Adam Spies ‘96, grew up in New Jersey and when it was time to look at schools, University of Vermont was on his list. For him, UVM already had a tremendous reputation, and he recalls. “It was the first day of spring when we visited. It was a gorgeous campus, easy drive from home, and with a great undergraduate business school which made it very attractive. Oh, and we had a snowstorm that day. That was it for me.”

Spies is now Chairman of Capital Markets at Cushman & Wakefield, a leading commercial real estate organization, based in New York City. We were fortunate enough to chat with him recently when he returned here to take a class.

How did UVM prepare you for your real estate career?

I found the business school to be very hands-on. We did a lot of presentations, case studies, working together in groups, all those things ultimately applied to real-life. I was learning the basics of accounting, and it was also a fun social scene. Being friendly with people whether it being part of a fraternity, playing rugby or other extra-curricular activities, you develop a lot of great social and people skills which also prepares you for life.

Any key moments that set you on your current career path?

I spent a summer working in commercial real estate retail leasing. And I bought a bunch of suits, worked very hard and had several deals that were just on the precipice of getting done, which would have earned me a very large sum of money, particularly at that age. None of the deals ended up working out.

I was close, but they all died so I had a summer where I had all those suits but made no money. I thought to myself maybe I should be in a career where I could definitely get a paycheck. I saw in my fraternity a lot of the older guys were getting rewarding jobs majoring in accounting. And while it was the least exciting to me, I wanted to get a good job out of school. Because of being in a wild industry where I earned no money, but came close to it, I went into accounting. However, I decided to enter real estate accounting and see where it led me, and here I am today.  I think back to that summer where I worked hard, but ended up with negative dollars, and that just may have been that fork in the road that set me on my path.

Any early leadership lessons you carried onto your career?

A lesson I learned early on, is I always found it encouraging when my boss or someone older than me asked me for my opinion, of what I thought. It involved me in part of the decision-making process and helped me grow. In my experience you are always better off getting input from others, especially those who are younger or might have a different viewpoint. It helps make others think and grow and is something that I always try to do.

How do you hire, what do you look for?

I’m in commercial real estate.  The most important thing for us is it something you have a passion for and like?  Everything else flows from there, that’s number one. Number two is work ethic. Everything can be overcome by work ethic and a good attitude; those are the top things that we are looking for. Some financial acumen as well, but a lot of that can be taught.

There is an old saying that if you were stuck on the runway with this person for four hours on a flight delay, would you kill yourself or be happy to be with that person. That is how we look at it. Is this someone I would want to hang out with?

How do you set the tone, the culture in your team?

You learn every day, and I am continuing to learn. As a manager of people, I find the best way to lead is by example and doing it together. I try to just make myself part of what everyone else does and focus on the doing and less on managing. I don’t know if that is the best style, but it has been more my style.

With the team the biggest principle is we take our clients very seriously, but not ourselves. We always have to do the best job and the top execution for our clients. At the same time, we realize we aren’t solving the world’s problems.  So, we keep that in mind; really work for your clients but don’t take yourself too seriously. You got to laugh but work hard and play hard.

Regarding creativity of your team, how do maintain it?

One, the markets often dictate how you do things. The markets are constantly keeping us on our toes. Secondly, we try and give our younger people more ownership of their work. If they own a pitch, or a process, or what we are going to do—empower them. Give them responsibility. That is the greatest way to come up with new ideas and encourage creativity.

What’s the hardest and favorite part of your job?

The hardest part of the role is a combination of securing, as well as executing, business without missing any opportunities. At the same time, juggling any number of live deals at any given moment and making sure you don’t drop any plates. What’s fun is helping your clients succeed and having a client that has a tremendous amount of gratitude at the end, there is no better feeling.

You know, there is a great saying: you’re hot until you’re not. I’m in a business that every day you got to prove yourself, every year you’ve got to start again. I like it because you can never get too comfortable and while it is a great position to be in for now, you have got to earn that position every day. When it is over, maybe I’ll look back more and reflect. Until then I will just keep panicking.

Knowing what you know now, what advice would you give to UVM students and those new graduates as they begin their careers?

I got a terrific education and experience here. As I have gotten a little bit older and have had some time to reflect, I think it is important students need every edge they can get. Having a good alumni network is critically important. Alums should all be doing everything we can to be giving our students an edge; and students should take advantage of that network.

The other advice I would give is somewhat specific to today’s events. You can spend a lot of time working from home and not necessarily being in the office. I would always elect to be with my colleagues, be with my bosses—the more time you spend in front of people is where you will learn the most.

So do everything that you can to learn as much as you can from the people that are a few years ahead of you. Find a mentor. If one is not assigned to you, go out and figure out who you want your mentor to be and take them to lunch. But don’t work from home, don’t get complacent, and spend as much time as you can with your peers and the people ahead of you.

This interview has been edited for clarity and length.