Find the NOLs, add profitable business subsidiaries, and, ultimately, maximize the value of an asset we didn’t pay anything for in the first place. - Sam Zell

I’m drawn to emerging markets because of their built-in demand. I’ve always believed in buying into in-place demand rather than trying to create it.

Equity Office was the largest REIT in the country. We had spent a decade acquiring an irreplaceable collection of over five hundred of the best office buildings in every major market in the U.S. It was my baby. Truth is, had I kept the company private, I probably would have never considered selling. But when I took EOP public, I assumed a fiduciary responsibility to shareholders. In exchange for their capital, I made a commitment to give them the best return possible on their investment. That was my primary obligation. Nothing stood before that.

I remember this event so clearly because it was at this point in my career that I fully realized the value of tenacity. I just had to assume there was a way through any obstacle, and then I’d find it. This is perhaps my most fundamental principle of entrepreneurialism, and to success in general.