Julia Taus, Author at C-Suite Network™

I struck out.

It was 2008. The biggest recession to hit Chicago in decades. Everyone in sales struck out. I had only been an industrial broker for a few years, this business takes time to build, and my wife and I were expecting our 2nd daughter. My salary was full commission and the market tanked; I mean everything went to zero. Nada.

Growing up a Cubs fan, I got used to losing, but nothing prepared me for this.

I called in Uncle Lou. I’ve been calling in Uncle Lou for business advice since I was 16. After our conversation, I made two of the most humbling decisions of my life. First, I accepted Uncle Wally’s generous loan. Yes, I paid him back. Then I returned to Lou Malnati’s delivering pizzas. The same job I had in high school, the one my neighbor and her friend (who later became my beautiful wife) secured for me.

These were lean, tough years.

Which is why when I got hired again as an industrial broker at Cushman and Wakefield, over 14 years ago, I was determined to employ a long-term strategy for success. It’s similar to how I approach baseball, a game my grandpa and dad taught me as a child, and I continued to play well into my thirties. I keep the focus on building quality relationships and delivering value regardless of if a sale is on the line. Then when sales do come in – the singles, doubles, triples, and homeruns – they are all treated with same vigor because I know this game is won over many innings, over many years.

Or even generations which is often the case for many family run manufacturing businesses.

I especially like these clients because hard work and loyalty are at the core of their ethics. Plus, I was born with the gift of gab, inherited from my dad a retired postmaster, so I enjoy building rapport within various family dynamics. My own Italian family is like how comedian Sebastian Maniscalco describes his in that company skit, pre-wireless days, where folks are on the ready with Entenmann cakes and Sanka to welcome in visitors. Imagine that – no phone call, no notice, just a knock on the door – and my grandparents loved it. In fact, we all did. Our Sunday family dinners often had random company at the table. Food was the way my grandmother showed love, she even once dropped off a lasagna to help ensure I got a college internship at 670AM The Score. It kills me I’m such a poor excuse for an Italian. I developed too many allergies as an adult to enjoy these meals. I am even allergic to pizza, c’mon, now that’s ironic.

I take extreme pride in being an honest resource to my clients, one they can rely on to mitigate multi-million-dollar risk.

Moving a manufacturing plant is strenuous with so many considerations to factor in, it gets overwhelming fast. It’s a pleasure navigating clients through this process, step-by-step like a partner customizing a real estate plan they can trust. Frequently, this means I play the ultimate connector, making service provider recommendations and calling on team members when their expertise is needed. What I love about baseball, unlike other fast paced, individually high-scoring games, is you need all nine players to show up and work together to win. Our sales strategy at Cushman and Wakefield works the same, and we prioritize fun and family.

As a dad of three girls, it’s my absolute privilege to be at their events and active in their lives. My motto to them is to be true to yourself at work and at home. Which is why at the end of every baseball season, I chuckle thinking about my grandfather who lived 96 years as an avid Cubs fan, but not long enough to celebrate their 2016 World Series championship. Sometimes being true to yourself also means striking out. That is when quality relationships matter the most. Strive to make it count.

Susan K Younger Personal Brand Origin Story:

“Susan, you are shy, smart, and tall which means people are going to mistake you for being conceited, stuck up, and arrogant. You will need to reach out to people, don’t assume they’ll come looking for you.” This was mom’s sage advice for as long as I can remember.

I was also a klutz.

Constantly tripping over my size 11 feet with an awkward gait. Yet on cold winter nights, when cars circled around our neighborhood baseball diamond to illuminate a sheet of ice, I became calm and graceful. Gliding effortlessly through a crowd of peers, skating backwards, and doing twirls in a blue and white parka. My skates had baby blue pom poms with bells, and I wore earmuffs to match. It was the only time my younger brother Fred – who thrived in all sports and in all social settings – did not mock me for being uncoordinated. Now in scholastics I had the upper hand, every grade Fred entered he got compared to his older sister, the smart, straight A-student.

“If I hadn’t been there for your birth, I wouldn’t know you were mine. You have a mole on your arm in the exact same spot as I do, and you look like your dad and act like him too.”

Mom called me her little Harold. It didn’t matter. Both of my parents loved us the same and encouraged us to become whoever we wanted to be. For me, from a young age that was an architect. Whenever we moved to a different house, which we did rather frequently, I’d sketch plans to solve problems my parents described in each home we considered. I was enthralled at the idea of being able to design a room.

Emboldened with this desire, in my junior year of college I walked into a local architectural firm, introduced myself, and asked if I could work as their summer apprentice. The position didn’t even exist but because I took the initiative and made a good impression, they created the job for me.

Taking this one bold step launched my career.

After that I managed teams of architects and drew plans for retail stores throughout the country, often finding myself as the only gal in the room. Quickly, I learned I needed to face my own ignorance and ask clarifying questions, even at the risk of sounding silly. Additionally, I had to understand what motivated people and how they made decisions. For a long time, I did this intuitively feeling the energies of a room or conversation, and then naturally was able to process what was needed to succeed. However, I had no way to communicate my process with others.

Once I got certified in BANK personality profiling – a simple, scientific methodology that takes less than 90 seconds to complete and reveals the primary way a person interacts with the world – I became empowered with a language to discuss the various energy dynamics happening at work and at home.

There are four personality types – Blueprint, Action, Nurturing, Knowledge – and each one is listed on a card with several values.

A person reads through and organizes the cards in the order of what is most important to them. I am a NAKB. Nurturing is my primary orientation backed by Action and then followed by Knowledge and Blueprint.

When I know people’s codes, I have key insights on how to communicate with them in their preferred style which is motivating to them, increases trust, and reduces a lot of friction and frustration. For example, when I managed two colleagues – one a Blueprint who thrives on structure and checklists, and the other an Active who enjoys freedom and creative control – I passed projects off to them differently to set them up for success.

For the Blueprint she wanted clear directives, so I’d encourage her to make a workflow that we could review together before she began. For the Active, this same approach would have stifled his creativity, so his projects were given with broad instructions and ample opportunity for him to make it his own. It’s also applicable in our personal lives. Looking back, it’s now easy for me to know that both Fred and my mom were Actives. They were vivacious, go-getters full of stories and always having fun. Often people will associate ‘architect’ with Blueprint but what fulfills me is designing a space that nurtures the people who are occupying it. How form can foster community.

Learning these codes enables me to dance among various personalities and feels akin to being back on that ice, gracefully gliding through the crowd.

If you are interested in ‘cracking your code’ you can do so for free here. Afterwards, feel free to reach out and have a conversation with me. We’ll discuss how this information can be immediately utilized to increase workflow and strengthen interpersonal communications either in the workplace or at home.

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