Bokman of JLL discusses three influential women

Name: Amanda Bokman Title: Managing Director Company Name: JLL Years in Commercial Real Estate: 13 What were your biggest fears when you started out in your profession? Prior to becoming a commercial real estate brokerage professional eight years ago, I was a Chief Financial Officer — a salaried position with a very structured work environment. While I had commercial real estate experience from earlier in my career and loved the business, it was not sales-oriented or commission-based, and I was not required to develop my own business. My biggest fear was: Could I prosper in a completely unstructured environment where I would need to determine what business to go after, develop it myself and support myself through the cash flow uncertainty? All in all, it has been an extremely satisfying eight years of growth, and I thoroughly enjoy what I do. Who are three women- living or dead - that you would like to have drinks with and why? Hillary Clinton - to discuss her incredible life experiences as First Lady, Secretary of State and the potential to be the first U.S. female president. Meg Whitman - to hear about how she built EBay into a multi-national Fortune 500 company and the current challenges that she faces running Hewlett-Packard, one of the largest technology companies in the world going through a difficult transition. Rosa Parks - to understand how she mustered up the courage to do what she believed was right despite the centuries of prejudice in the country. What was your first job and what did you learn from it? I started my career as a Certified Public Accountant at what was then known as the "Big Eight", auditing the financial statements of public and private companies. It was an amazing way to begin my career and a provided a perfect foundation for what I am doing today. The profession required extremely hard work and long hours, which helped to build my work ethic, taught me how to be analytical with regard to complex financial transactions, provided me with expertise on reviewing financial statements to assess financial wherewithal, and finally, understanding not only the cash, but the book implications of various transactions, all critical skills in working with my clients today. What are you doing differently in 2014 that has had positive impact on your career? I am focusing much more on business development, giving it at least half of my time, as opposed to spending time solely on completing transactions and then turning to business development afterwards. This includes increased participation in networking events, reaching out to contacts made earlier in my career to make introductions to prospects that I think I can help, and making sure that I am out meeting new people as often as I can. This has enabled me to have a much better balance of future and current deal flow.