Liz Burlingame
Newcomers to the shopping center industry have faced a difficult road to success amid a slowly recovering economy. Even so, many young professionals have been determined to stay in the business. They've even embraced the downturn as an opportunity to adapt and grow. At industry education programs aimed at young talent, they're also finding support from colleagues, business partners and even their competitors.
ICSC's Next Generation, a program created in 2001, gives young professionals a chance to network with retail real estate industry peers and veterans. The program has held more than 700 events since its inception, drawing more than 50,000 people. Organizers say it can offer young people a chance to gain vital contacts and learn the ins and outs of the industry as they launch their careers.
At a recent Next Generation event in Atlanta, REBusinessOnline spoke with Brad Hutensky, president and principal of Hutensky Capital Partners and the ICSC chairman for 2012-13. Hutensky joined the Hutensky Group, a Hutensky Capital Partners affiliate, in 1989. The latter is a real estate fund management group, which was founded by his father, and invests solely in retail assets.
During the event, Hutensky shared his thoughts on the opportunities available to young people in the shopping center business today, as well as the steps companies are taking to attract and retain the newest and brightest talent.
Q: Did the recession have a significant impact on young professionals (35 and younger) in the shopping center business? Were they forced to take jobs in other industries?
What happened is that people at a higher level were the ones that were let go, not the people at the lower level because they are a lot less expensive and they are the future. At many companies, those people were retained because they're seen as the future of the company. You don't cut off your future, even in bad times.
The real story is that those people represent new ideas coming into our industry. We're a mature business, but we're a business that needs to reposition itself. Some of the younger people come in without some of the preconceived notions that older people do. In many ways, they're a real asset to the companies that they join. They are flexible, eager to learn, and they are the people who are going to drive the next wave as the shopping center industry develops.
Q: At the chairman of ICSC for the 2012-2013 term, what are some of the reasons it's important to foster the next generation of professionals?
I turn it around and look at it a little differently. What has been important to my career in ICSC is volunteering and getting involved with people. By doing that, I've gotten to know a lot of people before I had to negotiate a deal with them. They became my friends first and became business partners later. The next generation is going through the same thing. They've had over 700 events since [Next Generation] was founded in 2001. More than 50,000 people have attended those events. They are building the same networking and the same sense of volunteerism that I did over my career at ICSC, and the benefits are incredible. Next Generation is giving them the same chance that we've had. Given that we're a little mature, maybe some of the top spots are occupied by older people like me, so we need to have other spots for these people to volunteer and network.
Q: What are some of the main goals of the ICSC Next Generation Conference in Atlanta?
This conference, like most ICSC conferences, has two main goals. One is education, or an exchange of ideas. An exchange of ideas is so important because when two people exchange ideas, they each leave with two ideas. We learn from each other. ICSC is about telling people about your successes, but also about your failures and where you can improve yourself. The educational piece is very important. The second component is networking. Our business is very much about who you know. If you know somebody, you can pick up the phone, call them and get an answer. That really is the currency we deal with. It's who you know.
Q: Which areas of education are important, or possibly lacking, for those under 35?
Many young professionals have not had a finance education or taken finance classes. There's a certain level of understanding you need to have — no matter what position you have in the shopping center industry — about the numbers. You need to know what an IRR (internal rate of return) is, what a cap rate is, what a net present value is. You need to understand at least enough about that to be conversant in it. I think that's an area where these people are getting a good foundation. Once you have that — and you don't need to be an expert — you can then go ahead and do virtually anything. So, there's an emphasis on that. The program is also designed for young professionals to talk about what they're seeing out there, where they see the opportunities. These people are all about the opportunities because they still have a long career ahead of them.
Q: What are some of the other steps being taken to attract the best and brightest young talent, and retain that talent?
You have to start with the question, “What is good about being in the shopping center industry?” Well, it's a people business. If you like people, you like meeting new people and you like talking to people, you're going to like this business. The second part, which is a great thing about this business, is how you retain them. In our business, for the most part, there are no preconceived limits about what you can achieve. You can achieve whatever you are capable of. If you work hard, have aptitude and attitude, you can really be successful. So in leasing, if you lease a lot of space it doesn't matter if you're age 25 or 55, you've leased a lot of space and that's a great accomplishment. It's the same thing with investment sales. Most facets of our business are all about what you can do, not how old you are, not even where you went to school, but what are you able to do now.
Therefore, that's very attractive to a young person because they're not being held back by their age. In fact, they may have more energy and they're able to perform better. At a number of firms, people who have started out at the lowest rung have become vice presidents in very short order. People of all generations, but this generation in particular, very much want to get to the top very quickly. For them, this is a good business because there's really an opportunity to do that. It's a meritocracy. It's not based on age or even experience. It's based on what you're capable of doing.