Colliers In The Press: Founder Bill McHarg

Bill McHarg helped found Colliers in Australia in 1968. Since then, Colliers has grown from a modest company of real estate professionals into the third largest commercial real estate brokerage company in the world.

I work at Colliers, but I first learned about Bill McHarg from an NPR article I heard yesterday, the article is available here.

The point of the article isn't to highlight Bill's prowess in the commercial real estate field but rather to demonstrate the fervor in which Bill attacked Prime Minister John Howard on the basis of Mr. Howards failings in the green movement.

You can see Bill's commercial here.

For his efforts, Bill has lost his job at Colliers International, the company where I work.

For what its worth, I feel that it is really the company's loss and being fired will prove to be a huge positive for Bill. Being fired means that you are at odds with the company and the job isn't right for you.

Hopefully, one day the attitudes of this company will shift as the environmental movement gains traction and passes the tipping point into the mainstream. At that time all this confrontation will look silly and the marketing department will manage to spin Bill's fervor into a positive and all will be forgiven. Provided Bill hasn't started a rival commercial real estate company, a green commercial real estate company.

In my limited work experience here on this planet, it seems that nothing is more dangerous than people on a mission. Such people have ambition, which is more harmful than talent.

Talent can be squandered, or replicated, or out-sourced, but ambition carries with you and it is hard to break. Everyone wants to be good and good is easily attainable for those who can follow directions and be mediocre. But few are willing to make the sacrifices necessary to be great, it takes great ambition and a reckless spirit to try new ideas, your ideas, and to run with these ideas as if the devil himself is chasing you.

For most, making nice in order to be liked is more important than being great and great people are notoriously hard to work with. For one thing, great people are single-minded, reluctant to compromise and are driven by inner forces greater than what average people could ever comprehend.

This pursuit to do something well comes at great cost, but the benefits of working with and learning from someone great will outweigh these. You do not want to work for Mr. Average Nice Guy, not if you want to be great, not at any cost.

Since learning about the fate of Bill McHarg, I am proud to be working at the company that he founded, since this company was founded by great men.

At some point in the future, one where I am standing at my moral crossroads, I hope I will be able to follow my conscience.