Name: George Roberts

Title: CEO

Organisation: Roberts Capital Enterprises

Before devoting himself to commercial real estate full-time, George worked as an award-winning data scientist and bioscientist with nearly 800 citations in the fields of genomics, microbiology, and physiology. After making his mark on three fields of bioscience, he turned his attention to the dashing world of entrepreneurship.

George repurposed his analytical firepower to make housing economics, macroeconomics, and finance fun and exciting as “The Data Scientist of Real Estate” on his YouTube channel, where he brings the pizazz to the discussion of all-too-often dryly presented topics such as housing data and macroeconomics. He is the author of “Passionate Living Through Passive Investing,” a book that highlights both his diverse investments in private equity as well as his adventurous lifestyle.

George is also the founder of Roberts Capital Enterprises, which sponsors value-add multifamily opportunities for qualified passive investors. In addition to owning over 550 units as an active multifamily investor, he is also an avid passive investor. His passive investments include over 600 multifamily units, carwashes, early-stage companies, as well as triple-net real estate.

George is the host of “The Foundery – Where Leaders are Forged Daily!”, an award-winning podcast devoted to the role that entrepreneurship, leadership, and mindset play in success in the commercial real estate space, but which is just a love letter to the entrepreneurs of the world. He also hosts the weekly “CRE Network at Noon Eastern” Zoom meetup for commercial real estate investors every Wednesday at noon Eastern. You can reach out to George at www.robertscapitalenterprises.com to learn more about passive investing or to find more information about his online or in-person events.

Fun facts:

George enjoys public speaking and is an award-winning Toastmaster at the Club and Area levels. He has nine scientific research publications to his credit. He has an Erdős number of 5, which is a sort of "Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon" for scientists. He is a recipient of the TDWI Advanced Analytics and Data Science Award. When he is not attending to one of his business entities in the Midwest, he can be found sailing Lake Erie with his wife Mary and his two sons.

Thank you to the 2,000 leaders who’ve generously done the 7 Questions on Leadership!

We’ve gone through the interviews and asked the best of the best to come back and answer 7 MORE Questions on Leadership.

I hope George's answers will encourage you in your leadership journey. Enjoy!

Cheers,

Jonno White

1. As a leader, how do you build trust with employees, customers and other stakeholders?

Skin in the game - I invest my capital alongside my investors to align interests. I also put significant effort into teaching and mentoring newer investors to build a stronger commercial real estate investing community.

2. What do 'VISION' and 'MISSION' mean to you? And what does it actually look like to use them in real-world business?

My mission is to help investors live a more meaningful and passionate life through passive income. My vision is to exponentially grow my ability to help investors through outreach including my book and my podcast. The educational wing of my business is where I focus to become more effective in reaching that vision.

3. How can a leader empower the people they're leading?

I love to empower through encouraging personal growth and autonomous decision-making. I hire people to solve problems so that I can focus on vision. It’s all in the way that feedback is delivered. You have to be radically transparent, but you can never discourage a team member from thinking for themselves and growing their problem-solving muscle. You have work to find team members' zone of competency and then lead them to grow and develop beyond their zone of comfort.

4. Who are some of the coaches or mentors in your life who have had a positive influence on your leadership? Can you please tell a meaningful story about one of them?

My doctoral advisor noticed me downhearted one day as I was busy writing my dissertation. He said, “Don’t worry; you will be on the other side of this for the rest of your life.” I came back to this realization dozens of times in the ensuing years. The obstacles before us are temporary. The character we build by surmounting them endures for a lifetime.

5. Leadership is often more about what you DON'T do. How do you maintain focus in your role?

Don’t baby a team member. If you know they can find the answer or make the decision, encourage them to do so. Let them know that they are expected to be the expert in the room for the tasks they take responsibility for. I hire people who are (or who are expected to become) better than me at what they do. A little time growing a team member potentially opens up a lot of time for me to focus on what is important down the road.

6. If you fail to plan, you plan to fail. Everyone plans differently. How do you plan for the week, month and years ahead in your role?

The big picture has to go first. I have a “to-do list” for the day, but I like to put three big-picture items that stay at the top of the list until they are completed. These may be items that will take weeks or months to complete, like “write your book” or “build contacts in asset class X (e.g., private lending, private equity, etc.) to support making your next passive investment.” The tasks associated with these big-picture items need to be broken out afresh each day.

Having them at the top of the page ensures that they don’t get lost in the shuffle of the day-to-day. If something is moderately important but not urgent, I defer the decision by calendaring it to focus on higher-priority items in the present. When it comes to personal improvement or “sharpening the saw,” I calendar that in large time blocks that ensure that my capacity to execute grows each day.

7. What advice would you give to a young leader who is struggling to delegate effectively?

It takes courage to trust, knowing that you will be held accountable for the actions of others. You can either take the courage to make the hard decision to delegate now and enjoy clarity and focus in the medium- to long-term, or you can put off this hard decision in hopes of an easier today and see your time frittered away endlessly tomorrow.