Servant Leadership, AI, and the Future of Brokerage with Bob Knakal

The Dealmakers’ Edge with A.Y. Strauss

Bob Knakal is a name everyone knows in commercial real estate. Since 1984, he’s brokered over 2,399 buildings in the New York City area, with a market value approximating $22 billion. For 26 years, he owned and ran Massey Knakal with a focus on building a culture of servant leadership, training people, and dominating the market. He eventually sold the company to Cushman & Wakefield for $100 million in 2014.

Now, Bob is a prominent thought leader in the commercial real estate business. He writes about the market, appears on podcasts and television, and holds university lectures. Recently, he started the investment sales and capital markets brokerage firm BK Real Estate Advisors, which creates better interpretations from artificial intelligence data to give their clients more options and better results.

Insights from Bob Knakal on Servant Leadership, AI, and the Future of Brokerage

Bob Knakal and his co-founder, Paul Massey, built Massey Knakal Realty Services on the foundation of servant leadership—a management style that led to market dominance and a lasting impact on New York City's real estate industry. Their leadership shaped the firm's success and cultivated a new generation of industry leaders. Today, more than 30 companies or divisions within New York’s investment sales market are owned or run by professionals who got their start at Massey Knakal.

Now, as Chairman and CEO of BKREA, Bob is once again at the forefront of commercial brokerage, pioneering new approaches to investment sales with cutting-edge AI and data-driven strategies.

In this episode of The Dealmakers’ Edge, Aaron Strauss sits down with Bob to discuss his four decades in real estate, the power of servant leadership, and how embracing AI and data interpretation is shaping the future of the industry. Bob also shares invaluable lessons on standing out in a competitive market, developing mental resilience, and setting realistic success benchmarks in brokerage.

2:28 – The most exciting thing about commercial real estate for Bob today
3:47 – How servant leadership fosters a high-performance culture and long-term success
9:49 – The speed, impact, and challenges of integrating AI and data technology in real estate
13:35 – Using social media to share career insights and build a strong professional brand
17:02 – How Bob evolved from traditional brokerage to navigating complex, developer-focused deals
22:58 – The role of mental resilience and understanding realistic success metrics in sales

Mentioned In Servant Leadership, AI, and the Future of Brokerage with Bob Knakal

Bob Knakal | Facebook | Twitter/X | Instagram | YouTube

BRKEA | LinkedIn | Twitter/X

Robert K. Greenleaf Center for Servant Leadership

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Chapters

1. Servant Leadership, AI, and the Future of Brokerage with Bob Knakal (00:00:00)

2. The most exciting thing about commercial real estate for Bob today (00:02:28)

3. How servant leadership fosters a high-performance culture and long-term success (00:03:47)

4. The speed, impact, and challenges of integrating AI and data technology in real estate (00:09:49)

5. Using social media to share career insights and build a strong professional brand (00:13:35)

6. How Bob evolved from traditional brokerage to navigating complex, developer-focused deals (00:17:02)

7. The role of mental resilience and understanding realistic success metrics in sales (00:22:58)