
If you really wanna go to thehigher echelons, you have to
also figure out how to become agood leader and do that growth
(20:20):
piece and learn how to do thatin addition to just being
excellent at your work.
So
Dan Peek (20:26):
for sure,
Lan Elliott (20:26):
calling that out.
Dan Peek (20:28):
Yeah.
Lan Elliott (20:29):
One of the important things that is needed
to really be successful arementors and champions who
support.
You in those rooms that youdon't get to be in.
How important is it to findmentors and champions and how
does one go about it?
Dan Peek (20:49):
I think it can be, it's I think, if I look back in
my life, my mentor started whenI was in middle school.
I remember distinctly.
Beyond just my family, right?
But people beyond my family whotook an interest.
And it was more than just, Hey,how you doing?
It was people who gave me sageadvice about things.
(21:10):
There's things in my head that Ithink of all the time from a
friend of my dad's who wasathletic director and the
football coach at my highschool.
And another friend of ourfamily's who a friend of mine's
father who always had the most.
Incredibly direct advice.
There was no, the no bs, yourdad might not, your mom and dad
(21:30):
might not wanna say this, butI'm gonna say this type of
thing.
And there was that along theway.
And those are things I neverforget.
And there were, and thenobviously there's people I've
worked with over, over theyears.
I think you can seek them out.
I think you can identify themand spend time with them.
But I, number one, it's thatwillingness, it's that positive
attitude.
You need those folks within theorganization who are going to
support you.
And I think the best way to doit is just, is to try to work
(21:51):
closely with'em.
And I will tell you that some ofthose.
Some of the people that I'vebeen you know, that some of the
people I've been mentors withwere like direct supervisor,
where I had a very closerelationship.
Some of them were people whojust took an interest.
And and, I didn't always take,take advantage of those things.
I'll be honest with you.
And that's probably a failure onmy part.
So when somebody within anorganization or within an
(22:13):
industry takes an interest inyou take advantage of that
follow up.
In a sense they're throwing youa line.
That means they probably arewilling to serve in that role,
and you should take advantage ofit.
It may not work.
May not be, but take it.
Don't turn your back on thosesorts of things.
Don't, you're not too busy.
To call back that individual whomight be 20 or 30 years older
than you who's seen it allbefore, or most of it before.
(22:36):
And who's willing to share, someperspective.
Just chat.
Just have a call.
One things I try to do iswhenever somebody reaches out to
me, or often it's, it'll be oneof my, one of my, somebody I
know in the firm will say, Hey,will you talk to so and and I
try to always say yes.
Because at the end of the day,somebody said yes to me when I
needed to talk to someone.
And like for instance one of my,what I would consider one of my
(22:57):
mentors here within the firm whostayed here, and now when I'm
back, we're still, we stayedfriends the whole time.
Very important person to me inmy life and knows my wife and
knows my family.
Called the other day and Icalled him right back and I was
just like, yeah, let's talk.
And we talked for half an hourand we talked for.
15 minutes about business and 15minutes about life and hung up
and felt better.
And those relationships reallymatter.
(23:17):
And so I would seek those peopleout.
I would seek people that youhave that you have some
commonality with.
And I would seek some peoplethat you think you have zero in
common with to talk to and totry to understand, because I
think that's really important.
Recently we had a dinner for oneof the, one of the most senior
people in the f in the firmwho's retired, who for all
intense is retired.
(23:39):
And and we were, and a bunch ofus were there and we all said
something.
And I, and they were all peoplewho've known him even a lot
longer than I have.
And I would come to me and I'mlike, at the end of the day I
was able to say a few thingsthat I don't think he, I don't
think that person knew.
To the degree that it did that,that made a difference to me.
And we probably talk to eachother three or four times a
year.
But it really made a difference.
One of the reasons I work at thefirm I do today, and I've worked
(24:01):
at HFF, probably the reason,right?
And so these things can reallyhave a dramatic impact on your
lives.
So I would seek those peopleout, and some, by the way,
sometimes you will seek out amentor or champion or whatever,
and they're not gonna beresponsive.
That's okay.
Don't give up on it.
Somebody else is out there.
But again, I would seek it out.
I would try to connect.
(24:21):
And again as much as it's easyto connect with someone who's
you think sees the world thesame way that you do connect
with somebody who doesn't,because you will learn an awful
lot from that dynamic.
And I think I, the, for sure Ihave people in my life that are
kind of mentors to me who.
We see the world verydifferently, but we have a lot
(24:42):
of respect for each other, andwe've gotten a, we both have
gotten a lot out of those thatconnectivity over time.
So you can't do this alone.
You do need people who look outfor you and at some point you
end up looking out for them.
I do.
I do find it's not a one-waystreet.
Sometimes it is, but I've oftenfound is I've been around a long
time that it ends up being atwo-way street, which, which is,
(25:02):
which I love because in a sense,if there's a way to repay that
when your mentor calls and asksyou for advice.
You know that it, that it had animpact on them, that they were
able to help you.
That now they, they trust youenough that they're asking,
they're asking the same of you.
And I think that's, those arespecial moments.
I've had many of those.
I've had a few, and they'respecial moments.
Lan Elliott (25:23):
Thank you for sharing that.
That's really beautiful.
And I think this idea that therelationship and the learning
can go both ways and be veryimportant for both people.
Yeah.
Dan Peek (25:34):
I, and I think, the mentors I've had the ones who
really get into it are the oneswho really think they're getting
something out of it.
Like they're really into it.
They're not just sitting there,oh, I've gotta talk to this kid
and I've gotta give'em 15minutes worth of advice.
No, they're actually realizingthey're getting something out of
it because they're learning.
They may be learning aperspective on what it's what
it's like for other people ontheir team.
What are they dealing with?
And by the way, thegenerational, as we talk about a
(25:55):
lot, right?
That there's a pretty big gap,in terms of the perspectives of
the world, like the post socialmedia world.
And now we're dealing with thepost pandemic world and
whatever, what the kids had todeal with.
We were in school, we went toschool from home, it didn't have
that same social interaction, etcetera, and some of the
challenges they faced, right?
And so to be able to interactwith.
With with other kids who, hadthe same situation, young
(26:18):
people, right?
As they're going into theircareers, and all of a sudden
we're saying, oh, we go to theoffice five days a week and this
is what it's like.
And, we're not on Zoom all thetime and all that.
So I, it's again, it just,again, it constantly evolves and
so being able to plug in withmore than just your immediate
team.
Mentoring is a great way to dothat and to learn more about
what's going on out there.
We just had our annual meetingand there was 700.
(26:39):
There used to be a hundredpeople.
I didn't know what to do with700 people, but there's a lot of
young people there.
And so it was really helpful forme to talk to people that are
the peers of my team, but thatthat, that aren't on my team.
So it was just like, Hey, what'sgoing on with your business?
How do you guys interact?
What's your team like?
So I can learn more that way.
Lan Elliott (26:57):
I think also a thread that has been throughout
this conversation is the idea ofcontinuous growth and learning
from many sources.
There's books, there's the work,but then there's also learning
from people who are at yourlevel, but also people who are
younger and learning a differentperspective.
I love the idea of making surethat you're talking with people
(27:18):
who think about things in adifferent way.
Than you.
Yeah.
Because sometimes it mightchallenge something.
Dan Peek (27:23):
Yeah.
Lan Elliott (27:24):
Dan, we're coming to the end of our time.
I had a feeling that it would govery quickly'cause I always find
lots of things to talk aboutwith you.
But I've got two quick lastquestions for you.
The first one is, what advicewould you give to your younger
self?
Let's say 22-year-old, Dan, whatwould you want him to know?
Dan Peek (27:46):
Don't be afraid to take a risk and try something
different.
You still, you can you can swingand miss and still get back up
to bat, it's just, it's not,because there's this fatalistic
view that, if I was listening toa basketball coach clip the
other day.
My son sent me, who's 27, soolder than the 22-year-old, and
he said, failure is fertilizer.
(28:06):
For what grows in the future.
And I was really powerful.
I, like literally, I have notforgotten it since the moment I
saw it, and it's true.
Don't be afraid to fail.
Don't be afraid to take a swingand miss, I'm not a baseball
person, but it's.
Sports analogy, right?
But don't be afraid to swing andmiss and try different things.
Don't, be willing to trysomething different.
It was the same way when I wasin school.
(28:27):
I had, I gave, I sat with agroup of kids.
I think we were, we were, whenwe were at Alice, right?
When we were talking to thekids, and I was like, study
something very different.
They were asking me what did I,what did I really enjoy when I
was in school?
And I was like, what did I love?
I took this government class,but was amazing, and I got to go
listen to Carl Sagan speaktwice.
That was like, that's what Iremember about school.
As much as I love, Jim Eisterteaching us about, management
(28:49):
contracts, which I loved.
Those were the two things Ireally remember was Ben Ginsburg
and Carl Sagan.
That's what I really, that'slike when I tell my kids, what
was it like Carl Sagan, soanyway, it's try something
completely different than whatyou're doing to try your, and I
try to do that today like I am.
I'm 59 years old and I'm tryingto learn how to play guitar.
It is ugly, but I'm using acompletely different kind of
(29:10):
side of my brain and it's it's Ialways, like, when I was 22, I
would've been like soembarrassed to do that.
Don't be embarrassed of any ofthat stuff.
So that's a very long answer, soI apologize.
Lan Elliott (29:20):
That's okay.
And you're reminding me I needto go practice the drums, but
the same idea I needed to useanother side of my brain and I
still pretty awful
Dan Peek (29:28):
just to check out and do something different.
Lan Elliott (29:29):
Absolutely.
Do something Yeah.
That you've always wanted do.
That's very different.
Dan Peek (29:32):
Yeah.
Lan Elliott (29:35):
And Dan, you've given us so much great advice
during the course of thisconversation.
Do you have one last nugget ofadvice you'd like to share with
our audience who is looking toadvance their careers?
Dan Peek (29:49):
Don't worry about what other people think.
Just do your thing.
Not to quote an old, white guy,Teddy Roosevelt said, right?
It's not the critic that counts,right?
The credit belongs to the personin the arena.
Just go out there and, live yourlife, build your career, follow
your dream.
Don't worry about, don't worryabout the critics.
Don't worry about what otherpeople think.
Don't worry.
(30:09):
Don't worry about being judged.
I spent a lot of time in mycareer worrying about what am I
catching up?
Am I keeping up with my peers?
Where am I relative to?
It doesn't matter at all.
I was older.
I was one of the older kids inmy graduating class.
I was like, oh, never gonnacatch up.
It doesn't matter.
It doesn't matter in the least.
Live your life.
Follow your dream.
Build your career, build yourlife.
(30:31):
Don't worry about what otherpeople think.
Just you know.
Live the best life you can bethe best member of your
community, the best member ofyour family, and you know the
best part of your team you can,and you know the chips will fall
as they do.
There's nothing you can do aboutthat.
So that's my advice.
Lan Elliott (30:45):
Beautifully said.
Thank you so much, Dan.
I really value your friendshipover the years and am so happy
that you were able to make sometime to share your learnings
over.
Your incredible career with ouraudience.
Dan Peek (31:01):
Wow.
Thanks so much, Lynn.
I really enjoyed theconversation.
I'm very excited about thepodcast and all the great
conversations you've had and somany to come in the future.
So I look forward to seeing youagain soon.
Lan Elliott (31:10):
Thank you, Dan.
Dan Peek (31:11):
Take care.
Lan Elliott (31:12):
And for our audience, if you've enjoyed this
conversation with Dan, I hopeyou'll go to our website, it's
personal stories.com, where youcan find many more incredible
interviews with hospitalityindustry leaders.
Thank you.
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