In this episode of Broker’s Angle, Maxine Rosen shares how she started her brokerage career just days before the pandemic and why she never lost faith in the role offices play in bringing people together. From uncertainty to perseverance, she shares why human connection will always keep the office relevant.

Transcript

Hal Coopersmith: So when did you get started in the industry?

Maxine Rosen: So, I got started in the industry March 9th, 2020 and that date sticks out, for some very specific reasons, as I’m sure you could guess. So March 9th, 2020. I think I had about three days in the office I was in until the world collapsed and everyone decided they were never going back to an office ever again. So it’s been quite a journey over the past. Six years now, getting into the industry, moving from Chicago to New York, and it’s been a wild ride.

Hal Coopersmith: March 9th, 2020

Maxine Rosen: March 9th

Hal Coopersmith: You were doing office brokerage?

Maxine Rosen: Office brokerage at a very small shop in Chicago. That was my first day. I had just. Or soft switched from a career in software sales and it was really unfulfilling. And I got pitched this dream of being a real estate broker and helping entrepreneurs and privately held companies figure out their real estate and negotiate on their behalf. And it was just not so great timing. But I figured if I could last through this period of time, this couple of years, then I could make it.

Hal Coopersmith: What was it like being an office leasing broker for three days before everything changed?

Maxine Rosen: It was confusing. It was challenging. It was exciting. It was different than anything I had experienced prior, and it was really focused on just implementing processes, whereas. Not so much diving into the market you’re three days in. So it was really just about trying to understand who the key players were, how this was all going to work, how to implement my processes, stay organized, and really just about shadowing, you know, the senior leaders at that, that point. But it was just those three days and, and then it kind of all blew up.

Hal Coopersmith: Why stick with it?

Maxine Rosen: I think that. Regardless of the time that you join this industry, something that’s really important is always being able to see the light at the end of the tunnel and knowing that there is a room to advance. There is no ceiling.

You’re constantly chasing the next thing, and I think I. Really, it’s about persevering in this business. And for me, I wasn’t going to give up because of the the situation or the state of things. I believed in myself and the ability to pivot and make the choices that need to be made to be successful despite the macro environment that I was living in at the time. And I think I still have that mindset. To this day, right? It’s really about, again, seeing the light at the end of the tunnel and knowing that you can, and you will do something and you can’t give up just because there’s some obstacles.

Hal Coopersmith: It’s pretty incredible that you have that perspective because shortly after the pandemic. People were calling for the death of the office. We don’t need an office anymore. How were you able to know that offices would be the light at the end of the tunnel? That the market would bounce back?

Maxine Rosen: My conviction wasn’t necessarily that the market would bounce back. What I did believe was that people needed to interact with each other, and I think that when you take a step back, that’s what this business is really about. It’s about how the office is. Incorporated into people’s daily lives, how it increases productivity, how it sparks collaboration, how you are speaking with someone that maybe you wouldn’t have met, who’s in a different department, who sits on the other side of the floor. So, I think I always had a belief and just based on basic. Social interaction and human psychology principles. You need to interact. And so the office was going to exist in some form or another. We just didn’t yet know what that was going to look like.

Hal Coopersmith: And you were doing this in Chicago?

Maxine Rosen: Correct.

Hal Coopersmith: And when did you move to New York?

Maxine Rosen: I made the move to New York in January of 2022. I did not yet have. my job at s, I think I mentioned to this to you earlier, I had messaged Gabe a couple of times on LinkedIn and I knew I wanted to be here. I wanted to be in New York, but I wasn’t sure exactly what that meant. And so it was just time to, to come back. And I was lucky enough that things worked out the way they did.

Hal Coopersmith: What was it like? Transferring your business from Chicago to New York?

Maxine Rosen: It was challenging. I’d say more from the perspective of a, the markets being completely different from a size from the industry clusters that exist, but it was more about. I use this word, the processes, right? The processes, the organization. It was more about implementing those things that I had been good at and had learned to be consistent at and bringing those to New York rather than bringing necessarily business connections or anything like that.

Hal Coopersmith: So how were you able to start making the connections once you move back?

Maxine Rosen: It’s a great question. I think it really started with. Just trying to put myself out there. At first it was, you know, trying to speak with companies who I connected with on a personal level, whether it was a product I used or a company that was focused on female health or investing or making crypto more equitable and, and all these things. So, and I really focused on personally what was exciting. Lucky to have the freedom for my team to be able to kind of go after what interested me. And when you’re genuinely interested in something, it’s way easier to have a conversation. And so I started just speaking with the founders of these businesses or the heads of finance or the CFOs, and there was. Obviously a lot to talk about on the real estate front, but it was also, well, how is the real estate and this coming back to the office, going to help this business? What is the next future phase of this organization look like? And so I think when you approach it from a people first. Culture forward perspective, it’s a breath of fresh air and people really respect that and it resonates with them. And so you’re not just another office broker. You’re really someone that’s trying to help this organization be what it needs to be. And oh yeah, that just manifesting itself in the form of physical space.

Hal Coopersmith: So what are some ways that people might not think of that offices create. That form of connection.

Maxine Rosen: I think the biggest one, which is underrated a lot of the times is where is the pantry slash hangout area? Is it in the corner? Is it in the center? How is the office divided and how are people. Encouraged by how the space moves to interact, right? So for example, in our office, the pantry and lounge space is right in the middle of basically four quadrants. And so I really wouldn’t see the person that sits all the way on the other side of the floor if it weren’t for the pantry being in the middle and us having to have those serendipitous conversations and connections. And so I think there’s ways to kind of. Make your physical space a manifestation of culture. And a lot of that starts with where are people getting their coffee in the morning? Where are they going to get water in the middle of the day? Where are they bringing their lunch when they come back? Are they sitting at their desk? Okay, great. Well, whose desks are they near? Are they near their team? Are they mixed with other. You know, verticals within the business. And so seeding too. Are you seeding teams together? Are you seeding finance together? Are you seeding executives together? And that really makes a difference in how the company organizes itself and how the culture builds.

Hal Coopersmith: Do you have a recommendation?  .

Maxine Rosen: The answer just dependent on the company, right? How do you want your employees to work? A law firm is going to work very differently from a tech company. And so understanding is the organization top down? Do they want people collaborating? Do they want teams siloed? Do they need to be siloed for compliance reasons if you’re financial services? So I think it’s really dependent on the company itself, and there isn’t one general. Best practice. I think if you look at it from an industry perspective, there are trends that shape each industry, right? But you have to really look at it on a case by case basis, and that’s a lot of what we do is understand, well, how do you work now? How do you want to work? And then how do you make that work within the space?

Hal Coopersmith: So you talked about something that was very interesting at the beginning, which is software sales was not fulfilling,

Maxine Rosen: Correct.

Hal Coopersmith: Real estate brokerage is fulfilling. How has it been fulfilling for you?

Maxine Rosen: I think that what frustrated me about software sales was you work so hard to Build some rapport, develop a relationship, and then you’re, you’re handing it off to your account executive and you’re also selling a product and maybe you don’t necessarily believe in the product that you’re selling and when you’re selling. Brokerage or real estate advisory. I’m selling my expertise and my market knowledge and my relationships within the market, and I think that that’s much more fulfilling. I think the other thing is that when you’re dealing with office leasing decisions, you’re usually dealing with the executive team, right? You’re dealing with the CEO, the CFO head of real estate. If you’re selling software, maybe you’re selling marketing software, and so you’re just looking at a different level in the organizational hierarchy. And I think that having exposure to executives who are building companies or have experienced building companies or are starting companies has been really, I’ve learned a lot from it and from the people that I’m exposed to in, in this market, in this industry. And I think there aren’t a lot of other industries in particular where that’s who you’re interacting with on a daily basis. You’re 22 years old and you’re calling the CEO of a publicly traded company and you’re getting exposure to how they think about the business. Where else can you say that you’re getting that?

Hal Coopersmith: So, when you were earlier in your career and you were making those calls, what was it like to break through?

Maxine Rosen: It’s hard. It’s hard. You get a lot of nos. I still get a lot of nos, but I think. I go back to the light at the end of the tunnel. And a no is just as good as a yes. And if you understand why you’re getting a no, that’s even more helpful, right? So you know where to challenge yourself and where to put your time and your energy. And I think that What really helps in terms of breaking through is figuring out what their pain point is. Is it that they don’t use their office? Is it that they’re growing rapidly? Is it that the way that their current space is set up isn’t conducive to the business or how they’re pivoting the business because you know, they’re adapting to the macro environment. Right? And so I think it’s framing it as. Yes, this is a financial decision, but how are you looking at the culture building and organizational challenges that are kind of pushing that in one direction? That’s, a lot of people are really receptive to that because it goes beyond, you know, square footage and, and what floor you’re on. It’s, well, why do you need a view? Is it the light and air? Like how is that different for an engineer that maybe needs something dark or a video editor who needs a dark production room? So maybe, you know, there’s ways of. Also creatively structuring things financially to make those make the most sense. And I think people are really receptive to creative solutions, but also prioritizing people first.

Hal Coopersmith: How were you able to bring value to someone in the C-Suite, when you were early in your career?

Maxine Rosen: I think there’s two things. I think that you have to have a lot of belief in your team, right? My team is everything to me. We are extremely close. We all have our own skills. We all fill in different gaps, and I think that you really need to, mentorship in this business is everything. And I think that knowing that your mentor, your partner, can bring market information to even a C-suite executive is helps you feel conviction and you, no, I am doing the right thing. I am bringing the right person to this. I do have value to add. So I think it’s one, being on the right team, knowing that you are surrounding yourself with the right people who know how to bring value.

And maybe that’s not your team. Maybe it’s bringing in workplace, maybe it’s bringing in, you know. A PM to understand how the construction is failing, or maybe it’s bringing in labor and analytics to understand why they’re losing hires to their competitors. And I think it’s really about understanding the problem and then adding value by bringing in the people that are experts in that problem. I think the second way of adding value is really being responsive. I think that in this industry there is not a better. But there is not a better thing that you could be than responsive. It is being there. It is being on top of things. You are answering your phone, you are answering your text. You are being. You are more involved than you need to be. And I think that people appreciate that and that’s something that they don’t always get. And when you’re young and you’re hungry and you’re going to say, I’m going to work harder for this than anyone else because maybe I don’t have a lot of other things going on, but this is my priority. And you will see that every single day people are going to find value in that.

Hal Coopersmith: that is a wonderful statement. One of the things we like to discuss is advice that you would give to a younger broker or someone coming up. Do you have any advice you’d want to give?

Maxine Rosen: I see a lot of people that. Want to join this industry because it seems very glamorous from the outside. Or they watch a reality show that is very different from what our actual day to day is. And what I’d say is. Be really sure about what you want to get into and really sure that you can have a mindset of seeing the light at the end of the tunnel, because there are going to be days, and I mean multiple days where you are banging your head on the table and then there’s going to be days where you feel like you are flying, and I think it’s really important to stay levelheaded. And to know, are you the type of person that A, believes in yourself enough to push, but B, sees the light at the end of the tunnel and knows that there is a positive ending here. And I think really understanding and taking the time to know yourself enough to know, is this what you really want to do? This is not a job. This is a career. This is a lifestyle. This is a well-rounded piece of who you are, and I think that’s what it takes to be successful. And if you’re not willing to give it that, then don’t do it.

Hal Coopersmith: That is a wonderful note to end things on. Maxine Rosen, thank you for being a part of Broker’s Angle.

Maxine Rosen: Of course. Thanks for having me.