Contents
Dear friends and partners,
I am pleased to share with you that 2023 has been Colliers’ best in the past 15 years, despite some concerns we had at the end of 2022 about the real estate market and financing costs. While discussing with colleagues in each of Colliers’ ten core business areas, I asked what their proudest achievement had been in 2023, and in six instances, the response was: “the Team!” What fantastic colleagues!
In 2021, we started a journey #Together with Dominica and Raul from Mind Education and, after three years, we close a cycle in which we can say that we first discovered our local values - Honesty and Care - which harmoniously integrated with our corporate values. Last year we also managed to define our purpose: Care about Real Assets. Build Real Relationships. What great partners!
At the end of the year, I thanked Adrian Stanciu (what a great consultant!) for the article “Transactions or Relationships” that I really resonated with because both myself and all of us at Colliers try to apply this simple, yet very powerful rule every day: “Treat others as you would like to be treated yourself”, and here we are talking about friends, colleagues, clients, life or business partners. We want to build relationships every time we interact with a partner. Of course, we close transactions, but when we have a solid relationship at the core, everything becomes special because both parties look beyond the numbers, at the common good and at the impact over each other and over those around us.
In the past year, we closed some extremely complex transactions, some of which took three or even four years of effort, while others involved delicate issues and moments when we felt that enough was enough! Teamwork, trust, care, ethics and professionalism were absolutely essential as, at the end of it all, we almost couldn’t believe how much we achieved #Together!
Surely, we’ve shared stories about ourselves this past year, but the point was to show that in a world that’s spinning so fast and that’s becoming increasingly impersonal, with AI writing for people even when it’s about something emotional, it’s possible to learn to love what you do, to come to work every day with enthusiasm, to have difficult conversations, to explore ideas and situations, to put the common good before your own ego. It’s important to be open to the possibility of improving or even changing your perspective based on the input from those around you, especially when it comes to colleagues you work closely with and to your loved ones.
"You aren’t born extraordinary.
You become so.
And it’s not about what you do,
But how you do it."
Stefanos Xenakis, Every day is a gift!
All the best,
Laurentiu Lazar
Managing Partner
Colliers Romania
Colliers is a leader in global real estate services, defined by our spirit of enterprise. Through a culture of service excellence and collaboration, we integrate the resources of real estate specialists worldwide to accelerate the success of our partners. We represent property investors, developers and occupiers in local and global markets. Our expertise spans all property sectors–office, industrial, retail, residential, rural & agribusiness, healthcare & retirement living, hotels & leisure.