Pay It Forward: 'Don’t View Things As Mistakes, Instead View Them As Lessons.'
Starting and growing a business is challenging even during the best of times.
Will Blodgett, 40, Tredway; New York
Job Title: Founder & CEO
Area of expertise or focus: Affordable housing preservation, workforce housing/ mixed-income housing development, multifamily development
What has been your biggest challenge in your particular role/? How have you overcome those obstacles? Starting and growing a business is challenging even during the best of times, but doing so during a period of rapidly rising interest rates, inflation, and other economic headwinds has been a true learning experience. We opened our doors in November 2021 and as a result have been incredibly selective and intentional with every deal we’ve done. Staying focused on impact and making values-based decisions has helped tremendously.
What about your current role/position at the company are you most happy with? It’s fair to say that everyone at Tredway is obsessed with maximizing our impact. Our reason for being is to create positive change in people’s lives by providing high-quality, high-opportunity housing, and in doing so, give people a “hand up” and not a “hand out.” We don’t want to build housing where it’s easy, we want to create and preserve housing that catalyzes upward socioeconomic mobility—and that’s much harder to do.
It goes back to my childhood in Chicago and seeing the city tear down much of its public housing. I had friends who were there one day and the next they were living on the outskirts of the city cut off from their community, schools, and public transportation. The impact it had on people’s lives was devastating and it inspired in me a desire to help, even at a young age. Thirty years later, it’s very fulfilling to have chosen a career that allows me to do just that.
What is the best piece of advice you have received that has helped you succeed in your industry? The best advice I received is to stay humble, remain open-minded, and work hard. It sounds cliché, but that is probably for a reason. I’d give the same advice today. Also, don’t view things as mistakes instead view them as lessons. Take a page from Shakespeare when he said, “Nothing is either good nor bad. Thinking makes it so.”
What would you advise a younger person considering a career in CRE? Real estate has historically been seen as a place to cut your chops and less as a force for good, but that’s changing. I’m proud to be counted among the next generation of leaders who are challenging the status quo and pushing for innovation in terms of measuring, evaluating, and pushing for more social impact. There is a lot of space within affordable housing for young people to pursue their passions—whether it’s environment and sustainability, issues related to equity and access, or even mental health. When I started in the industry profits were king, but now its profits with purpose and I love that.
Please share with us the best lessons learned or a surprising component of your unique journey. Something that may surprise people about me is that I come from very humble beginnings and nearly flunked out of high school—and today I’m CEO of my own company. I was teased mercilessly throughout my adolescence for having a stutter which led me to become a bitter teenager until I found an outlet in sports. Football and basketball became a way to channel my anger—and ultimately play football at Yale— and was a diversion from the bad path that I was heading down. If it weren’t for that journey and the grit and resilience that I had to develop then I might not be where I am today.
In your opinion, what takeaways did we learn from the COVID crisis? Execution is key. The ability to make decisions and move quickly are paramount. People are by far the most important part of an organization. There was no playbook for COVID, but at the end of the day if you did what you felt was right for your fellow humans then you usually made the right decision. Empathy and compassion are the only way forward.
What three words, phrases, statements or mantras would you use to describe your work mindset? Anyone who knows me has heard me quote the Roman philosopher-emperor Marcus Aurelius when he wrote: “The impediment to action advances action. What stands in the way becomes the way.” Going back to my stutter, this quote rings true because oftentimes what seems like a disadvantage can teach you something about yourself or about the world around you that you can turn into an advantage. We learn and develop fortitude from life’s setbacks. Sometimes that blockage is actually a clue on where to go next.
