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Diane Danielson Talks with Michael Beckerman About Making CRE Cool Again and Diversity In the Workplace

Diane Danielson

Diane Danielson, Chief Operating Officer of SVN International Corp., recently sat down with Michael Beckerman, CEO of The News Funnel and commercial real estate expert, for what Beckerman calls “one of the most important interviews i have done in the real estate sector.”

During their Q&A, they discussed topics about making commercial real estate cool again, the role technology will play in the sector, and SVN’s diversity recruitment efforts. To read excerpts from their conversation featured on Beckerman’s blog, click here.

SVN President and CEO Kevin Maggiacomo Speaks at "Closing the Gap" Conference

Kevin Maggiacomo on Gender Balance and Shared Value 

In December 2015, Kevin Maggiacomo was invited to speak at the very prestigious Greene Institute “Closing the Gap” conference on achieving gender balance. Other speakers at the conference included New York Times Columnist Tom Friedman and former Prime Minister of the United Kingdom Tony Blair. Kevin used this opportunity to expand upon his earlier TEDx talk about including everyone in the American Dream. In his latest talk, he connects his message of inclusion with a transformative and profitable business strategy based on shared value.

Check out the 6-minute video here.


We believe our success at SVN comes from growing our network by intentionally recruiting women, minorities and millennials as franchisees, Advisors and employees. We believe their proven, innate drive for openness, collaboration and success will give SVN a distinctive competitive advantage.  To view new career opportunities visit our Careers Page. If you are interested in learning more about how your firm can join as a franchise, visit our Franchise Sales Page.

The New Generation of Conscious Capitalism in CRE

Diane Danielson on Conscious Capitalism & Real Estate

Towards the end of 2015 Diane Danielson, COO of SVNIC, co-led a live interactive talk for NAIOP Commercial Real Estate Development Association to fill in for SVNIC’s CEO, Kevin Maggiacomo while he was on paternity leave. For this event, called “CEO Insight: Conscious Capitalism in Commercial Real Estate,” Danielson teamed up with Joy Hou, Co-Founder and CEO of MREN to conduct a structured open discussion about what motivates individuals, particularly Millennials, to jump into the commercial real estate industry.

Diane Danielson, SVNIC COO on Conscious Capitalism
Follow Diane Danielson on Twitter at @DianeDanielson.

First off, what isconscious capitalism” anyway? Conscious capitalism is the basis of your bottom line, as opposed to CSR — “Corporate Social Responsibility,” which is more of a program. What differentiates conscious capitalism is the “3 P’s:” planet, people, and profit. At SVN, this translates to a specific focus on diversity of all types: ethnic, gender, generational, and so on. From a business standpoint, this approach opens us up to new markets and to new employees who can offer fresh and valuable skills and opinions.

As Danielson and Hou pointed out, members of Generation Y (“Millennials”) have come to expect companies to practice conscious capitalism. In SVN’s Millennials Commercial Real Estate Survey, (results to be released later this month) 75% of the Millennial men and women who responded indicated that conscious capitalism is an important factor when considering where to work. Luckily, this value that Millennials place on conscious capitalism has the potential to work as an advantage for the commercial real estate industry. Danielson explains: “Real estate is uniquely positioned to work with communities,” especially those in need. Projects like eco-friendly “green” buildings can solve a lot of problems within communities. The conscious capitalist approach is about “people first” — building not just for profit, but to better the lives of the people in the community. Emphasizing this side of commercial real estate could be one solution to the “brain gap” problem: with senior leaders in the field approaching retirement, the commercial real estate industry will likely face an employment crisis, Danielson explained. “Sometimes it takes a little extra effort to capture these Millennials, to capture diversity.”

Conscious Capitalism in the Millennial Workplace

Conscious capitalism is just one of the many workplace preferences that will become increasingly important as the oldest Millennials, who are now 35, move into leadership roles. According to Danielson and Hou, in the next 10 years, Millennials will be in control of the money, and as the SVN Millennials CRE Survey preliminary results indicate, the vast majority of them consider “purpose” when making investment decisions. Clearly, there’s a social element at play. Our SVN CRE Survey further revealed that the traits Millennials value most highly in an employer are collaboration and flexibility in work location and hours. Younger adults don’t necessarily want to just work from home, but it’s not always convenient to go into the office. They want flexibility, which today’s technology can easily facilitate, even in the CRE industry.

With the increasing demand for highly skilled workers in the notoriously lucrative technology industry, what can our industry do to compete for the “brains” to fill the looming talent “gap”? As Hou emphasized, when looking for new Millennial hires, employers should try to convince them that what they do has purpose. This means taking away that corporate mentality of “I say, you do,” which most Baby Boomers and Gen Xers are accustomed to. Instead, the Millennial mentality is about “How do we work together?” In the dawn of the Age of Millennials, collaboration is key, and as Danielson said,”when you change your mindset, you see opportunities.”


Listen to the full audio recording of “CEO Insight: Conscious Capitalism in Commercial Real Estate” here.

To learn more about real-life examples of companies that practice conscious capitalism, check out the book Firms of Endearment here.

[bctt tweet=””When you change your mindset, you see opportunities.””]

SVN COO Among Women of Influence in Real Estate

Diane Danielson Earns a Spot in Real Estate Forum’s Women of Influence Issue

Diane Danielson, Chief Operating Officer of Sperry Van Ness International Corporation was recently named one of Real Estate Forum magazine’s 2015 Women of Influence. In their July/August 2015 issue, Real Estate Forum highlighted 51 of the commercial real estate industry’s most distinguished and successful women, chosen from a pool of more than 350 highly qualified nominees.

Women of InfluenceOne purpose of the magazine’s list was to recognize the positive effects that a diversified management team can have on a business. As Real Estate Forum author Kristian Seemeyer points out, “In commercial real estate, women have long busted down the doors of the ‘Old Boys’ Club’ and are quickly filling up top decision-making positions. It may take some more time to achieve full parity, but this year’s roster of powerful female CRE professionals are proof positive that women are thriving in the business, and are paving the way for generations to come.”

Like many of the influential women featured in the Real Estate Forum article, Diane did not always work in commercial real estate. She started out as an environmental attorney in Boston before transitioning into various different roles within the local CRE sphere, including sales, marketing, and business development. Then, in 2003 she briefly left the CRE industry to launch her own company, the first online social network for businesswomen in the U.S. This experience in the tech field influenced Diane’s return to the CRE industry, when in 2012 she joined Sperry Van Ness International Corporation as the Chief Platform Officer. In this role, Diane was able to draw from both her CRE and tech backgrounds in order to design the company’s technology and sales platforms. She was promoted to Chief Operating Officer in 2013.

Diane influences the CRE industry on a daily basis by serving as a thought leader in our community. From her SVN blog posts to her social media tweets, Diane continuously offers valuable advice and insights as a woman who didn’t need an invitation to the “Old Boys’ Club” in order to succeed in CRE.

For more information on women in commercial real estate, download our report here.

SVN Women Minorities

 

[bctt tweet=”In commercial real estate, women have long busted down the doors of the ‘Old Boys’ Club’ and are quickly filling up top decision-making positions.”]

 

 

SVNIC CEO Testifies for Gender Diversity on Executive Boards

It’s no secret that the nation’s corporate landscape is lacking in gender diversity. Only 11.8% of executive officer positions in the 100 largest public companies in Massachusetts are held by women. With women occupying just under half of the nation’s workforce and earning over half of the nation’s bachelor’s degrees, this 11.8% is a problem — which is why Sperry Van Ness International Corporation President and CEO Kevin Maggiacomo testified at the Massachusetts State House this past Tuesday, July 21st in support of Bill S1007: Resolutions to encourage equitable and diverse gender representation on the boards of companies in the Commonwealth.

Kevin Gender DiversityAs one of several prominent Massachusetts CEOs testifying at this hearing, Maggiacomo used his own experience in the SVNIC leadership ranks to help illustrate his point that gender diversity should be a priority on all executive boards. Following his 2013 realization that SVNIC needed more diversity in its leadership, Maggiacomo restructured his executive team to include more women. This restructuring was an obvious success, changing the company for the better. “We now operate as a think tank for new ideas… we are engaging in healthy debate, and our profitability has increased by more than 100% and we now rank as one of the largest real estate services firms in the United States,” said Maggiacomo during his testimony.

In his SVNIC example, Maggiacomo proved that gender diversity in corporate leadership is more than just a nice thing to do. “There is irrefutable, verifiable evidence that women in greater proportions in companies improves decision-making and shareholder value,” said Maggiacomo. “It’s not just my opinion. Diversity and gender balance are the engines of innovation, and we’re doing everything in our power to ensure that this structure remains in place; and I encourage the passing of the resolution that encourages companies in the Commonwealth to do the same.”

The resolution, which passed favorably following the hearing, states that all Massachusetts companies will be expected to adopt policies and practices designed to increase the gender diversity in their boards of directors and senior management groups, as well as set goals by which to measure their progress.

Maggiacomo was no stranger to this issue prior to his testimony. As the leader of the 50/50 by 2020 campaign, he advocates for gender balance in corporate leadership. This campaign aims to establish a 50/50 mix of men and women within leadership roles by the year 2020.

Gender diversity and equality will not happen overnight. But we are one step closer thanks to Maggiacomo’s efforts and the favorable outcome of Bill S1007.

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UPDATE: S1007 has passed the Massachusetts senate and is headed to the house.

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To read more about Sperry Van Ness® and diversity, download our report here.

SVN Women Minorities

Why Gender Balanced Leadership is Good for Business

Sperry Van Ness International Corporation (SVNIC) CEO Kevin Maggiacomo recently sat down with the Young Presidents’ Organization (YPO) to discuss why closing the gender gap is so important in commercial real estate and beyond. This is not a new charge for Maggiacomo and SVNIC who not only are founding members of 50/50 by 2020, an organization promoting gender balanced leadership, but also leaders by example after restructuring their executive management team to include more women.

Below find the full interview as it appeared in YPO.

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YPO New England Chapter member Kevin Maggiacomo is a man on a mission to create gender-balanced leadership in all organizations worldwide by the year 2020. He will be the first to tell you, however, that this is not exclusively his mission or his initiative.

He kicked off 50/50 by 2020, a grass roots, web-based movement which sprung out of a recent TEDx talk he delivered. It has evolved into an international conscious leadership in expanded areas, including Maggiacomo’s own company, Sperry Van Ness. He joined YPO in 2010.

Kevin_MaggiacomoQ: What inspired you to create the 5050 By 2020 movement?

A: The movement came about after going from the unconscious to a more conscious way of thinking about leadership and its positive effects on business. Within our own organization, Sperry Van Ness (SVN), there existed a disproportionate number of women who were high performers, yet we weren’t bringing any intentionality to recruiting and developing women. There was a pool of talent not being fully tapped into.

Q: How did you incorporate gender balance at your company?

A: My wake-up call came during one of our SVN executive meetings in 2013. Looking around the conference table I saw that nearly all of our execs were white, male baby boomers. In that meeting we were creating our second wave growth plan, which demanded not only high innovation and creativity, but also healthy debate. I saw the polar opposite. Individual concerns were being set aside for fear of upsetting the group’s balance … sort of a “don’t criticize my ideas and I won’t challenge yours” dynamic. We weren’t getting the job done. This was groupthink at its worst.

It was caused by imbalanced perspective born of a gender-imbalanced executive team. The price was high and obvious. In that moment I recognized that bigger results would follow once I put in place a program which caused our leadership balance to shift.

In the 18 months that followed, we restructured our executive team which is actually now imbalanced at 60 percent women but hitting on all cylinders. We operate as a think tank for new ideas, we aren’t striving for harmony in our meetings, our profitability has increased by more than 100 percent and we’re trending positive across all key performance indicators.

To take things a step further, we restructured our statutory board this past April and it, too, is now gender balanced. Diversity and gender balance are the engines of innovation, and we’re doing everything in our power to ensure that this structure remains in place.

In doing this, we realized that this isn’t just good for our company, but for the world. We wanted to open up the thinking to everyone in order achieve a wider ripple effect, and 5050×2020 was born.

Q: Why do you think it’s important?

A: First, this isn’t solely about giving back or doing the right thing. The business case for gender balance is rock solid. Our company’s category results aside, in the United States, women hold about 14 percent of executive officer positions and 17 percent of board seats. However, research by Catalyst found Fortune 500 companies with the highest percentage of female corporate officers reported, on average, a 35.1 percent higher return on equity and a 34 percent higher return to shareholders than companies with the lowest percentages of female corporate officers. So this is about generating better results as much as anything.

Second, striving for gender balance — and diversity for that matter — is the right thing to do. In 1970, American women were paid 59 cents for every dollar their male counterparts made. In 2010, compensation for women rose to a mere 77 cents for every dollar men made. And if change continues at the same slow pace as it has for the past 40 plus years, it will take almost another 50 (until 2056) for women to finally reach pay parity. It’s important that we work to change that.

Q: What role do men play in gender diversity?

A: Men remain an often untapped resource for affecting gender balance. Men simply haveto play a role if we’re to affect meaningful change. There exists a preponderance of men in leadership positions who have the power to make these changes and position their businesses for better financial results. Yet, there aren’t enough male ambassadors for this change.

The gender balance issue, as I see it, has historically been framed as a women’s problem or burden, but it’s not. It’s a problem which affects all stakeholders. It represents an opportunity which, if properly harnessed, will create better leaders, better products and better results for all involved.

Men have to become gender-balance champions for change, and much of their work has to be pointed towards other men who aren’t yet fully on board with the opportunity.

Lastly, men cannot sit idly on the sidelines waiting for change. The change is coming, and those companies that don’t bring a level of intentionality towards affecting gender balance in their own organizations will be relegated to mediocrity at best or obsolescence at worst.

The Women’s YPO Network brings together nearly 1,000 male and female members dedicated to connecting and empowering female chief executives. Photo from the February 2014 WYN Board Boot Camp in Los Angeles.

5050by2020Q: What are the barriers? How realistic is 50/50 by 2020?

A: It’s naive to think that people will change in six years. However, if you look at past movements in history, meaningful change occurred because there was a vision, an appetite for disruption and a plan to set the course for long-term change. We’ve reached the tipping point where people recognize the need and value.

Not all men will support or even give the movement attention, but I hope those who see the value in having a diverse leadership team will embrace it. The benefits are obvious: It raises value and draws IQ from 100 percent of the population versus 50 percent (of just men). It’s just good for business.

Q: What do you think of some countries’ quotas for women leadership on boards?

A: Legislated gender quotas are controversial and punitive by design. That route is more of a “checkbox effort” where people are assigned positions because of their anatomical differences. Gender quotas in Scandinavian countries have yielded marked growth in the percentage of women on boards. That said, I’m not certain that these companies are better built given their mandated path to gender balance.

I’m a proponent of the free market affecting change through awareness and a better understanding of the powerful business case for gender balance. Show CEOs the money, and action will follow. I’m a firm believer in that.

Q: What can YPO members — male and female — do?

A: Evangelize. Talk about the opportunities which gender balance will create. Discuss the movement inside and outside of your organization, and help people — through all ranks of employment — see that the change will yield a competitive advantage. Talk about the movement in forum. Focus the conversation more on the benefits as opposed to it being a noble cause. Call it conscious capitalism or growing business at a faster rate while simultaneously elevating humanity … but focus on the fact that gender balance is simply good for business.