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