What positive influence looks like from the field to the front lines with the Vice Chairman at JLL

We don’t have the space here to share Herman Bulls’ impressive resume in real estate operations and investment management for public institutions, and on the boards of many organizations for our military like USAA, West Point Association of Graduates, and the Department of Defense. But we can tell you his influence has been felt across dozens of organizations as a board member among the top 100 corporate governance professionals in corporate America, and he’s joining us on the next Off the Rak to share some must-have insights on delivering value, influencing change, and building trust for aspiring and experienced leaders alike.

About the Guest

Herman Bulls is the International Director and Vice Chairman at JLL, a global financial and professional services firm specializing in real estate operations and investment management.

Herman serves on several boards, most notably the US Department of Defense and the USAA, a Fortune-100 diversified financial services firm serving military members and their families–but not Rob Gronkowski, although I think he wishes Herman would!

He is a National Association of Corporate Directors Fellow and is recognized as one of the most influential individuals in corporate America and among the top 100 corporate governance professionals in the nation.

Herman earned his engineering degree at West Point and his MBA from Harvard Business School.

Before his current post at JLL, he completed nearly 12 years of active duty with the U.S. Army. Among his last assignments were the Pentagon and West Point. He retired as a colonel in 2008.

Herman’s life experience converges on delivering value, creating impact, and building trust. Herman likes to say, “It’s not about you; it’s about the team.”

Today, we’ll talk about Herman’s formative years and how he recreated some of those early learning moments for his sons. We’ll also learn about his pivot from a heartbreaking disappointment to pursuing an even greater path of impact. We’ll unpack more recent areas where he’s creating impact and what best practices he likes to share with aspiring leaders.

Links in this Episode

Herman Bulls on LinkedIn

Learn more about Off the Rak and watch past episodes at waltrakowich.com/offtherak

Follow @waltrakowich on Linkedin | Instagram | Facebook | X | YouTube | Threads

About 60 - 80,000 thoughts go through a leader's mind each day — how do you break through the noise to what really matters? Keynote speaker, executive coach, and best-selling author Brad Deutser has tackled this question by bridging culture and performance. When we bring our best selves to work, we do our best work, and leaders who create workplaces with organizational clarity and the security of belonging can deliver results. Tune in as Brad returns to Off the Rak to share his frameworks for prioritizing human-centered leadership and disrupting the chaos.

About the Guest

Brad Deutser is the founder and CEO of Deutser, a speaker, executive coach, and the bestselling author Belonging Rules and Leading Clarity. Brad’s clients and coaching take him to amazing places – in athletics, aviation, education, entertainment, energy, finance, healthcare, non-profit – with incredibly thoughtful leaders around the world. He takes on the most high-level challenges forging through them with creativity and grace to design and bring to life the most original solutions. Brad has been called on to define and transition the culture at the NFL’s Houston Texans as well as supporting the transformation of the University of Arizona football program, while serving as a leadership and performance coach to the players as well as executives across the world. He serves as the architect of the Wolff Center for Entrepreneurship at University of Houston, the three-time recognized #1 entrepreneurial program in the US. The University of Texas selected his approach to navigate complex social and cultural issues. And countless leaders have brought the Deutser team in to navigate generational transitions and conflicts within families and complex companies, to facilitate cultural integration post-merger/acquisition, and to support the health, wellbeing and safety of tens of thousands of employees across too many businesses to name.

Links in this Episode

The Human-Centered Leader Newsletter

Deutser.com

Brad's LinkedIn

Learn more about Off the Rak and watch past episodes at waltrakowich.com/offtherak

Follow @waltrakowich on Linkedin | Instagram | Facebook | X | YouTube | Threads

Kourtny Garrett, CEO of the Downtown Denver Partnership, has a strong reputation for making communities better. We touch on inspiring topics such as the importance of leadership within the workplace and communities, the mantras that motivate her and help drive her success, and the vision she holds for the community she leads.

About the Guest

With 25 years of experience in the development of livable communities, Garrett is fueled by a passion for cities. Her expertise is rooted in building social, cultural and economic vibrancy, creating places for people that provide access and opportunity for all. The mantra of her life and her work follows the great Jane Jacobs’, “Cities have the capability of providing something for everybody, only because, and only when, they are created by everybody.”

While in Dallas, Garrett worked on the revitalization of Downtown through a period that included more than $11 billion of investment, public-private partnerships that brought more than 40 vacant buildings back to life, and a steady rise in residents from just a few hundred to more than 13,000. One of her proudest achievements was a decade-long process to create Downtown Dallas’ first public elementary school with Dallas ISD. Prior to her work in Downtown Dallas, Garrett led community relations work for Children’s health, with particular focus on hospital network expansion. Her career started in community relations, government relations and retail development at a then-new lifestyle center in Southlake, Texas.

Garrett is a Marshall Memorial Fellow and an honorary member of the Texas Society of Architects and AIADallas. She is a several-time honoree of many Dallas-based media awards such as Forty Under 40 (2009), 78 Women Who Make Dallas Great (2021) and Dallas-Fort Worth’s 500 Most Influential Business Leaders (2016- 2021). In addition, her long-standing commitment to the Dallas community included roles on Dallas ISD’s Business Advisory Board, and the Boards of Directors of Children’s Health, the Dallas Regional Chamber and a long list that includes public, non-profit and community organizations.

Garrett has expanded her work nationally and internationally through research and participation in the International Downtown Association, German Marshall Foundation, Brookings Institute and the International Business of Cities. She has published through many of these organizations, working toward the health and vitality of city centers across the globe.

Garrett, originally from Colorado, was selected to lead the Downtown Denver Partnership from over 400 candidates through a national executive search. In Denver, Garrett is proud to sit on the Board of Directors of Visit Denver and the CAP Advisory Board of the CU Denver College of Architecture and Planning.

Links in this Episode

www.downtowndenver.com

Learn more about Off the Rak and watch past episodes at waltrakowich.com/offtherak

Follow @waltrakowich on Linkedin | Instagram | Facebook | X | YouTube | Threads