What Will Save Las Vegas?

I have had the privilege of being born and raised in Las Vegas. Not only that, my mother was also born here. That puts me in a small group who have ties to the beginning of modern Las Vegas. Needless to say, I love this City and what we've been able to accomplish in the last 60 years. Like Manhattan, Las Vegas was a city that if you could dream it, and then do something about it, your dreams could and often would come true. It was a City of ideas without the restrictions of old traditions or local rituals. We welcomed the rebel and renegades alike.

With that as the foundation of our heritage, is why we as local citizens and business people are in such a state of confusion over the economic situation here.

The only answer that can bring the City back to good health is to attract 5 to 10 million additional visitors. We must re-establish Las Vegas as a great value, where the entertainment received far exceeds the price anyone pays for it. $14 vodka-sodas must be gone.

The Convention Authority is starting to do a good job in their advertising focusing on the benefits of having trade shows in Las Vegas, versus anywhere else in the world. Anyone with any objectivity will tell you that we have the best facilities in the world for any size of meeting.

Without significant visitor increase, Las Vegas may not ever comeback to the vitality of 2005 let alone 2007. Unemployment will stay high and real estate will remain depressed.

There is the constant argument over the diversification of the job creators in Las Vegas. While it seems obvious that we'd be better off if we had more than one major industry, I would not focus on expanding the job base until visitor volume significantly picks up. We must focus on filling hotel rooms only.

I do believe that over the next 3 to 5 years our economy will become stronger with the rest of the United States. We just need to hold on, keep pushing, and as Winston Churchill would say, "never, never, never, give up."

John Wooden Was Underated

I've been thinking lately about the difference between leadership and management. Sometimes those two concepts are interchangeably used and I think that contributes to the murkiness of what it means to lead.

One of the best books on leadership I have ever read was called, "Wooden on Leadership," by John Wooden. The following quote is from that book, "Good things take time, usually lots of time. Achieving worth while goals requires intentness. There are set backs, losses, unexpected reversals, hardships and bad luck. Does the fight continue? The team will look to you for the answer."

There is no question that management is every bit as important to an organization as leadership is, but leadership comes first. The leader plants the seed and the manager waters it, prunes it and makes it thrive and grow.

To me, leadership is about helping the individuals that make up the company understand the overall strategy and mission, and then declare what is possible with great effort and teamwork. A great leader must live the mission and lead from the front. For when adversity comes, the team must see the leader pushing on and draw courage and inspiration from his commitment and confidence to get the job done, and accomplish the goals that make us proud of who we are and what we can become.

Leading and managing, two ideas, on a journey to one great company.

Back From the Snow

I just got back from the longest non-working trip in the last 5 years. I'm not saying I'm proud of that, it's just a fact.

I went with 11 kids (one of my own) and 3 adults. We were severely outnumbered, and had a great time because of it. As it's been said numerous times, kids just see more clearly then adults. What makes them happy and sad, while it might drive the adults batty, is usually such an honest response. No filters and no regrets.

I had some time to continue reading my Peter Brooke book about venture capital. The best way to add jobs is to inject capital into either early stage companies, or companies just about to explode. I'm trying to figure out how to apply his (Brooke's) strategy of creating a fund for certain global regions and imprint it on a regional states strategy in this country.

That is for tomorrow.

Politics: You don't have to play the game, but it's better if you do.

It's a little late, but I committed in the last blog to blog if I possibly could, so here we go.

I've always believed that politics was important, but I've now realized that it should be a vital part of any business strategy.

In Bruce Wasserstein's book, Big Deal, he discusses the, "Five Pistons-changes in regulation, technology, financial markets, personal leadership and scale." This is in context of what are catalysts of new deals.

Since we are in a hurricane of either new regulations (laws,etc) or changes in regulation, it seems like the greatest gains are going to be built around what is going on right now in Washington.

So if we can't beat them......

A Committment to Write(right?)

Most people my age (38) have seen the movie Karate Kid ( I know there is a new one coming out, I'm sure I'll see that too). In the beginning of the training Daniel LaRusso (the "kid") is being forced to wax the cars, paint the fence and other seemingly mundane home improvement projects. Well later in the movie the "kid" snaps and starts screaming that he was there to learn karate and not and star in "This Old House." Miyagi (karate master) shows him that each movement he did, painting the house, waxing the cars, were really karate moves all along.

That is a long way to go (hoping it connected at all) to illustrate my point of tonight's blog. Unless I literally cannot get to a computer, I'm going to write something every night as a form of discipline and mental calisthenics. Not sure what I'm training for, I'll let things unfold.

This reminds me of a book I read several years ago called, Mastery: The Keys to Success and Long Term Fulfillment. At the end of the book the edict is, "when you get to the top of the mountain, keep climbing." To me that means, keep growing, keep moving, keep learning, keep contributing.

One of the things that this recession has taught me is that sometimes, to keep climbing, you have to change mountains. I'm doing that now.

My First Blog Posting// The seed is planted

The first blog posting is like shouting in a canyon and only hearing the echo that comes back to you. That's OK though, I'm really doing this for myself and if others can benefit that is great. I've further decided that it's better to do anything then do nothing. So, here we are, the first blog posting.

I have been in commercial real estate for the last 20 years (I'm 38), and specifically the last 10 years in shopping center development. Since that business is in a coma and it is starting to look like real estate development may be like being the best buggy whip manufacturer, I've been feverishly working on expanding my skill set, enlarging my field of vision and looking for new opportunities. Sustained optimism is the only way to do this.

I've entered (or really, I'm trying to enter) the world of private equity and venture capital and I love the wide scope it represents. If done well, it enables dreams and serves the world.


I'm reading a book by Peter A. Brooke, called, A Vision for Venture Capital. The following is a quote, The role of the venture capitalist, ... was to promote technological advancement, innovation, and new industries while also creating wealth for investors and for venture capitalists themselves, to prove that technological advancement and making money were not mutually exclusive."

This is a good place to start. Have a great day.