 Think Tech Hawaii, civil engagement lives here. Welcome to Making Leadership Work on Think Tech Hawaii. I'm your host today, Carol Monli. Our show is called The Millennial Take on Leadership, and we're gonna talk about a returning millennials' observations on leadership in the real estate marketplace, how millennials look at leadership in a fresh way with my guest, William Elliott. If you wanna ask a question and make a comment, you can tweet us at Think Tech HI or call us at 374-2014. Born and raised in Hawaii, Will Elliott recently returned from Portland, where he started his real estate career managing commercial property. Welcome, Will. Thank you, Carol. So nice to be with you today. Yeah, same here. Thanks for having me on the show. Yeah, so you just returned from 10 years in Portland, is that right? Yes, and then the previous four years of that spent in college at Linfield. Okay, so what year did you graduate from college? 2008. Great, so you are hardcore millennial. Yeah. So tell us about your years in Portland and how you chose your career in real estate, and was that part of your plan when you moved there? Yeah, great question. So my father owns a small family business here in Hawaii for the last 40 years in the swimming pool maintenance industry. So growing up, we spent just about every summer and free moment helping him, one of six kids, so there's a lot of help with that. And going to college on the mainland, there was a couple things there. I wanted to play basketball, extend my career from high school, and then get a good education. Growing up on the islands, there's a lot of distractions going through high school, so I felt like the mainland would be the best opportunity for that. And going through school, I always had the idea that I would take over my dad's business. Come back home, take over your dad's business. Exactly, but after being gone for a while and realizing there's more out there, I had a deep curiosity to figure out like another potential career path. And his brother and his wife owns a commercial real estate company currently. Your uncle. Yes, my uncle in Portland. And so we were able to connect. They pick us up from the airport, take us to school and that sort of thing, and give us a home cook meal every once in a while. And just being around them, they're in the commercial real estate industry, and they're great people. So I wanted to see them. Learn and hang. Just kind of follow in their footsteps. So that led me down the road of getting into commercial real estate as an intern in 2008 in June. So what was your major in college? Business. I see. Perfect. Business background for that. Yeah, so I felt like that major would give me a lot of leverage to pursue multiple different career opportunities. So you interned in real estate in 2008, and then you stayed there for 10 years working in the field. Yeah, so I. For your uncle? For my uncle, yeah. So they built the company from ground up in 1981. And they currently now have over 40 employees. They manage about 5 million square feet of real estate. And they're very prominent in the Portland Marketplace. What's the name of your uncle's company? NAI Elliott. I see. Ah-ha, Elliott, OK, the family name. So this show, our theme is leadership. And mostly my guests have been mature professionals who've been in the field for many years and have lots of different experiences. And I thought it would be fun to talk with you as a up and coming leader and a millennial who's had mainland experience and is coming back here to actually live the rest of your career. Right, exactly. So tell us about experiences in Portland then and how you were mentored, how you observed leadership there, what you took away from that. Yeah, absolutely. So I started a week after graduation. So basically enough time to move all my belongings from McMinnville, Oregon to Portland. And that was amazing because after watching a lot of movies about Wall Street and the financial markets and just being excited about what's possible with commercial real estate having no income cap. There's definitely a floor. But finally getting access to that was amazing. Maybe we should explain to our audience, because actually I don't even understand. When you say no income cap, is that because you're working on commission? Right. And so therefore, the sky's the limit when you're in real estate. Now the floor, you start out with a base salary, a minimum wage? As a broker, no. Nothing. You're cold turkey, straight from the ground up. Did you get your license already? I did, so I was doing internship for several months. And at that same time, I was studying to get my real estate license. So a big turn of events happened in the fall and the financial markets crashed. 2008. Yeah, it was really tough. So I got in at the peak and then just rode the landslide all the way down. Yeah. So that put a pivot on my career pursuit. So I switched over to property management. I was working in the brokerage department. And then that was a lot more stable of an occupation. And it taught me a lot of basics on how properties are run, how they're managed, how you interact with businesses, especially in the downturn. It wasn't an easy time for a lot of folks. Well, let's talk about then what kind of role models were there for you? Yeah, so internally, it was my auntie and uncle and then some other staff that I really resonated with. Particularly, what kind of skills did they or style did you observe that you thought would be something you wanted to emulate? Yeah, definitely. They're very warm and welcoming people. And so that was a good environment to really learn and grow from. They really care about their staff and their people. So that really resonated. It really taught me that not everything is cutthroat, especially in our industry, which is very competitive. So that taught me a lot. And then their office design and layout, in addition to that, they put a lot of care into developing their space to foster more conversations and creativity and collaboration. So how would you describe that for us? Yeah, so there was no private offices. Not even your uncle and your auntie? They worked from home. Yeah, so that just was their style that seemed to be more efficient for them, which is another leadership trait you have to understand is how can you be most efficient and then put yourself in that environment. But the partitions, like if you would sit down, you could see the top of everyone's head. So the line of sight was very critical, and there was a lot of glass and that sort of thing. So you didn't feel isolated in a cube in the back corner of an office. There was a sense of connectivity. You could hear over your conversations. So for me, up and coming in the industry, hearing property managers talk to tenants and landlords, it helped to coach me up on how to. Practicing how to talk and how to deal with questions. Absolutely. Difficult people. Yes, and during difficult times. Of course. So there were a lot of businesses that were failing, a lot of landlords that were stretching for dollars to make their properties work financially. Otherwise, the lenders would take them back, and it was our job to make sure everything stayed as stable as possible. So kind of a hostile environment in a sense of there's a lot of decisions and money on the line. So just having to provide a good level of customer service and being proactive. So was there a lot of competitiveness among the other employees like you? Internally? Yeah. Not really. Because of the market. Yeah, and that's the culture that was fostered from the moment I stepped in, and even before that. How did they foster that culture by not making it a cutthroat competitive in that difficult market? It was just a collaborative environment. Staff meetings? Yeah, staff meetings. Management by walking around. We would make fun of each other. There was a keg in the office. A keg? A kegerator. Yeah, this is Portland. A kegerator. Portland's very big on the beer scene. I see. We had a shuffleboard. We had a dartboard. We had free coffee. We had a full kitchen. I mean, it was almost an extension of your home. And not quite a place where you would go out and hang out with friends, but you could still merge those two types of the times. You could relax comfortably. Yeah, we had, in the summer times, we'd have barbecues every week. And people would bring their own food. And it would just kind of create this more of a communal atmosphere. And yet they were still able to create a competitive environment where you wanted to achieve and do more. How did they do that? Yeah, so they didn't really discourage growth. Ideas can be brought up the ladder of leadership, which I think is a very key point. Because a lot of times, if you're on the ground in the trenches doing the day-to-day work, you see what's actually happening versus reading a lot of reports and just distancing yourself from current events. Did they believe in a lot of meetings? Yes and no. There is a lot of collaboration. But the evolution of meetings over my tenure there, it wasn't consistent every year. But they continually tried to improve the way they interact with the staff and the ownership of the clients we have. Tell us a little bit about Portland in those days. We had talked earlier that it was a very exciting place in the last 10 years you've seen it grown. Going from that bottom up to where it is now. Portland is one of the fastest growing cities on the West Coast. And it's incredible because as a real estate professional, especially during the recession, we would call on national tenants and bigger brands that were not present in Portland. And the response we would get was like, where's Portland? Is it north of San Francisco? Kind of near Seattle? Yeah. And so it was discouraging because Portland is on a map. You can find it. You can Google it. What's the population in Portland? It's north of 2 million. It's much bigger than the state of Hawaii. But there's a lot more land. So it could be a lot more spread out. However, the concentration of the population of Oregon is in Portland. And that actually stems into Vancouver, Washington. So how they draw the Portland Metro map includes a wide area. And did you specialize in particular types of properties? So I did office, retail, industrial, land, transactions, departments, everything. Managed industrial parks, managed creative office buildings, urban redevelopment, suburban tertiary markets. So I got a wide variety of exposure. Managed about 2 million square feet. And with that, over my time, was about 200 different tenants. Maybe a little bit more than that with the revolving door of vacancies and new tenants. So did you find, did you see the population grow tremendously in that area? Absolutely, yeah. From what to what? I don't have the numbers. But it was an incredible transformation. Portland became this place where young millennials would go. There was a show called Portlandia. And the tagline is this is where young people go to retire. The cost of living is the cheapest major city on the West Coast. The lifestyle lent itself to a lot of outdoor activities being one hour away from Mount Hood for all the skiing, snowboarding, camping, that sort of thing. And then the coast, which was another hour away, which has all those activities. So just seeing the influx of people's California, Seattle, coming across from the East Coast, where the lifestyle was a lot more expensive. There was limited space. There was just new opportunities in Portland. So very exciting times. And then 10 years there, we decided to come home. Very, very excited. Glad to be back. Yeah. OK, well, before we go to break, I want to point out that the picture in the background, our background today is a beautiful picture of Waikiki. And who took that picture? Oh, that was me. Yeah. That's one of my hobbies. I love taking photos and providing a different perspective on what we are all familiar with. Right. OK. Well, on that note, we're going to take a short break. We'll come back, and we'll talk more about the leadership style of this millennial. And we'll be right back. Hi, my name is Bill Sharp, host of Asian Review, coming to you from Honolulu, Hawaii, right here in the center of the Pacific Ocean. Asian Review is the oldest of the 35 or so shows broadcast by Think Tech Hawaii. We've been in production since 2009. Our goal is to provide you, the viewer, with information, breaking information about events in Asia. Asia being anything from Hawaii west of Pakistan, from the Russian far east, south to Australia and New Zealand. We hope to see you every Monday afternoon at 5 p.m. Hi, I'm Ethan Allen, your host on Pacific Partnerships in Education here on Think Tech Hawaii. Every other week, Tuesdays at 3 p.m., we have guests on and talk about the fascinating, interesting, and unique partnerships in education that occur across the Pacific Islands with Hawaii, Micronesia, the Marshall Islands, Palau, Guam, all these places have really rich local education programs going on. And the exchange among and between these programs is a wealth of great information, helping the islands all learn how to survive and thrive in our ever-changing world. I hope you'll join us on Pacific Partnerships in Education. Welcome back. This is Cara Monli on Education, no, I'm making leadership work with my guest, Will Elliott. Welcome. Thank you. So, Will, we've been talking about your first 10 years after college when you were in Oregon, Portland, Oregon, and learning the commercial real estate business and some of the styles you were exposed to as a young person with leadership from your own family, actually. Yeah. So then you moved back to Hawaii. How long have you been back? Since October of 2017. Okay, and what are you doing now? Continuing to work at Cushman-Waifield Cheney Brooks and a local commercial real estate company with an affiliation with one of the largest real estate brands in the world. Right. Yeah. I think we have a slide of an image of two images of that, let's see. Yeah, now what is this? So this is our office, 1440 Capiolani, right across the street from Ala Moana and on the bottom right, you can see the brand new Walgreens and behind it is Sam's Club and Walmart. Right, and what floors do you occupy? We're on the 10th floor. We occupy about 40% of that floor and we're hoping to expand to cover the remaining 10% on the one side of the building. Great, and I think we have one more slide that includes a picture of you and where is this? This is in New York. Can we describe the picture to our listeners? Yes, absolutely. So we belong to an organization called ICSC, the International Council of Shopping Centers, which is the world's largest retail trade organization. Periodically, they have trade shows throughout the country and the world. This was taken in New York last December. It's a- And you're standing in front of the booth, huh? Yeah, so- The Fishman-Wakeman booth. Yeah, yeah, so I'm standing in front of the booth and this is where brokers and tenants and landlords come in from all parts of the world. Being in New York, there was a lot of Europe influence there, which was exciting. Right. And so, yeah. Okay, well great. So it's a compare for me now the difference between the Portland market and Honolulu. Absolutely. So Hawaii has traditionally been about 10 to 15 years behind, sometimes five years behind West Coast trends. Trends. Yes, so coffee, beer, food. That sort of thing. Now, we do have a strong culture of what we have existing, but when Ikea's not here, or Trader Joe's isn't here, or we work, or a lot of brands that are prominent in the continental U.S., it just takes time for a lot of those businesses and trends to get to Hawaii, so- And how does that affect the real estate market then? Yeah, so there's been a lot of studies done on how the urban revitalization has impacted in a positive way values of real estate, how customers interact with businesses. Portland's a very small business owner market, so there's not a lot of large brands there. So it actually fosters a lot of creativity, a lot of growth in the small business sector. So not a lot of big box retailers. There is, but it's on the outlying parts of the city. So in the urban core, you have most of it's like about 90% about mom and pop shops. That's amazing, but not Hawaii. No, so Hawaii's different. So we're a world market, we're a tourist destination, and the real estate market here is fairly expensive compared to the rest of the country. And so a lot of times mom and pops don't have enough capital in the bank to really afford those type of rents and attract the marketing and the sales and that sort of thing. So that's where you see a lot of influx of global brands, national brands, that sort of thing. And are you specializing in a particular market? Yeah, so I'm really excited about the up and coming Kaka Aka Award mixed use redevelopment areas. Yeah, that's something I got very familiar with living in the Pearl District in Portland. So it's one of the best neighborhoods and urban growth models across the country. And so just being very used to that lifestyle, that's what I wanna help to facilitate here in Hawaii. And even bring in some influential brands from the Portland market to Hawaii. Because I think the way the progression of the consumer is going, there's gonna be a lot of resonance there. So describe briefly on a day-to-day basis, what kind of, how are you reaching out into these markets to bring them to Hawaii? Yeah, so the first part is to really understand the Hawaii market and what's driving it. And then secondly, identifying opportunities with space or gaps in services or product offerings. Is there something you can tell us now that you see a gap or a space that could be filled? No, I got used to a lot of breweries in Portland and I see a lot of breweries starting to come up here in Honolulu, so, and even across the island chain. Portland's got like either the first or second, they're either one or two with San Diego and the number of breweries per capita. Now, only a brewery, I don't drink, it's for beer? Yes, beer, yeah, yeah. And so a lot of times what you'll see is brewers that have just the focus on beer and then they sometimes bring in a food component and that's more of a brew pub. I see. And so there's this evolution of that happening in Portland for some time. That's happening here. There's a Loja beer, Waikiki beer and Honolulu beer starting at Kona, that sort of thing. So anything else, anything else that our marketplace could use more of? I can't tell you all my secrets. Okay. Yeah. So tell me how you work with your leadership then at Cushman Wakefield. Yeah, no, it's very welcoming, open environment. Is it similar to what you were used to in Oregon? Isn't it, you know, having a family connection as your employer, that can be a little tricky sometimes. How big is Cushman Wakeman? Cushman Wakefield. We've got, you know, offices all over the world. And how about here in Honolulu? There's, we have our main office that we saw earlier and then we have an office on Kauai and Maui and we're hoping to expand to the big island pretty soon. Okay. So where are you now? You just came in. Yeah. Are you on the bottom of the totem pole? Oh. How do you? Yeah, that's an interesting take. You know, I don't really know if it goes by totem pole. Here in the office is pretty collaborative, you know. The accessibility to the leadership is right there. Steve and Joe are within a phone call, text message, email for work. My old friend, Joe Haas. Yes, yes. Yeah. So being the veterans that they are, they offer a lot of insight, wisdom, you know, areas to, you know, really focus on and really help to generate some more leads through introductions and that sort of thing. So you do a lot of training, in-house training, meetings. Not too much, you know. We've got a pretty competent staff and really confident with the skill set that we have. So, you know, having, you know, a good marketing person, you know, a good transaction, you know, person and it's a collaborative environment. So we're not bumping up against each other for, you know, competing against each other for business. It fosters more of like a way we can do, all do business together. So. And we're in a pretty good thriving market right now. Yeah, yeah, unemployment's really low, you know, tourism's continuing to increase. Well, what about social issues like homelessness? Of course, we all live with that every day. Yeah, no, that's a tough one. I mean, it plagues a lot of major cities and some cities handle it better than others and, you know, I think there's an opportunity to learn from other markets on how to, you know, deal with that. Is that something that you, in the business, you and your colleagues address on a regular basis or something? Not. Structured way that you get involved. Not really, no, I mean, it's an issue that we talk about but the solutions are complex, you know, to really understand something that can really, you know, help move the issue forward in terms of progress. So. Well, I know you actually get involved in some community work, right? Yeah. Yeah, tell us a little bit about the Kukui Learning Center. Yeah, so a good family friend of ours, Crichton Oale, started the Kukui Learning Center some years ago and they. Where is that? It's actually a set of courses that are implemented in the public school system starting in Hawaii. They've got eight schools right now. They teach creative writing and public speaking and leadership skills from the elementary school all the way up to 12th grade. So it's a course or is it? It's tutorship, it's mentorship, it's, you know, SAT. I see. Office space, is there an office? People, you said it's in eight schools, so I'm trying to be a teacher. Yeah, so they implement, yeah, they have staff and teachers and they implement these programs into the schools. Nice. So, Crichton's a lifelong learner and he's actually taught at Ha Ha Ioni and had a pretty good career in education. So the way he's taken a look at a lot of, you know, what's happening in, you know, the education system, he's found some really good ways to improve how you can teach and how students can learn. And exactly what are you doing as a volunteer? Yeah, so coming from Portland now, one of the big drivers of the economic growth there was the technology scene, right? So as I look at Hawaii and the amount of talent we have here, it doesn't make sense why we can't have more of a technology presence. And so the best way to do that is through education. And Crichton's got the perfect platform to be able to implement, you know, how to do coding and how to do, you know, video editing and all sorts of things starting at a young age, right? So we can home grow our own talent. We don't have to, you know, continue to outsource or watch our loved ones leave to go to college for better opportunities, right? So creating that environment here in Hawaii, starting at a young age and teaching our kids to be proficient at those items. And so what are you doing as a volunteer? Yeah, so I'm connecting with a lot of my contacts back in Portland. One of my friends, Paul Brown, is a vice president at Cinder Staffing, which has been the fastest growing business in the city of Portland, excuse me. And they do a lot of technical work, software, hardware development, testing. They've got an amazing list of clients. And, you know, being able to outsource some work to Hawaii is becoming more of a real conversation. Great. Yeah. Okay, well good. Well, we only have a little bit of time left. So I've been talking to Will Elliott and Will, I'm gonna give you a few seconds to look into Camera 4 and give our viewers a last minute remark. Yeah, so first of all, thank you for letting me on the show. And I'm just really excited to be back home in Hawaii and, you know, look forward to collaborating with a lot of business leaders and entrepreneurs and really push forward the progress that Hawaii has already made and make us, you know, more of a technology and urban lifestyle growth example to show the world. Great, well, thank you so much, Will. You're welcome, thank you so much. Yeah. Well, and that brings us to the end of our show today. And we've enjoyed bringing it to you. And I'm your host, Carol Monly. We've been talking about a millennial take on leadership in the real estate market with Will Elliott. If you wanna see this show again, go to thinktechhawaii.com or youtube.com slash thinktechhawaii where there will be a link to this show and many more, just like this one. As you may know, Thinktech is a 501c3 Hawaii nonprofit digital media company dedicated to raising public awareness about news, issues and events that affect our lives together in these islands. You can make a contribution on our website homepage thinktechhawaii.com. Thanks so much to our Intrepid Studio staff and to all the people who watch, care and contribute to our Thinktech Productions. We'll see you next time. Aloha.