Courtney Calinog, senior director, and Mike Cordingley, managing director at Ferguson Partners, joined the REIT Report podcast to discuss how leadership expectations for REIT CEOs are shifting in a more complex, capital-constrained environment. 

Based on conversations with CEOs and senior executives, they found a strong consensus: while technical and financial expertise remain essential, they are now “table stakes,” Calinog said. What differentiates top leaders are people-centered capabilities like self-awareness, communication, and the ability to build trust and clarity amid uncertainty, she noted.

The current market demands more strategic, adaptive leadership as cheap capital is no longer a reliable driver, Cordingley pointed out. CEOs must act as “enterprise translators,” he said, connecting capital markets, investor expectations, and operational decisions. 

At the same time, leadership turnover is accelerating. Most REIT CEOs are still promoted from within—making early leadership development critical. “It's the REITs that are treating leadership capability the way that they treat portfolio construction, (with) the same rigor, intentionality, looking at a long time horizon, that are going to differentiate,” Cordingley said.