Nick Jekogian's Monday Morning Message - Rewarding Great Efforts

Rewarding Great Efforts

A business consultant (who works with Billionaires) was discussing what drives his clients to come in everyday prepared to win and how they stay motivated, when some days it just doesn't seem worth the fight.  His main piece of advice that these billionaires followed was to quickly reward themselves and others when good things happened.

One entrepreneur would buy a nice watch at the conclusion of a deal, another a bigger boat, other rewards were as simple as a nice dinner at their favorite restaurant.  The point was to make sure that the effort was rewarded.

This past quarter at Signature Community we initiated our greatest change effort ever.  Almost 75% of the company's team members took part in the SI3 (Signature - Ideas, Innovation, Implementation!) and they have produced ideas and initiatives that will allow Signature Community to once again be a leader in the industry.  Ideas as simple as using 2 liter coke bottles in toilet tanks to reduce water usage (estimated to save 35 Million gallons of water companywide this year) to the Team Member Experience initiative which has more than 100 new initiatives being rolled out in 2011 to increase the engagement of our team members (formally known as employees (I owe $20 for that - "idea #64)).  Our Resident Experience Team worked out plans to revamp our resident communications (which will now include email notices, electronic newsletters, office bulletin boards (with job postings), Signature Cares charity drives and the Stars of the Community signage boards.  Our tech and training teams worked together has done an amazing job of creating what I believe will one day become a standard in corporate educational tools (The Signature Community Star Center).  In that space we have all the training material and resources a property management professional will ever need.  Everyday that space is growing with more material produced internally by the Signature Community team members.

The accounting and budgeting team has come up some ingenious ways for our entire company to stay ahead of the numbers and created ways for us to quickly see where properties are performing. This group took the maxim "you can't manage what you can't measure" and made it simple for us as a company to measure and benchmark just about anything.  Now we have tools to see where that is happening or not.

The marketing team is preparing to implement this leasing season what will likely be seen as the greatest social media living experience ever. We are on the verge of redefining how residents find, lease and move in apartments in the United States.

All in all, the effort put forth by the Signature Team to change the way we do things at Signature during these past few months has been nothing short of Industry changing. I look forward to next year and the opportunity these initiatives will create not just in making our existing residents and team member experience the best possible, but also in the growth opportunities available to Signature because of these radical initiatives.

My reward to everyone that worked on a Signature Ideas team is having the week between Christmas and New Years off, with full pay. Please take that time to spend with your family and friends, relax, recharge and be ready to come back in the New Year for some exciting times at Signature Community.

Thanks for Making It Happen at Signature Community you are the best team ever!!

 

Nick

Re: Nick Jekogian's Monday Morning Message - Aiming for Perfection!

The article below was written by Jim Tunney
Check out his website at http://www.jimtunney.com/

 After Further Review ... "'Cause I'm the hall monitor," said 9-year old Lin Hao, the Chinese schoolboy who marched in the Opening Ceremonies of the 29th Olympic Games in Beijing, with China's Flag Bearer, 7"6' Yao Ming.  Yao Ming, of course, you know as the Houston Rockets NBA star, who played in the Olympic Games for his native country China.
 
            Lin Hao, perhaps, is a name you don't know - yet.  When an earthquake hit Chengdu's Sichuan Province, China, killing 70,000+ people, Lin Hao was among those buried beneath the rubble, yet survived.  Lin Hao had pulled a classmate out of the rubble, then ran back in to rescue another, when he was caught in the tumbling walls.  Alive when the rescuers got to him, Lin Hao was asked "Why did you go back into that building that was crumbling?"  Here was 9-year old Lin Hao's response:  "'CAUSE I'M THE HALL MONITOR!"  You may call it responsibility, or leadership or determination.  Whatever you call it please put "HERO" next to Lin Hao's name!  Extraordinary!
 
            There is no question that the spectacular opening of the 29th Olympic Games was the finest I have ever witnessed.  The precision and splendor of that opening was exceeded only by the people who directed and performed in it.  It was easy to be convinced that the light show, the drumming sequence and especially the 'cube' happening was controlled solely by electronics.  I was delightfully surprised when it was not, as the performers beneath those cubes popped their heads up at the conclusion.  Extraordinary!
 
            Zhang Yimou, who directed the opening ceremonies, said "We (meaning every 'cube' performer) worked for 4 months - 8 hours a day - and we never got it perfect - until that opening night performance."  Personal responsibility and a "never-give-up" attitude, coupled with TEAMWORK, gave the world China's extraordinary best.
 
            Critics knocked the Chinese performers as "sterile" and lacking passion (they missed the fact that there are 1.3 billion Chinese!).  I disagree.  When you witness perfection, it may appear "sterile" and "passionless,"   but what often is missed is the extraordinary effort given to achieve perfection.  Extraordinary performances are given by ordinary people giving extra effort to perform the extraordinary!
 
            Will you practice responsibility when it comes your way?

At Signature Community everyone is responsible for making our properties the best they can be.  I see how determined our team members are in aiming for perfection at Signature Community.  It is this discipline and commitment that with time we too will show the world the power of Signature Community.
                            

Nick

Nick Jekogian's Monday Morning Message - Aiming for Perfection!

 After Further Review ... "'Cause I'm the hall monitor," said 9-year old Lin Hao, the Chinese schoolboy who marched in the Opening Ceremonies of the 29th Olympic Games in Beijing, with China's Flag Bearer, 7"6' Yao Ming.  Yao Ming, of course, you know as the Houston Rockets NBA star, who played in the Olympic Games for his native country China.
 
            Lin Hao, perhaps, is a name you don't know - yet.  When an earthquake hit Chengdu's Sichuan Province, China, killing 70,000+ people, Lin Hao was among those buried beneath the rubble, yet survived.  Lin Hao had pulled a classmate out of the rubble, then ran back in to rescue another, when he was caught in the tumbling walls.  Alive when the rescuers got to him, Lin Hao was asked "Why did you go back into that building that was crumbling?"  Here was 9-year old Lin Hao's response:  "'CAUSE I'M THE HALL MONITOR!"  You may call it responsibility, or leadership or determination.  Whatever you call it please put "HERO" next to Lin Hao's name!  Extraordinary!
 
            There is no question that the spectacular opening of the 29th Olympic Games was the finest I have ever witnessed.  The precision and splendor of that opening was exceeded only by the people who directed and performed in it.  It was easy to be convinced that the light show, the drumming sequence and especially the 'cube' happening was controlled solely by electronics.  I was delightfully surprised when it was not, as the performers beneath those cubes popped their heads up at the conclusion.  Extraordinary!
 
            Zhang Yimou, who directed the opening ceremonies, said "We (meaning every 'cube' performer) worked for 4 months - 8 hours a day - and we never got it perfect - until that opening night performance."  Personal responsibility and a "never-give-up" attitude, coupled with TEAMWORK, gave the world China's extraordinary best.
 
            Critics knocked the Chinese performers as "sterile" and lacking passion (they missed the fact that there are 1.3 billion Chinese!).  I disagree.  When you witness perfection, it may appear "sterile" and "passionless,"   but what often is missed is the extraordinary effort given to achieve perfection.  Extraordinary performances are given by ordinary people giving extra effort to perform the extraordinary!
 
            Will you practice responsibility when it comes your way?

At Signature Community everyone is responsible for making our properties the best they can be.  I see how determined our team members are in aiming for perfection at Signature Community.  It is this discipline and commitment that with time we too will show the world the power of Signature Community.
                            

Nick

Nick Jekogian's Monday Morning Message - What Makes an Athlete?

What Makes an Athlete?

Below is an interesting article on what makes an athlete, by Robin Quivers (Howard Stern's sidekick).  I would say that the same philosophy makes a great manager or team member; an intense focus on a short or interim term goal.  I hear it every day around Signature Community when our team members tell me what they are focused for the week or the month.  It is that focus and persistence that makes a great athlete or a great team member.  Thanks for your continued commitment!

Nick

What Makes an Athlete?
- By: Robin Quivers

I just completed the NYC Marathon in a not-too-respectable 6 hours and 9 minutes. Throughout the six months of training leading up to the event I've been having the same argument with my coach, Joshua Gold. Josh is a triathlete and I have no problem assigning him that title. But does training for and finishing a marathon make me an athlete?

It's funny, people automatically assume you're a good runner if they hear you've entered a marathon, but the beauty of the NYC marathon is that anyone can enter and there is no unacceptable time. In fact, the very last person to cross the finish line did it in 35 hours and 27 minutes. Of course, that woman suffers from Multiple Sclerosis and, if not an athlete, she is definitely a hero and to be admired. The best marathoners in the world finish the race within a two and a half hour window. They, I am sure, are athletes. But what about me?

Josh says I'm an athlete if I say I'm one, but that's ridiculous. I looked up the definition of the word and there's room for arguments for and against. Webster's says an athlete is a "person trained or skilled in exercise, sports or games requiring physical strength, agility or stamina". There may be room for me in that definition. I've trained in an exercise that requires strength and stamina. But dictionary.com adds "gifted in exercise" to the definition. Is there a level of quality of performance implied in that?

Of course, we expect professional athletes to be really good at whatever their particular sport, game or contest is, but what about the rest of us? As the race began I watched people running by me and I felt that they were athletes and I was not. They looked as if running was effortless and they were faster than me. As I tired and my legs began to ache I noticed that the people passing me also seemed to be more tired and in pain, but they could still run faster. They had an ability to keep up the quality of their performance even with the pain, while the quality of my performance suffered.

It occurs to me that being an athlete is a state of mind. It's setting a goal and measuring your performance against it. It means making the outcome and how you got there matter. It's about pushing the edges of the envelope. Looking at it this way, I took the first steps to becoming an athlete this weekend. I set the bar very low. When people asked me my goal, I answered, "To finish." I ran a very respectable half marathon. Josh actually called it awesome. Before training for the marathon I was unable to run longer than three and a half miles. I recognized the only way I was ever going to increase my mileage was to set a goal and train to reach it.

I achieved the goal I set for myself: I finished the marathon. I'm able to run much farther and faster than when I started training, and by completing 26.2 miles I pushed the edges of the envelope. What is most amazing to me is that I want to keep running. I want to get stronger and faster and I want to test the results of continued training by running another marathon. I can't believe I just said that. Must be the athlete in me.

 

Abandon Ownership! Join the Rentership Society!

http://www.wired.com/magazine/2010/11/st_essay_ownership/

In the American mind, renters are regarded as an unsavory lot, willful dissidents from the American dream. They do things like put cars up on cinder blocks in their front yard or, worse, live in your basement. The vision of an Ownership Society was about more than just houses, but the promotion of homeownership was, for a time at least, its most successful element. You know the story by now: The rate of homeownership climbed to almost 70 percent, sellers walked out of closings trundling wheelbarrows full of cash, and the phrase "granite countertops" seemed to hold as much promise as "plastics" did in The Graduate. Then it all fell apart. We woke up in a Rentership Society, and it's starting to look permanent. And you know what? Thank goodness. Ownership, it turns out, is for suckers.

For renters today, finding a new apartment on craigslist is almost as easy as streaming a movie. (OK, not quite, but you get the point.) Homeowners don't reside in this frictionless economy: They're stuck in one place, unable to quickly downgrade to a cheaper residence when times are lean (or upgrade when times are flush). And it costs thousands of dollars in renovations to beat the depreciation curve.

I speak from experience. My wife and I bought and sold two condos during the latter stages of the real-estate boom, escaping both as break-even propositions (after transaction costs). When we moved into a rental apartment a couple of years ago, we realized that ownership had been a burden, a time sink, and a money pit. Now we ask the landlord to fix things when they break, and we don't mind that the floor is not the one we would have chosen. We pay less each month than we would on a mortgage, and we bank money that once would have gone into installing central air.

We discovered that this emancipating, and remunerative, mindset applies to a lot of things that in the pre-Internet age you had to accumulate in order to enjoy. We sold our car and now use Zipcar or Avis when we need one — my somewhat technophobic wife refers to Zipcar as "Netflixing a car."

Granted, I live in Manhattan, where you don't need a car to get around every day. But no matter where you live, you've probably begun to embrace the Rentership Society without even realizing it. When was the last time you bought a DVD? Sales have plummeted because we all stream our video or get discs by mail. Amazon reportedly wants to get into the rental business, too, by creating a streaming service — their current (failed) model sells TV shows by the episode. I get my music from Microsoft's Zune Pass service these days — $15 a month buys me flexibility, mobility, and freedom from having to upgrade when a new standard replaces MP3s (which it inevitably will).

I'm no freegan, mind you. I don't dig through dumpsters for my dinner, and I believe in the virtues of property rights. The Rentership Society doesn't have to mean the Tragedy of the Commons — the stuff I rent isn't owned by the government or by everyone. It's owned by someone — someone else. I just pay for use. Those of you with a profit instinct (and storage space) can even become landlords: Websites like SnapGoods and Zilok let people rent out their stuff — lawn mowers, vacuum cleaners, tools — to the tenant class (as discussed by Clive Thompson in issue 18.09).

For the rest of us, we'll always own some things. There's stuff we use all the time, like furniture and clothing, and objects with sentimental value (take your stinking paws off my Yoda figure with plastic snake). But the Internet is creating markets that enable us to own much less. The winner of the ebook sweepstakes will be the bookseller who becomes a bookrenter. I don't want to own hundreds of books on a Kindle at $10 a pop. I want to Netflix them — pay for access to every book ever published. I'd rather be a renter in Borges' library than the owner of my own.

Everything, everywhere, all the time. That's the dream of the Rentership Society. And we're almost there. If you want to be able to possess some things, in some places, some of the time, well, keep on buying. But I vote for infinite abundance, on demand. Doesn't that sound like the new century's American dream?

--
Nairoby Otero
Administrative Assistant
Signature Community
www.ASignatureCommunity.com

212.202.1461
"Si³" Signature: Ideas, Innovation, Implementation!
Send ideas to: ideas@asignaturecommunity.com

Nick Jekogian's Monday Morning Message - Social networks (Community)

Social networks (Community)

I finally had a chance to see the hottest movie of the year (Social Network) and was amazed not just by the great acting, great screenplay but amazed at how valuable the Facebook company has become by doing the same thing we do everyday at Signature Community.  Give people at opportunity to be part of a community!

A few weeks ago I wrote a blog about the movie Wall Street 2 and how it sort of missed its marked and was really about a time that is now behind us (see below) whereas the original Wall Street movie from the 90s started an era.  Well Social Network seems to be the new Wall Street.  Although it overly glamorizes the start up business and uses a 1 in a billion example of success what it does show is that in today's world if you can create a product that everyone feels a deep desire to be part of (Sense of community is one of the principle needs of people, in some cases more important than food or sex) you can have millions of followers.  In less then 10 years Facebook has more that 500 million members and is one of the biggest success stories of our generation.

At Signature Community we understand people need/desire for community.  We do everything we can at Signature to make our residents feel part of the community not like a tenant.  We have programs that promote resident involvement, newsletters to keep our residents informed and even a helping hand program to give some of our less fortunate a leg up in this brutal economy.  We continue everyday to try to make Singnature a bigger and bigger part of our residents lives and their sense of community.  We hope that if you have any ideas that will promote the community aspects of life at Signature Community please share them with us at ideas@asignaturcommunity.com. 

 

Thanks for helping to make Signature Community the greatest living social network.
Nick

Nick Jekogian's Monday Morning Message - Never Give Up

Never Give Up


Last Sunday morning at 6AM I was running in the dark.  I was 4 miles into a 52 mile run that came on the heels of a 5 mile swim and 225 bike ride. I had been swimming, biking and now running for more than 24 hrs and was feeling it.  During mile 4 of 52, I was moving at a very slow pace and I couldn't keep focused on the road. I was wobbling side to side and physically done.  At that time, I thought the race was over for me.  This wasn't just any race this was a double Ironman event that I had trained for the past year.  I had been working on getting in the race for the year before that, but most importantly this was a personal goal that I committed myself to doing.  In that hour before sunrise on Sunday morning I was ready to give up.

I came around the bend and down the hill into the crew area and that's where the race began to turn around for me. My brother Michael joined me on the next lap, against doctor's orders due to his recently broken arm that had kept him out of the race.  While running I started downing some bananas and Gatorade. But what it really took were my brother's words of encouragement to change the type of race I was running.  At that point I was able to make the mental shift from this is a "running race" to this is a "mental race."  At this point, the pain in my legs, feet, arms, neck and head all somehow dissipated and the only thing that mattered was the thoughts in my head.  I continued to find the mental strength to push the next 12 hours through all the pain and exhaustion. I had turned the corner in the race and knew that it did not matter what condition I was physically in, this race was going to be won in my head.  This experience helped me see that one can never underestimate the power of teamwork and positive leadership. I would not have made it over the finish line 12 hours later, if it were not for the powerful encouragement and wise words of my brother Mike and the support and positive energy of the rest of my crew. They made this race happen for me.

In the week following the race I kept going back to those dark moments early Sunday morning and thought about what made my race different than the others that didn't finish or others that didn't make it to the starting line (more than 2/3 of the racers dropped out before the start).  The one key thing keeps jumping out to me is that I believed and was told repeatedly that I could do it, that I was going to make it happen.  I never thought "will I do it?, Can I make it?", I thought "I will do it!, I can Make it Happen!". Amazingly the difference between finishing a Double Ironman or any Endeavour for that matter, is do you think, "Can I do it? or "I can do it!"

In the 34 hrs and 45 minutes that I was out on the course swimming, biking and running I only questioned my ability to finish once for about a 30 min time period, which was when I was the most susceptible to failure. When I was encouraged to start thinking positively again, I changed the statement around to, " I WILL MAKE IT HAPPEN!"

At Signature Community over the past two years there have been many times that people have asked "Will we survive, Can we make it through these difficult economic times?".  Through all the problems that we have encountered I have continued to say, "We will Survive! We can make it happen!"

 

We may have had to shed some good assets, some good people, but in the end, we will come back stronger and thrive as a company.  The decisions will be painful, the cuts will be gut wrenching, the stories will be frightening, but just as I did for 52 miles (over 12 hours) last Sunday, we will continue to say "WE ARE MAKING IT HAPPEN" and we will "MAKE IT HAPPEN".

Thanks again for all your support on my crazy race (below is a short race report), but more importantly thanks for all your commitment and dedication to MAKING IT HAPPEN AT SIGNATURE COMMUNITY.

 

Nick

Double Ironman Race Update

Thanks for all your support and interest on my latest crazy race endeavor.  Here is an update:

The Double Ironman started at 7am Saturday with a 5 mile swim.  Swim went great for me and I was out of the water in a little over 3 hrs.

Bike was a tough slog taking almost 17 hrs to ride the 225 miles. I was on the bike from about 11am until just after 5 am sunday morning.  The course was pretty brutal because it was a 2.5 mile road with sharp turnarounds on either end (with one side being at the bottom of a hill).  45 times around each of the cones was not a pleasant experience.  I did take a 15 - 20 min. rest every 50 miles with a Red Bull shot before each break to motivate me to get back up.

I started the run about 5:30 am and continued to run non-stop until 5:45 pm on Sunday.  The early morning run was very difficult and at points I was close to giving up.  About 8am my brother (Mike) and Yael joined me on the run and somehow turned my mindset from giving up to making it happen.  My pace increased significantly over the next few hours and the first 26 miles of the the 52 mile run turned out pretty nicely.  The later part of the run was a mindless walk or shuffle for about 8 hrs.  Every 30 mins we did a calculation to make sure my pace would beat the finish time requirement of 36 hrs.

 I could have never done it without my family crew (mom, dad, mike, yael, my kids and mike's kids) and their boundless energy pushing me towards the finish line.  In  34 hrs and 45 mins. I finished the Double Ironman.

Attached is a photo of me going over the finish -- American flag in hand, National anthem playing in the background and family cheering me on.  No better way to end a long weekend!

Thanks for your support and if you would like to make a contribution to the charity I was raising money for the link is here:  http://www.crowdrise.com/Neverstopmakingithappen/fundraiser/NeverStop


--
Nickolas Jekogian
CEO
Signature Community
917-763-3500
www.ASignatureCommunity.com
Blog -http://www.nwjceommm.blogspot.com/



There is only one boss at Signature Community. The Resident.
If we don't take care of them......Someone else will.

Nick Jekogian's Monday Morning Message - Wins and losses

Wins and losses

"You can learn a line from a win and a book from a defeat." - Paul Brown, Cincinnati Bengals coach

I am a dyed in the wool optimist and couldn't imagine being an entrepreneur in the real estate business or any business without optimism. I am also a realist who has learned (the hard way in many cases) that you must learn from your mistakes. Ironically, we often learn a lot more from the losses than the wins.

As for the wins, we did a great job this leasing renewal season at Signature Community. We renewed more than 75% of our existing residents, we leased up to 100% occupancy in just about all our markets and we cut our cost to turn and renovated apartments to fractions of what was paid in the past. I am very proud of our entire team for reaching the incredibly difficult stretch goals that I set for them and making it happen! We are celebrating these wins this week.

We also had a few losses this year.  We failed to meet certain lending requirements for buildings that will jeopardize our long term ownership of those assets. We failed at cutting expense quickly enough to offset some of the revenue decline we have seen in markets.

In the fourth quarter of this year our primary focus is learning from our mistakes and amplifying our winning traits. If something worked in one market or building we are going to make sure it is implemented in all buildings. If something failed we are going to research why and make sure that we learn not to make the same mistake again.  We are not wasting this recession.  We are learning from it and getting better because of it.

I am looking forward to working with all of you to make Signature Community better in 2011 and beyond. Thanks for the wins and let's learn from the losses.

 

Nick

Nick Jekogian's Monday Morning Message - Brown Paper Bag

Brown Paper Bag

Craig Hodges, Managing Director of Australia-based King Content, suggested the best business question I've heard in 2010 , "What's The Brown Paper Bag in Your Business?" As the story goes, Craig was in NYC and managed to garner a dinner reservation at the famous Gramercy Tavern. One thing led to another and he ended up closing the place down, enjoying beers with the staff (what Aussie's do best!). As he was leaving, the staff handed him a brown paper bag and said it was a little something for breakfast the next morning. He started to look inside, but was instructed to keep it closed until the sun came up.   When Hodges was ready for breakfast the next morning, he found inside the properly sealed bag a freshly baked muffin, muesli, and an orange juice - a welcomed delight. It was then that he wondered "what was the brown paper bag-equivalent in his business?" He wondered how his business could generate the same word-of-mouth promotion he's given Gramercy Tavern as a result of something so simple, yet memorable?

The above story made me pose the question, "What is Signature Community's Brown Paper Bag?  Because this can mean a lot of different things for everyone on our team; on Wednesday I am going to ask each and every market for their Brown Paper bag so please be ready to participate.

I am looking forward to hearing all the different ideas for our Brown Paper Bags.

Nick

Nick Jekogian's Monday Morning Message - Teamwork

"We are all part of a chain. You must carry your load." - Bill Walsh, 4 times Super bowl winning coach

I am amazed at how easy it is for children to instantly join together as a team to accomplish some wildly imaginative goal.  No egos, no jockeying for positions, no politics. They put 100% of their efforts into accomplishing the common team goal without any concern for their individual interests.  In this case a few of the kids fell off the top of the mountain but they got right back up and helped the team again.

Interestingly, even at young ages the kids fall in line as leaders and followers. They realize that the team needs direction and control which can only be put into place by a leader. 

At Signature Community we have a huge initiative over the next quarter to focus on ideas, innovation and implementation, Si3. We know from experience that if we come up with a lot of ideas at the corporate level and try to implement them in the field they will fail miserably.  So what Si3 does is involve the entire company in the process, teamwork.  Teams are being formed to work on key areas of improvement: resident services, accounting and financial, employee experience, Signature Training (star center), technology, and strategic initiatives.  Over the next few months these teams will work together on the goal of making Signature Community the best place to live, work and invest!

In past years the research and implementation we have done during these months has not only produced great results for our company, but has also shined a spotlight on many of the star players in our organization.  Just like on the playground where the kids work together to fill the roles needed for success, we have experienced the same type of effort in our teambuilding and watched employees excel in the organization through this initiative.

I look forward to hearing any of your ideas and thoughts as we proceed with Si3 over the next few months.  Please send any ideas or comments to ideas@asignaturecommunity.com.

Thanks again for making great things happen at Signature Community.  

Nick

Nick Jekogian's Monday Morning Message - Confidence in a team

Confidence in a team

I just came back from a two week vacation with my wife and two young daughters. I am proud of the fact that I spent very little time looking at my blackberry or laptop. It was a great trip! We spent 14 days traveling around the western part of the country exploring areas very different than New York.  It is great looking at life, thru the eyes of a child. Any chance you get to take a trip with your kids, grand kids, friends kids, do it!   The trick is to get on their level and experience what they are experiencing.   The wild life of Yellowstone, mountains of Montana, white water rafting on the snake river, 50 million year old fossils, zip lining across the forest, rock climbing in the arches, the awesome scale of the Grand Canyon, relaxing in the spiritual vortex of the Sedona Mountains, and topped off by the over the top grandeur of Las Vegas.  Check out my wife's blog for more detail.  Jekogianfamilytrip.tumblr.com
 
The best thing about the trip was living in the moment the entire time just like a 7 year old. What allowed me to do this were not the beautiful skies of Montana or the open plains of Colorado, it was my trusting relationship with a great management team.   At Signature Community we strive to put the best people in the right places and get out of their way. The great test of my success in this endeavor is how comfortable I could be hanging out with my kids staring into the Grand Canyon instead of chained to a Blackberry.  I passed the test with flying colors.

The job of any great leader is to find people smarter than themselves, set them in the right direction and then get out of the way.   At Signature Community we have been doing that not only at my level but also at the street level. The success we had this summer with our Signature Stars leasing team that started in May and leased more than 1000 apartments in 3 months time is a great example of empowering people to succeed.   The same goes for our maintenance team this year, under the guidance of Dave McLain, who I suspect like me, could not replace a faucet let alone a full bathroom his team turned 250 down units and more than 700 apartment units at just fractions of the cost in the past.  Dave will be the first to admit that these phenomenal results have much more to do with having an ambitious, energized and empowered group making this happen then it does his carpentry skills

We really made some great strides at Signature Community over the past few years and the best is yet to come.  

Thanks for always making it happen!
Nick

The End of Home Ownership

I have been reading this book and he is on the mark for where the US is going.  Home ownership is dead!  Apartment rental is the new norm.

http://bigthink.com/ideas/20243?utm_source=Big+Think+Main+Subscribers&utm_campaign=c4bb1d5b24-Newsletter_Richard_Florida_June_9_20106_8_2010&utm_medium=email

Signature Community's goal is to be the greatest provider of housing in the new economy.

Let's keep making it happen!!

Nick

Focused Goals

Focused Goals

"Goals are dreams with deadlines". - Diana Scharf Hunt

"If you can dream it, you can do it. Always remember that this whole thing was started with a dream and a mouse." - Walt Disney

 

There was a study done on the 1969 Harvard MBA class, which reviewed the success of graduates who had written goals at the time of graduation and compared them to their peers that either had no specific goals or had goals but did not put them into writing. The results are really astounding.  First, only 3% of the class had written goals, but the small group that did have goals, made more money than the other 97% of the class.  To put that into perspective that means that a student with very focused long term goals was making almost 30 times as much as his average peer without a focused goal.

I have always been a huge believer in stated goals (not just putting it in writing and hiding it under the mattress, but put it out there for the world to know about).  The motivation of crowds is a powerful thing. Setting and publishing both short and long term goals in my eyes is the only way a company or individual can reach its full potential.   How can you get to a place that you didn't even know to aim for?

At Signature Community we are hyper focused on our commitment to goals and making them happen. Every week each member of the Signature team states a key weekly goal to their peers and gives an update on last week's accomplishments.  Sometimes they miss their goals, but in many cases they hit their goals or exceed and interestedly enough in just about all cases our subsequent goals have been more challenging than the past one.    What this public goal setting has shown me is that when good people are given the opportunity to pick their goals they will strive to reach and even exceed them.

Early this year I set a huge stretch goal for our company --- 100% occupancy by mid-July. Every manager, leasing agent and maintenance manager then adjusted their market goals to tie in with that goal. As of now all but a few markets have hit the 100% occupancy challenge and those markets that didn't are very close to hitting it.  It has been pretty amazing to witness the intense focus that Signature Community operated under during these past few months in order to hit this goal.   Many people questioned me and asked why the mid-July focus?  Why not September which is the typical end of season? Why push everyone so hard?  Why not push rents and increase resident turnover?  Well my thought process is pretty simple -- I want the Signature Community team to be the best in the industry and in order to do that they need to set and reach goals that others only dream of.  We did that at Signature this year and that shows the world that we don't just make lofty goals we make them happen!!

Thanks for Making It Happen at Signature Community.

Nick

 

Reaching New Heights

Reaching New Heights

This past weekend, I completed my first ultra-marathon, which is a foot race of 50 miles or more. The format of this race was 24 hrs of running, to see who can go the furthest. Sleep is optional but not recommended. The race was in Philadelphia and the route is an 8.5 mile loop on the banks of the river. When the race started at 10am the temperature was 90 and high humidity!

My original goal for the run was to complete 100 miles in 24 hrs, but within hours of running in the hot sun, I knew that even with all my extensive training and preparation, 100 miles was not in the cards for that day. I realigned my goals to keep within safe limits, of success yet still a big accomplishment (this was my first official foot race longer than 26.2 miles). I pushed all thru the day and night and finished at 76 miles in 23hrs and 35 minutes.

I am happy with my achievement and know that someday I will be back to accomplish the original 100 mile goal that I set for myself.

My thanks go out to everyone that gave me support before and during the event, especially my parents, grandparents, my wife Yael, and daughters Becca and Bryna. At 4am, when it was still 80 degrees (after 19 hrs of continuous running) you really can't focus on much, but I do remember that all the thoughts going through my head, was a replay of all the words of encouragement shared before the race. Thanks for bringing me across the finish line.

At Signature Community we had our own ultra-marathon going on the past few months. We set an obscene goal of 100% occupancy by mid-July. Sitting here today, we are in view of the finish line. In the next few days we will cross the line. So far Albuquerque, Kansas City both Plaza and Ambassador districts, El Paso and New York have reached the goal. We anticipate announcing more early this week, but I want to mention that we really did do an amazing accomplishment in such difficult economic times. When a market reaches 100 percent occupancy, we have a party for the entire Signature Community team in that market. We are also planning to have a resident appreciation party every month that the community or market maintains the 100% occupancy.

Hitting 100% occupancy is an incredible feat and every market that hit it should be proud! We really did show our competitor’s who is the leader in customer service is, which is why our residents love the place they live.
Thanks for making it happen with Signature Community and for your personal support in getting me over both the goals I set for myself this summer.
Thanks for making it happen!!
Nick

Coach Wooden

Coach Wooden

 

Coach Wooden, one of the winningest coaches in any sport ever, having won 12 consecutive NCAA basketball championships, died last week at the age of 99. Coach Wooden's record is exemplary, but what really made Coach Wooden stand out in his profession was in his ability to turn out great people, not just athletes.  

 

I saw an interview from a few years ago with Coach Wooden explaining his accomplishments.  He started by listing the doctors, lawyers and teachers that went through his program.  Not once did he mention the successful athletes that he coached.   Coach Wooden didn't see his job as a basketball game strategist or a developer of young athletes.   His job was an educator of young adults.   He taught integrity, self control, leadership and responsibility first; the game was last.

One of my favorite children's book is an illustrated poetry book by Coach Wooden called, Inch and Miles: The Journey to Success.  (Teamwork, patience, hard work, integrity and determination are the central themes in his book (If anyone would like a copy for their children just shoot me an email).

At Signature Community we see our Rising Star program as a similar program that Coach Wooden espoused.   We don't just want our people to be good property managers or good at accounting we want good people that understand teamwork, integrity, hard work and a never give up attitude.  Winning transcends any endeavor not just property management.   We continue to develop the Signature Star Training center to give learning tools to our team and push daily the focus of teamwork and "being nice".

I can't emphasis enough the importance of always growing as a person not just learning technical skills but life skills.  Keep growing and making it happen at Signature Community.

http://www.ted.com/talks/lang/eng/john_wooden_on_the_difference_between_winning_and_success.html

 

 

Nick

Recovery's Seven Secrets

http://www.forbes.com/forbes/2010/0607/opinions-rich-karlgaard-digital-rules-recoverys-seven-secrets.html

The one-year-old recovery is weak and uneven. It faces headwinds of fear, deficits, terror threats, entitlement bombs, higher taxes and moral hazards, as well as armies of hair-trigger traders with their eyes on a black swan. Have we left anything out?

Oh, yes. Some companies managed to do well despite it all. Somebody forgot to tell Apple about the bad weather--same holds true for Domino's Pizza, Trek Bicycle, Scottrade, Salesforce.com, NetApp, Monsanto. Across a range of industries some companies are chugging ahead.

What do the winners have in common? They excel at most or all of the following corporate skill sets.

Design. The data deluge has arrived, courtesy of billions of Web pages and millions of marketing channels zapping us like bolts of lightning from clouds of bandwidth. There is no elevator, no airplane seat, no bar, no loo that is safe from the barrage. Between our ears there has been no improvement in processing and analyzing. Maybe nanotech will make every man a genius, but that's a generation or two away. Meantime, products must stick out to get noticed and be loved fanatically by users to get real momentum. Great design will prevail, whether it's an iPad, a Flip cam, a room at the W, a seat on Virgin or a bottle of Coke.

Speed. The pressing fact of business today is compressed margins. If you can't win on cost, then you must find other routes to margin. Good design is margin. So is speed. Last winter I broke my hip cycling and, fearing the loss of all my fitness, purchased a $4,000 spin trainer. That's what athletes do when they're desperate. But the spin trainer kept missing the ship. Meanwhile, my hip healed. One day I woke up and said: "Did I just pay $4,000 for an indoor bike?" I didn't need it anymore, so I canceled the order.

Blow the opportunity window and you blow the margin.

Cost. Maybe you can't beat a Chinese company on cost, but you can do much to bring your costs down. "Software as a service" from Salesforce.com, SAP and others gives you enterprise analytics at PC prices. Google may be known for its search engine and advertising model, but its cheap trick is harnessing millions of commodity servers to do the work.

Service. Customer-pleasing service can work at all points along the cost spectrum. Think Four Seasons at the top, Disneyland in the middle, Southwest Airlines at the bottom. The trick is being true to your brand and never promising service you can't deliver.

Take Southwest. How can this airline make you print out your own boarding pass, stand in line and scramble for available seats, and still have you feeling good about the whole deal? For one, that's how Southwest sets your expectations. Two, Southwest's attendants are given free rein to laugh and entertain you. The message is: We're all in this crowded aluminum tube together, so let's relax and have fun. Three, Southwest delivers where it counts: a good record of on-time arrival.

---

Communication outside. In a loud, overcrowded market with proliferating technologies and channels of communication that include everything from Forbes to Facebook to TV to Twitter, where do you even start? How do you allocate your ad dollars, your public relations? Which bases do you cover when you can't cover them all?

Start by asking these clarifying questions: What are the values of your company? How do customers participate in those values? You might end up doing things you hadn't thought of. Jon Iwata, chief marketing officer of IBM, regularly communicates to ex-IBM employees. Why? Because there are hundreds of thousands of them, and most of them will talk about IBM--for good or bad--on social networks like Facebook.

Communication inside. The first thing Johan Bruyneel did when he became Lance Armstrong's bicycle team director in 1998 was equip the whole team with radios and earpieces. That was once a star's perk, but Bruyneel knew that the Tour de France was a three-week expedition in which the mental errors of the entire team were cumulative. It was a difficult technical feat to fit every cyclist into the two-way radio loop, but Bruyneel pulled it off. As a team director he has eight wins and one third place in the Tour de France.

Purpose. In 2004 I was fortunate to hold one of the last recorded interviews with Peter Drucker, about 13 months before the great man's death. Drucker spent the last part of his career studying nonprofits--hospitals, museums, churches and the like. He felt they are as critical to a society's success as good government, entrepreneurs and thriving corporations. Drucker said one word separated enduring nonprofits from those that lapsed into bureaucratic stagnation or scandal: Purpose!

Entrepreneur and author Simon Sinek has discovered the same thing. All companies know what they do, says Sinek. They sell something, at a profit, they hope. The better companies know how to codify all the procedures and good habits that make success routine. The very best companies know why they do what they do. They have a purpose--a reason for existence that transcends profit. Driven by purpose, they create a movement and consequently get the most discerning and loyal customers. In today's crowded global marketplace customers "don't buy what you do," says Sinek. "They buy why you do it."

In this uneven recovery, with trust in tatters and fear off the charts, purpose has never mattered more.

Built during the recession

Built during the recession

A lot is talked about how recessions create opportunities. Apple computers, Microsoft software to name a few great companies were started in the worst of recessionary times.  Even more phenomenal in my eyes, as a real estate developer, was the building of the Empire State Building, during the depression. 

The facts are amazing:

102 stories, tallest building for more than 40 years
80 years later still one of tallest buildings in the world
Went from concept to completion in one year and 45 days
Constructed by 3,400 men
Built at a rate of 1 floor per day. 
  
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bEnCpWMl91s&feature=related

At Signature Community we undertook an initiative during this "Great Recession" to make use of the opportunity and convert the more than 100 units that we classified as down units and to bring them back on line and profitable.  Being in a recession and with the real estate finance market the way it is, we realized that this wasn't going to be accomplished with the typical spend and borrow methods of 2007. We needed to find new solutions and with the help of our entire organization we did. We set out almost 30 days ago to take 102 down units and turn them into revenue producing units in 102 days. The same pace in which the Empire State Building was built.  We are now 30 days in and as of today, we are on pace to make this happen. 

How are we doing it? Teamwork and outside the box thinking. 

Almost all the work on the projects are being done with the help of residents who are unemployed, under-employed and needed to take advantage of the Signature Residents Work program to pay their back rent. Our regional maintenance directors formed a collective to share insight on supply pricing and combine buying power to optimize pricing. Our leasing agents are selling out the apartments before completion to eliminate downtime and start the vital cash flow to pay for the improvements. Property managers are holding down the fort while most of our resources are involved in this initiative. Regional managers have been integral in keeping everyone motivated and focused on the goal we have of 100% occupancy on August 1st. And Dave McLain at corporate office has been overseeing this entire process to maintain quality, and speed, while still keeping costs at a minimum.

The effort that the Signature Community has put into this and the success we are having is nothing short of the building of the Empire State Building.

Thanks to everyone for making it happen at Signature Community.  

Nick

How do you improve something that you can't measure?

How do you improve something that you can't measure?

I am always amazed at how numbers can make ideas seem so black and white when the numbers themselves are always so obtuse.  There are so many ways of manipulating data that no one really understands anything anymore.  The numbers have gotten too big. The statistics are too manipulated and the politics or corporate sensitivities too great to allow numbers to be accurate.  The sub-prime crisis and the housing bubble are a clear example.

At Signature Community we were swayed by this trap in the heyday of the real estate market. When financial engineering had a lot more influence on real estate than the location or building.   We were more interested in the keeping rents high to show future profits and not paying enough attention to what really matters in business, cash flow.

Cash flow is monthly revenues less monthly expenses.  Forget about the amortization, depreciation and accruing expense. It's simple, what came in less what goes out. 

At the end of the day, our company's success or failure is going to come down to this simple formula.  Can we bring in more rents than we need to pay out in expenses?  The rest is just noise.  Over the past year we have pushed our managers at Signature to understand how this formula works for their properties and the focus of managing cash flow to positive territory has been amazing. We have always been an ideas company, but successful execution has not always been there. Today, managers are focused on monthly cash flow and they clearly see the results of ideas that we executed on. They are making things happen because they clearly see in the impact in black and white.

If only we could get big business or the government to start posting clearly defined cash flow numbers we would have a much better picture of where we really stand. 

Thanks for making it cash flow at Signature Community. 

Nick

Making the impossible happen

Making the impossible happen

I love watching ted.com. It's a bunch of smart & interesting people telling stories about what was accomplished with limited resources.  I was especially interested in this Mount Everest story from the lone medical professional on the mountain when a devastating storm struck the summit and killed 8 people.  The story here isn't about the tragic deaths, but the survivors, particularly one survivor that had been left for dead for more than 24 hrs in 40 below zero wind chills. He managed somehow to convert every ounce of his energy into the effort required to save his life and walk down the mountain.  Watch the video below because there is some science to this, but I am amazed by the sheer willpower of a human being to stay alive. 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bgqc2m7aBzs

Science is still trying to explain some of the amazing feats accomplished by people when survival is at stake. Someday they will, but until then, we call it the power of hope and have to realize that it can do amazing things. 

At Signature Community we have been fighting for survival in a very bad real estate market, a horrible financing market and an even worse job market.  All the worst conditions when you are a real estate operator. Despite the terrible market conditions, we have done amazing things over the past 2 years that I don't think would have been possible except in times of extreme survival mode.  We are managing better with less. We are collecting more from fewer employed residents. We have taken a dire situation made fast, direct and tough decisions to cut costs, sell property or restructure deals that are giving us a chance to get to the other side of this mountain of economic problems. 

I thank everyone for thinking and doing what a survivor would do to get us out of this giant perfect storm.  I have no doubt that the lessons we learned and the instincts gained over the past 18 months will be invaluable over the next 18 years.

Thanks for making it happen at signature community. 

Nick

Work Smart

Never Stop Learning

Over the weekend I visited my grandparents in their new apartment at a senior community that caters to older active residents.  The most interesting facet this community is how focused they are on keeping the residents active, engaged and always learning new things.  With all the activities available, I felt like I was on a college campus, but instead of tattoos and piercings, there was white hair and scooters. 

Recent research is showing that being active and engaged in a community and continually learning are much greater factors in a long healthy life; more so than genetics or the efficacy of the latest drug.  If you want to keep your brain in good health, then you have to keep using it. 

My belief which applies to us as a business, is that if everyone is not engaged with the company and always learning, then we as a company will shrink up and die. It doesn't matter if it is the daily huddle, the weekly customer service call or just a reply to all on one of the many company wide emails that circulate we encourage everyone to be involved.  To succeed in today's challenging environment, we need every one's help and involvement.

Always be Learning is another key part of our company goal and to that end I offered a few weeks ago to reimburse the purchase price of any book that you feel helps you at Signature Community. I am trying to keep this as open as possible, because I do feel that just about any book can make you a better team member.

The only thing I ask in return is that you write a one paragraph review of the book and tell people why they should (or in some cases shouldn't read the book).  I also ask that you mail your copy of the book to any one at Signature community and ask them to read it.   If you are like me and do a lot of highlighting, note taking and comments in the book then that's even better to share with others.

The email address is -   jekogian@asignaturecommunity.com

So please send me your review of the books you are reading I will then post to the blog so others can learn from you. 

Thanks for all the Signature team members that pushed me to do this and have already been sending me comments to books. I look forward to learning from all of you. 

Thanks for making Signature Community a great place to learn.

Nick