The Single Most Important Thing That Defines a Company

Doug Bibby and Scot Sellers had a frank discussion about career, family and the importance of company culture at PCBC.

SAN DIEGO—Culture—good or bad—speaks volumes to employees, clients and the general public; it’s important to be in control of your company’s culture so that it says what you want it to, real estate veteran Scot Sellers told attendees at a PCBC lunch event Thursday. Sellers, the retired CEO of apartment owner and developer Archstone, was interviewed by Doug Bibby, president of NMHC, on the topics of career, family and the importance of company culture.

Sellers retired in 2013 after more than 20 years at Archstone, most of them as the company’s chairman and CEO. During his 12 years leading the frim as a public company, Archstone delivered a total shareholder return of more than 720% and grew dramatically to become one of the largest publicly traded real estate companies in America. In addition to his career at Archstone, Sellers has been a board member for a number of companies and currently serves on the boards of the Howard Hughes Corp., the Irvine Co. and Inspirato LLC, as well as an advisor to the board of Monogram Residential. Fascinated by human interaction since his childhood, Sellers has made this one of the cornerstones of his management style and approach to life, which he emphasizes in his first book, Regret-Free Living.