“Finding talented young women and people of color to join our team as interns is the first step in broadening our pipeline of talent, creating a more equal playing field within the industry,” says Taidgh McClory, senior vice president and partner of strategic planning and brokerage operations for CBRE/New England, tells GlobeSt.com. “In the next five to 10 years, a more diverse workforce will better position the real estate industry in the face of new technological innovations and a more global real estate market.”

In a recent Commercial Real Estate Diversity Report, out of almost 14,000 senior executive jobs nationally, only 2.9% were Hispanic men, 1.6% were Asian men, and 1.3% were Black men.

“While we've made strides to become more diverse and inclusive in our recruiting, we know that we have far to go,” Erin Walls, a senior vice presiden at CBRE/New England, tells GlobeSt.com. “In an industry that has rebounded from the Great Recession and has seen the market heat up and flourish in recent years, embracing diversity will only help us as an industry—it is certainly necessary for any company looking to stay competitive and affect change.”

In Karim Fadel's opinion, it all comes back to talent. In order to outdo the competition and grow your company—in order to win in commercial real estate—the founder of Unison Realty Partners says it's essential to hire talented people and motivate and inspire them in their work. To make that happen at his firm, he tapped into a smart and ambitious pool of “under-utilized” people in the real estate world.

“For other companies looking to create a winning culture that fosters different perspectives, there are a number of formal practices that can be implemented to improve diversity in a workplace, including hiring policies and training programs,” Fadel tells GlobeSt.com. “But the most important quality for a company to be truly successful, is to have an inclusive culture—meaning that people from all walks of life are represented and empowered to have a voice and a role at the company. This includes bringing in talented women, millennials, and people of any ethnic background or sexual orientation, all bringing a variety of life and work experiences which will lead to better decision-making as a whole.”

ATLANTA—After gaining a reputation for decades as a “good old boys club,” women have made their mark on the industry, especially with groups like Commercial Real Estate Women (CREW). But there' still a long way to go, hence a growing and conscious emphasis on diversity in the industry.

Only 14% of the Urban Land Instiute's CEO members are women, but 93% of these women lead companies with less than 100 employees. The biggest driver of diversity: It's the right thing to do. Companies that embrace diversity are potentially broadening their client base.

“In real estate, especially commercial real estate, deals often come together based upon 'who you know' or what is sometimes referred to as a network or center of influence,” Amy Ringsdorf, an attorney at real estate company ReeceNichols who is leading the firm's initiative to create a more diverse agent base to serve future buyers and sellers and reflect the communities it serves, tells GlobeSt.com. “The quickest way to expand a company's center of influence, thereby better serving existing and new clients, is to become more diverse, hiring individuals whose centers of influence are different from those that exist at the company. Not only will service improve, but a company's client base will also expand.”

Firms like CBRE/New England could be among the winners. The brokerage has taken great effort to diversify beginning with the next generation of real estate professionals. 2016 marked the first year it participated in Mayor Walsh's Summer Jobs Program in an effort to engage and teach younger talent about commercial real estate. CBRE also implemented a summer internship program that affords us the opportunity to hire a diverse class of students year over year.

“Finding talented young women and people of color to join our team as interns is the first step in broadening our pipeline of talent, creating a more equal playing field within the industry,” says Taidgh McClory, senior vice president and partner of strategic planning and brokerage operations for CBRE/New England, tells GlobeSt.com. “In the next five to 10 years, a more diverse workforce will better position the real estate industry in the face of new technological innovations and a more global real estate market.”

In a recent Commercial Real Estate Diversity Report, out of almost 14,000 senior executive jobs nationally, only 2.9% were Hispanic men, 1.6% were Asian men, and 1.3% were Black men.

“While we've made strides to become more diverse and inclusive in our recruiting, we know that we have far to go,” Erin Walls, a senior vice presiden at CBRE/New England, tells GlobeSt.com. “In an industry that has rebounded from the Great Recession and has seen the market heat up and flourish in recent years, embracing diversity will only help us as an industry—it is certainly necessary for any company looking to stay competitive and affect change.”

In Karim Fadel's opinion, it all comes back to talent. In order to outdo the competition and grow your company—in order to win in commercial real estate—the founder of Unison Realty Partners says it's essential to hire talented people and motivate and inspire them in their work. To make that happen at his firm, he tapped into a smart and ambitious pool of “under-utilized” people in the real estate world.

“For other companies looking to create a winning culture that fosters different perspectives, there are a number of formal practices that can be implemented to improve diversity in a workplace, including hiring policies and training programs,” Fadel tells GlobeSt.com. “But the most important quality for a company to be truly successful, is to have an inclusive culture—meaning that people from all walks of life are represented and empowered to have a voice and a role at the company. This includes bringing in talented women, millennials, and people of any ethnic background or sexual orientation, all bringing a variety of life and work experiences which will lead to better decision-making as a whole.”