PURPOSE Passion and Purpose An Interview with Sam Zell, Chairman, Equity Group Investments My career has been all about making We’re also proud of all the work we have an impact – changing something for the bet- done in entrepreneurship. If I’m successful in ter – and it has worked because I am person- my mission, I will have weaponized a whole ally involved. I set a vision, give guidance on cadre of future business leaders. In Israel, strategy, establish accountability, manage risks with the Zell Entrepreneurship Program, we and so on. have 400 alumni who have collectively Sam Zell It dawned on me that day – if I wanted to monetized their start-ups for almost $1 bil- really make a difference in my philanthropy, I lion, which is really incredible. We have also EDITORS’ NOTE Sam Zell is a global, opportunis- had to apply the same approach. I had to com- created a broader community, combining the tic and often contrarian investor. He specializes bine my own passion with a focus. In other students and alumni of our other entrepre- in identifying market anomalies and emerging words, I had to invest both fi nancial capital and neurship programs at University of Michigan trends and has a long track record in turning personal capital. and Northwestern, and now they all mentor around troubled companies and assets, leading I went from giving $1,000 to everybody each other, support each other and invest industry consolidations, and bringing companies and having nothing to do with any of them with each other. to the public markets. Much of his investment port- to narrowing my contributions down to a few Like everything else, sustainable success folio is in energy, logistics, transportation, man- areas I felt very strongly about. I wanted part ultimately revolves around who else climbs ufacturing, communications and healthcare, but of their success to be based on my involve- onboard, because I’m just one person and, he is often best known for his pioneering role and ment. I wanted to stand behind and lend although I have a big checkbook, checkbooks stewardship in creating the modern commer- strength to program leadership executing aren’t enough. We need an idea that is strong cial real estate industry. Zell is the Founder and the day-to-day work. enough to attract the right kind of people who Chairman of Equity Group Investments, a private Will you elaborate on the power of can perpetuate what we’ve started. investment fi rm. He chairs fi ve companies listed passion? Will you touch on your focus on Jewish on the NYSE and also chairs Equity International, I get asked all the time about why so many day schools? a private equity fi rm he founded to focus on real of the people I hire stay around for so long. I’m all for education, and in an unexpected estate-related opportunities outside of the U.S. Zell We have an inordinate number of people – way, Jewish day school education has a big is recognized for his advocacy of corporate gov- at all levels – who have grown up within our impact on urban development. Part of the rea- ernance, particularly in real estate and in the Equity-related companies and have been son that I encouraged my family to endow the emerging markets. He is an active philanthro- here for decades. I respond by talking about Jewish day school in the middle of the north pist with a focus on entrepreneurial education. passion, and the fact that we need passion at side of Chicago was because I knew that its Zell holds a J.D. and a B.A. from the University least as much as we need intellectual quotient, existence would have a signifi cant impact on of Michigan. He began his career in real estate maybe more. building and keeping a robust Jewish commu- while still an undergraduate. Zell’s book on how Passionate people tend to be self-starters. nity in the city. he became a self-made billionaire is called, They are invested in the outcome, and they tend My encouragement was without any sensi- Am I Being Too Subtle? to have a sense of urgency to get there. My role tivity to whether the school’s doctrine was con- is to give them the opportunities to stretch and servative, reform or orthodox. I was promoting COMPANY BRIEF Equity Group Investments to guide and support them. Together, that’s a culture, not religion. (egizell.com) is a private investment company. powerful combination. Now we have done the same thing with a Its founder, Sam Zell, pioneered the public equi- What are your philanthropic focus high school in the suburbs. I am a big believer tization of the commercial real estate industry areas? because I’m worried about assimilation and through the creation and leadership of Equity Education, entrepreneurship, Jewish about the future of the Jewish community, and Residential, Equity LifeStyle Properties, and day schools and medical centers are our I’m looking for ways to perpetuate it. Equity Offi ce Properties Trust. EGI’s investment main focus. I had a conversation with someone recently portfolio encompasses a broad range of corpo- We created The Helen Zell Writers’ Program, who wanted me to contribute to the creation of rate and real estate interests, a small sampling of which encourages creative writing and has been a museum in Jerusalem. I told him that the last which includes Anixter International, Covanta phenomenally successful. The alumni have gone time I checked, there was no shortage of muse- Holding Corporation, Ardent Health Services, on to win all kinds of awards. What’s fasci- ums in Jerusalem. However, there is a shortage Exterran Corporation, RailUSA and Par Pacifi c. nating about this arena is that a lot of money is of people committed to Israel. donated to high-tech and business education, Allocating my capital to increasing the What are the keys to effective philanthropy? but there is very little given to literature, American-Jewish connection is important I remember doing my taxes one year in the science and the arts. The idea that we’re allo- to me. I’m also concerned about divestment 1980s. I had given $1,000 to a hundred different cating signifi cant capital to develop and grow and the fact that we have a Jewish community organizations and realized I felt none of it was the best creative writing program in the country in the United States that takes great pride in making any real impact. That ran counter to in partnership with the University of Michigan separating from Israel. I don’t think that is a everything else I did in my life. is rewarding. good idea. 20 LEADERS POSTED WITH PERMISSION. COPYRIGHT © 2019 LEADERS MAGAZINE, INC. VOLUME 42, NUMBER 2 What about the medical arena? In the medical arena, we have primarily focused on things that have affected our fam- ily. Hopefully, if we solve a disease that one of our children has, it will benefi t millions of other people with that disease. Knowing that I may be laying down a marker to help cure a prob- lem that one of my grandchildren has is pretty heady stuff. I have prioritized my philanthropy to focus on areas in which I have a personal connection and, therefore, a passion. At the same time, I want my contributions to solve the problem we’ve identifi ed while also ben- efi ting mankind. On the business side, you are known as being results-oriented and metric-driven. In philanthropy, is it harder to track impact? Of course, and many donors don’t demand metrics or hold the recipients accountable. My methodology of approaching this has been to stick my toe in the water, get a better under- standing of the organization, it’s people and it’s potential. I started the Israeli entrepreneurial pro- gram by underwriting a very small part of it for the fi rst fi ve years. It was only after I saw how Sam Zell with a Kellogg student at a Zell Fellows start-up showcase they seized the opportunity and implemented the program that I increased my involvement. There have been circumstances where it I fi rst got involved in an entrepreneurship Then, 10 years in, I endowed it because I was hasn’t worked, and I have stopped supporting a program in 1979. What stimulated me was the confident about what they were doing and program. There was one case where I made a fact that I had read through the curriculum the direction they were headed. $10 million commitment of $1 million a year for for the University of Michigan business school We did the same thing with the writ- 10 years, but I didn’t feel like I was connected to and the word “entrepreneur” didn’t seem to er’s program in Michigan. At first, we just it, and the program just stalled. It was a diffi cult exist. I couldn’t understand how that could endowed a chair. Then we watched how the decision to terminate that program but, interest- possibly be the case. Then I discovered that university and the program interfaced with ingly enough, I ended up supporting something this wasn’t the only MBA program that didn’t that. We then began to support a few stu- else at the same institution. recognize entrepreneurship. They all thought dents, and then a few more and, eventually, Many people assume that job growth comes it was junk science. we made a major gift to underwrite the pro- from Fortune 500 companies, but most of it is Fast forward to today and the answer is very gram – but only after there was unquestion- driven by small business and start-ups.