In this episode, Phil is joined by Jon Milonas, a Senior Vice President in CBRE’s Tenant Representation Group, the largest commercial real estate firm in the world. Jon’s Chicago team focuses on helping occupiers of real estate to align their business strategies with their real estate, by identifying the needs and challenges of an organization and couple those needs with finding the right office space. Jon discusses his approach to clients by asking where businesses see themselves in 5-10 years, and how to help them achieve their vision by finding an appropriate office space for their current and future business. Jon elaborates by mentioning the two most important questions that his clients should be answering when solving issues from both a challenge and a future goal perspective: (1) what are their deficiency drivers; and (2) what are their success factors? Jon stresses the importance of these questions and what it will mean for a business’ future. Jon authored the book: “Kicking Off Your Office Lease: 6 Proven Steps to Develop a Thorough Strategy and Avoid Costly Mistakes,” which helps to prepare businesses in starting a conversation with their executives and bringing in the right people to run a project. Jon emphasizes that so much of what business relationships consist of is confidence, and if you have confidence in your relationships, you can strengthen them and move forward toward reaching your real estate goals.

Jon Milonas is a Senior Vice President in CBRE’s Tenant Representation Group in the Chicago Region. Jon focuses his practice on developing comprehensive and strategic real estate plans, structuring and negotiating office leases, and assisting with the renewal, relocation and sublease/buyout of leased properties. During his career, Jon has completed over two hundred fifty transactions on behalf of local Chicago based organizations as well as national and global organizations such as Willis Towers Watson, PwC, McGraw-Hill Companies, Morningstar, Hewlett Packard, Prudential, and Société Générale. Jon’s team has successfully transacted across a wide array of industries, with a focus in the legal, financial services, insurance, technology and consulting sectors.

Prior to joining CBRE in 2007, Jon worked as an International Representative of the YMCA of the USA, in Valparaiso, Chile. In this role, he was the Spanish-English oral and written translator and participated as a member of the Chilean International Committee facilitating international leadership conferences.

View more on Jon and CBRE here.

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