The Head Hunter: Avison Young’s Greg Kraut on the Art of the Big Poach
By Daniel Geiger May 15, 2012 10:00 am
reprintsFor all of its risks, helming a start up would seem to come with the alluring opportunity to wipe the slate clean and mold a working environment from the ground up, without the damaging infighting and with an emphasis on the kind of collaboration that most brokers say is essential to successfully servicing clients’ evermore-sophisticated needs in the modern age.
“I loved CBRE (CBRE) and will always be grateful for my time and experience there,” Mr. Kraut said. “But since I started with Avison, I really love getting up in the morning, I love what I’m doing. I can’t think of anything negative to say about CBRE but, on the other hand, I feel like Avison Young is the future.”
All of this could have been just as foolhardy as it was heartwarming. Even the most sentimental brokers in the business know how daunting, hopeless even, it is to try to start from scratch and expect to compete with major services companies who are equipped with armies of talented personnel and vast resources.
Either consciously or subliminally, Mr. Kraut had grasped what has turned out to be the zeitgeist of the industry, a climate of dissatisfaction that amazingly has made his career move not a dicey gamble but a brilliant forethought. Among the recent developments that have made his timing prophetic was the bankruptcy of Grubb & Ellis earlier in the year, which cast off a number of talented brokers, such as Michael Gottlieb and an investment sales team led by Vincent Carrega that Mr. Kraut expertly poached.
“Getting the right people has been the biggest priority for us,” Mr. Kraut said. “We’re not trying to be pompous, but we have been incredibly discerning. We’re only taking the best, the kind of people who are huge performers but also will fit in here for having tremendous ethical standards and the ability to be team players. We’re not in a rush, we’re waiting for the right opportunities. We’re not going to compromise.”
Mr. Kraut’s timing became even more perfect when, last month, he recruited Arthur Mirante, the former chief executive of Cushman & Wakefield (CWK). Mr. Mirante, a well regarded and prominent industry figure, lent Avison Young an instant aura of credibility.
“Getting Arthur was huge,” Mr. Kraut said. “He’s the kind of guy who is so emblematic of everything we’re going to be. When he joined, I think people really realized that we had arrived.”
During flush times in the real estate industry it would have been hard to attract industry professionals of this ilk, especially in such succession. Credit Mr. Kraut for spotting the subtle, brewing circumstances that would allow him to execute the company’s bold hiring objectives and propel the company from a one-man show to what now seems like a budding competitor.
“I just listened to my own feelings,” Mr. Kraut said. “I feel like right now, I’m living the dream.”
