It is one thing to attach celebrity status to a venture. It is quite another to make it fly. ROGER STAUBACH has invested more than just his name in building business. He has invested a great deal of his experience with team building to create a successful business model that not only works – it gives many other aspiring athletes something to shoot for.

Michael Jordan, one of the country’s top rated sports professionals knows all too well that a name is just a name when it comes to launching a company. It takes a tremendous amount of skill and diversity to keep a new venture alive.

Case in point, the Staubach Company, Denver Colorado:
Ken Gooden and Barry Dorfman met at a local chapter of real estate giant Grubb & Ellis in 1995. Ken was starting out in his real estate career and Barry was already establishing a reputation throughout Denver as the “go-to” guy for large companies seeking to expand their physical plants. Ken recognized the potential for learning from a mentor of Barry’s caliber, and Barry was impressed by Ken’s savvy and competitive bent. When Roger Staubach was looking to expand his real estate operation into the Front Range, it was Barry he came to with an offer that was, and is still, something of a rarity: join my team and get equity in the company.While becoming an officer and stake-holder in the nation’s largest privately-held real estate corporation already had great appeal, both men saw more than just a smart career move. They understood the principle that led to Roger’s founding the company in 1977 - essentially focus on one thing (“soup-to-nuts” corporate tenant representation) and do it very well.

Roger saw an unfulfilled need working with big business tenants in all aspects (strategic consulting, site selection, disposition, construction, property administration, even financing and capital solutions). “At Grubb & Ellis,” says Ken, “we were always involved in various aspects of the business for both landlords and tenants. At the end of the day, who do you really represent? Very ambiguous - I’d been to court cases where we were representing both sides. Roger saw the inherent conflict of interest as an opportunity and pioneered the idea that we would go to potential corporate clients and say ‘We’re here to represent you and you only.’ It was as simple as that.” Barry concurs: “You can’t be all things to all people all of the time. That’s no way to run a business, especially when dealing with real estate investments like what we see.”

Both executives readily admit they might have been happy to retire at Grubb & Ellis, as they were already starting to get more involved in tenant rep work. They were turning away agency opportunities as that would jeopardize some of the larger corporate accounts they were chasing, and they needed to work off a different platform. “Things were OK,” says Barry, “but here (at Staubach) was an opportunity to own the local operation of a national platform. The company really started to grow in the late 80’s and early 90’s by expanding to Houston, Irvine, Newport Beach, Atlanta and Denver.They realized no one had a stake in the markets they were managing; everyone was a salaried manager. If they were going to keep their people and truly grow, they had to provide ownership. So Roger created a license structure – not the “F” word (Roger hates “franchise”) that was different from the Century 21’s and ReMAX’s out there. Anyone with money can buy a franchise – quite the contrary, Staubach paid us.”

So Roger had them both at “hello”, but also provided a level of integrity that was simultaneously unspoken and impressive.The Staubach Company wasn’t out to hire young guns that would seal deals for great press, big headlines, and the resulting lemmings’ rush of additional customers. The firm wanted talent that was willing to bring a built-in team on board as well. “I’ve watched [other corporate real estate companies] attempt expansion by approaching someone, get told ‘We’re not for sale’, and say ‘What’s your price? Everyone’s got a price.’ The competitor would eventually name a price, the suitor would write them a check, and make them stay around for three years. At the end of that time, the former competitors are out the door, starting up their own company, competing with you, and now they’re bringing their old guys back – all of whom were better than you in the first place! So much of this business is about relationships. So how do you build an organization where there’s no turn-over? It’s all about the people here.” Ken nods and sums up this concept with succinct phrasing, “Our assets go down the elevator every night.”

Yet anyone with a few days’ experience in corporate America, regardless of the industry, knows that joining a “national platform” can more often than not mean endless bureaucratic headaches. Decisions within Ken and Barry’s firm are streamlined with enviable speed. “As a private company, we have a pretty small leadership team,” Ken is happy to point out. “There is no board of directors, no stockholders – just make a decision and move on.” Daily and inter-city business, as well as fee-sharing among licensees, is regulated by strict guidelines generated through a President’s Council (the licensees), a Leadership Council (a more expanded group involving the retail team, the capital partners, different entities of the overall organization), and an Executive Committee (a smaller group of local Staubach executives). Everyone involved in these groups is a stakeholder in the opportunity at hand, so endless hand-wringing over a particular tenant issue benefits no one. This nimble approach to deal brokering has put Staubach on the Denver map both literally and figuratively.

Chances are you’ve seen elements of their handiwork by simply looking at the Denver skyline. The Staubach Company has been involved in one aspect or another with such landmarks as the Qwest headquarters, the Republic Plaza and Wells Fargo (“Cash Register”) towers downtown, and the Time Warner Telecom and KN Energy buildings in the Denver Tech Center. Visible monuments don’t hold much of either man’s attention, however. Ken is most proud of establishing repeat business. Barry highlights some of the more impressive wins they have chalked up thus far, like gaining the State of Colorado as a client, winning out over thirty- one competing companies. “And Janus Funds – we did their world headquarters. But I agree with Kenny – repeat customers are truly flattering. They respond to our core values: teamwork, balance, integrity. And that comes from Roger, absolutely. He deferred a promising professional football career to serve in the Naval Academy.”

The phone on the conference table rings; CEO and Pro Football Hall of Famer Roger Staubach is calling in unexpectedly to share his views. Both Ken and Barry are pleased that Roger’s taking the time to call into a local interview (he’s vacationing with his family), but neither are surprised.They regard his genuine interest in the Denver team’s activities as simply another example of a well-grounded man who lives in the same house he’s owned since 1979, despite a heady jump in his income over the years. Roger deflects any compliments regarding his entrepreneurial choices, but jumps at the chance to highlight the talent within the company as the source of its success. “The big thing is maintaining within our company the commitments to each other that ultimately provides service and value to the customer. The team aspect means you realize you’re successful because of the input of others. I was watching the British Open today and there’s still a caddy, instructors, that sort of thing – sure it’s a single golfer in front of you but it’s a team effort.

“I truly believe that if you get the right people in the right places working together, then miracles can happen. I see it all of the time in our company, large as it is, with people sharing ideas and emails as to how to help a particular customer whether in Denver or San Diego, wherever. We’re working with school systems and project-managing hospitals, partnering a great deal with the public sector – focusing on being a service company, not a ‘fee-and-me’ broker.”

All three men share another quality aside from career goals and a fervent belief in the synergy of teamwork. Their time outside of the office is often best spent giving back to the community. Ken has joined the board of the Bard Center in Denver, a self-sustaining adjunct of the University of Colorado dedicated to fostering entrepreneurship. Barry has been involved with the American Diabetes Foundation, National MS Society, and Boy Scouts of America for years. Roger’s ideas on philanthropy began as a child, when his parents instructed him to always and forever “walk the talk.” “I was lucky in that my parents were great role models, as well as my first boss in the business – Henry S. Miller. He’s 82, going on 83, still represents what you’re supposed to do in life. He and his family are very involved in Texas communities. In 1970 I started out with him in the off-season.We had three kids born in the Navy, and they weren’t paying quarterbacks then what they paid later (you might want to ask John Elway about that!). I’d be there today except I wanted to start my own business. He was a broker who offered specialized services, and he knew that his business could only be as strong as the community it was based in.”