A Toast to Real Estate Entrepreneurs -- We Love You

Here's to the Pioneers... They say that time is a function of change. If that is true, then the Internet pioneers of commercial real estate have aged a decade in the past twelve months. An avalanche of choices, the change in investor sentiment, and slower than expected adoption have created an antagonistic reaction to anything dot-com. A year ago entrepreneurs were envied for their "luck" and unlimited wealth. Now they are vilified for recklessness in the face of long-standing economic principles.

For most, money is not the motivation. Instead our bleeding edge innovators are driven by a passion to do things better. Money is the enabler. And without the trailblazers, the industry would be a much less interesting place. So I would like to propose a holiday toast to the change leaders of our industry who continue to slog on in the face of this suddenly hostile environment. To those of you who fight to do things better; who risk personal wealth, reputation and sometimes health and family to transform and reenergize our industry, I offer these familiar words of encouragement spoken at the turn of the last century by Teddy Roosevelt:

"It is not the critic who counts, not the man who points out how the strong man stumbled, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena; whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs and comes short again and again; who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions, and spends himself in a worthy cause; who, at the best, knows in the end the triumph of high achievement; and who, at worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who know neither victory nor defeat." ... So cheers to you this Holiday Season!

--Bob Potter