Mindy McIlroy, President of TerraNova Corp.

Before Blaming Your Workplace, Look in the Mirror and Make Sure You’re Not the Problem

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DAILY BUSINESS REVIEW – February 21, 2022 BY MINDY MCILROY

When anyone blames their workplace environment for getting in the way of their success, I often ask them to consider a possibility that most people have a hard time suggesting: “Look in the mirror first and make sure you’re not being your own worst enemy.” It’s always easier to go the politically correct route of automatically agreeing with anyone seeking to cry on our shoulders as they blame others for their career issues, but the fact is, there’s a likelihood that this approach may be doing them a huge disservice.

While there is no doubt that there are occasions when the environment does get in the way, and some women and men suffer all sorts of serious discrimination, bias and workplace challenges, a lot has already been written about those cases. This article is not related to those cases. Specifically, I want to share my personal experience and insights on the countless other cases that are reported on less frequently, a good number of which I’ve personally witnessed firsthand throughout my career. I’m speaking about perfectly qualified people who, for a variety of reasons, are the only thing standing in the way of their own progress and they blame others rather than look within themselves.

My life’s experience is a great case in point. I started my real estate career as the executive assistant to a man revered as one of the commercial real estate industry’s smartest and toughest businessmen. By virtue of my hard work, determination and desire to learn and grow professionally, I received multiple promotions over the years and today lead his company, which today has a $1 billion investment portfolio.

In my experience overseeing all day-to-day operations for Terranova’s diverse retail portfolio and personally completing over $1 billion in retail leasing transactions, and most recently as the company has transitioned to become an opportunistic alternative investment firm in dynamic industries as life sciences, technology, health care, petroleum and agriculture, I have seen and learned a lot. Most notably, I have acquired an in-depth understanding of how the attitudes we choose can determine our destinies. One person can walk into a room and dominate the room, while another similarly situated person can feel threatened and uncomfortable in that room. I am passionate about this topic out of my desire to help mentor and guide people, since there are so many good people not living at their full potential and not aware of the cause of the problem or how to fix it.

So, how did I achieve my leadership role? It wasn’t luck, and no one sprinkled magic dust on me. It was hard work, perseverance, grit, and focusing on the goal without getting emotional about any deal. It was about having poise under pressure and being ready to stand my ground, articulate my points and, when necessary, respectfully contradict even the most intimidating of personalities. And, notably, these allegedly tough executives usually ended up agreeing with me.

It’s unfortunate that today’s litigious workplace environment has made people so overly sensitive to these issues that discussing these topics can make us targets for allegations of everything from insensitivity to discrimination. Yet, despite the risk of all this, I will share some guidance that has taken me a lifetime to learn:

  • Find a good mentor. In my career, I’ve been fortunate to count on mentors such as Terranova’s CEO Stephen Bittel, as well as my predecessors Trish Blasi and Beth Azor, who were both Terranova presidents. Find a mentor who’s a warrior—someone who keeps it real, motivates you, and doesn’t only say what you want to hear. A good mentor will “say bad stuff to your face, and good stuff behind your back.” A good mentor will have proven ability to survive and thrive in the same corporate environments in which you are seeking to play.
  • Focus on the solution, not the problem. I don’t even like to use the word “problem,” because in my view, it’s just a “situation telling us what to do next.” Behind any obstacle there are opportunities, and it’s wise to take on the mindset of a hunter, focused on finding and seizing the bright spots in any environment.
  • Pay it forward. Whatever you are doing, whether you’re answering the phone or entering an elevator, make sure to understand who you’re dealing with, and what you can do to help them. Never hesitate to help anyone around you. I’ve found that life takes unexpected twists and turns, and people always give preferential treatment to those who always treated them well even from the infancy of their careers. This has always been a strong part of Terranova’s DNA, with Stephen leading by example by generously donating his personal time, talents and treasure to help our team and community.
  • Have the right mindset. As someone living with a disability (Parkinson’s), I know firsthand that mindset is everything. There are many days when I could have chosen to stay in bed with a victim mentality, feeling sorry for myself and blaming the world. Yet, I rose to the occasion and never let my condition stop me from getting stuff done. Indeed, the lens through which we choose to see the world determines our ability to properly identify and seize opportunities before us. Therefore, choose your lens carefully because it will determine your destiny. This also applies to your workplace in general—I’ve seen some people succeed in the same workplace that others have claimed was toxic. It’s the reason some people can work extremely well with one person, while others find that same person difficult or impossible to work with. It’s important to be comfortable feeling uncomfortable, because the road to personal growth and success requires it. Oftentimes, we have adverse reactions to people as a result of our own fears and insecurities, and in those cases, avoiding those situations we cause us to miss out on learning valuable lessons. Rather than run from situations that scare us, we should ask ourselves why we are having those reactions, and then run toward them and face them. Many times, that’s exactly where the best opportunities for growth and success are awaiting us!
  • Read! Stay on top of your industry’s trends but also read things that challenge and inspire you personally. Choose your reading carefully though. I’ve found many so-called self-help books come from a victim mentality and can do more harm than good. Never been a fan of phrases like “Girl Power,” which I find silly since we shouldn’t need to remind anyone that we are powerful or that our power is related to our gender. Focus on books that remind you of all the power you have to shape and determine your future. I’ve always appreciated practical business books like ”First, Break all the Rules,” and more recently, enjoyed reading “Untamed.”
  • Don’t take anything personally! The less emotion we have in business, the better. In fact, in any confrontation or negotiation, the most emotional party tends to lose. Leave your ego at the door and focus on working collaboratively to get the job done. If you haven’t already, you must read “The Four Agreements!”
  • Come from passion, not fear. When we come from passion, we are tapping into our highest energy vibration, and we are focusing our efforts on achieving our goals rather than protecting ourselves from imaginary demons. I often compare it to riding a bike—keep your gaze fixed steadily on the path where you “do” want to go rather than on the obstacles or distractions along the road. If you stare at the obstacles, you’ll steer your bike straight into them!
  • Be ready for confrontation. Confrontations are often necessary to get to the next stage of any relationship. It’s never comfortable or pleasant, but you have to do it. Get comfortable being uncomfortable and facing tough conversations from a place of faith that everything will work out as it should, since you are doing your best and coming from a place of power rather than weakness.

Again, I’m not suggesting that anyone should ignore situations of legitimate discrimination or wrongdoing. I’m merely suggesting that we always ask ourselves, before drawing any conclusions, whether we are seeing things through a clear lens and not mischaracterizing situations or missing opportunities due to our own limiting beliefs. Indeed, when we operate from a place of power rather than fear, and when we respond rather than react, we put ourselves in the best position to achieve our goals.

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Year Why Reading More is the New Year’s Resolution You Should Actually Stick To

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MEDIUM January 12, 2022 Another year has come and gone, and for many of us we find ourselves once again facing the question: what do I want to accomplish this year? While it may seem like something of a cliché at this point, a new year presents a natural bookend to a period of time, giving way to the powerful promise of new beginnings that can energize you into making a positive change. That is the tantalizing appeal of new year’s resolutions — they present the opportunity to take a step back, take a big-picture view of our lives and change our story. Unfortunately, new year’s resolutions are also notoriously hard to keep. One study that followed 200 people’s resolutions over the course of two years found that by the end only 19 percent had managed to keep up with their initial goals.

One theory that has been put forward as to why new year’s resolutions fail is because we often make them too broad. For example, the top five new year’s resolutions are: eat healthier, get more exercise, save money, focus on self-care, and read more. While all admirable pursuits, for the most part the generalized nature of these goals make them lofty and difficult to quantify, resulting in discouragement and ultimately failure. However, I would argue that to “read more” is actually all that is needed to be asked of yourself, regardless of the content, length, subject matter, or method through which you do so.

As an entrepreneur with a company that is now entering its 42nd year, I believe I can say with some confidence that I understand what is necessary in order to succeed. While every person and business will certainly have unique challenges and paths to success, there are still some traits that are universally needed in order to effectively manage, grow and lead, and a curious mind is one of them. For myself, I begin each day by reading numerous new sources, and whether in my study or on my bedside table it’s rare you’ll see me without a book in arm’s reach. I’m a history buff so it will often be a new biography or exploration of a time period, but regardless of the subject matter, the act itself is powerful. Elon Musk is famous for his love of science fiction, and has reportedly found inspiration for his companies through reading them.

Musk and myself are certainly not the only leaders who are big readers: Bill Gates reportedly strives to read one book a week, Mark Zuckerberg has an online book club, Mark Cuban has said the books and magazines he’s read have paid for themselves many times over by providing him with ideas that led to new customers or solutions, and it was Warren Buffet who famously answered a question about the key to his success by gesturing toward a stack of books on his desk, saying “read 500 pages like this every day. That’s how knowledge works. It builds up, like compound interest. All of you can do it, but I guarantee not many of you will do it.” Indeed, the average American reads one book a year while the average CEO reads roughly five per month. Each of these people are known to have vastly different leadership styles, but they all use reading to further their knowledge and give their companies an edge over the competition.

Research has shown that reading is a powerful way to facilitate the development of cognitive skills, including memory, decision-making and verbal intelligence. While it certainly requires brain power to process information from other sources such as images or speech, the acrobatics your brain must perform in order to read makes it particularly demanding on the brain. When you read, both your intelligence and your concentration are required to act at a high capacity, making inferences, producing narratives and using our imagination to put together the puzzle created by a sentence, and by reading more often you give your brain a good workout on a consistent basis. This is true regardless of what is being read — from a magazine article to a dense textbook, the simple act of processing words boosts brain function considerably.

By reading more, you can also vastly improve your communication skills. The more you read the more words you are inevitably exposed to, allowing you to naturally build your vocabulary and in turn develop your writing skill and speaking style. Being well-spoken and articulate are important skills for entrepreneurs who will inevitably need them during business meets, conferences and public speaking events, and a large vocabulary has also been shown to correspond with a higher income for adults. Additionally, a larger vocabulary can improve your ability to listen — an often-overlooked but important aspect of communication — allowing you to better understand what the other person is saying and allowing you to engage in meaningful conversations. Reading also helps you develop empathy, as the same neurological regions of the brain are stimulated when you read about something as when you actually experience it. In reading about the experience of another, you can gain an understanding close to as if you actually experienced it yourself, developing the ability to better communicate with those around you as a result.

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Terranova-headquarters

Terranova sells Miami Beach HQ building for $22M

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SOUTH FLORIDA BUSINESS JOURNAL – December 10, 2021 BY BRIAN BANDELL Commercial real estate firm Terranova sold its Miami Beach headquarters office for $22 million and will look for new space next year.

The company sold the six-story, 51,806-square-foot office building at 801 Arthur Godfrey Road to Miami-based Fifteen Group. Terranova Chairman Stephen Bittel said his company and a sister company currently occupy about 13,000 square feet there and haven’t been leasing it out to third parties, so much of the building is not occupied.

Terranova acquired the office for $4.26 million in 2002, so it sold it for a big gain. It was built on the 22,135-square-foot lot in 1969.

“It’s a little sad that we are letting go of something that is near and dear to us,” Bittel said. “Our business plan has evolved over the years, and we just didn’t need that much space. Low interest rates and a focus on South Florida real estate has driven pricing very high.”

Bittel said Fifteen Group plans to renovate the building and lease it to third parties, which will create more opportunities to lure companies to Miami Beach. Teranova will lease space there for a year while it looks for a new headquarters.

Bittel said Terranova and its affiliates need about 20,000 square feet and are looking in Miami Beach and Coral Gables. He might purchase a larger building and lease out part of the space. He would also consider leasing.

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