We talk a lot about scale in real estate. Scaling capital. Scaling platforms. Scaling product types. But what we rarely talk about, and what often determines success, is how we scale talent and culture.
Everyone wants the next thesis-driven, vertically integrated, brand-aligned opportunity. But few ask the more fundamental question: Do we have the people to pull it off?
In real estate private equity, we obsess over structure, returns, and who controls the asset. But increasingly, especially in firms trying to grow, the real constraint isn’t capital.
It’s culture. Or more specifically, the lack of one.
If you’re building a platform, not just assembling a portfolio, you’re in the execution business. And execution comes down to people. Clear expectations. Shared standards. Leadership that shows up the same way in every market. You can’t fake that. You can’t outsource it. And you can’t fix it with comp alone.
Ironically, one of the best examples of this lives far outside our industry: Chick-fil-A Restaurants. They’re closed one day a week. They sell chicken, same as everyone else, and while some believe the product is better (and yes, the sauce is pretty great), that alone doesn’t explain why Chick-fil-A consistently outperforms.
The real differentiator is culture, and how it shows up in every interaction. They hire for alignment, train to standards, and empower teams to carry the brand, not just follow scripts. It’s not about saying “my pleasure.” It’s about understanding why that moment matters. That’s leadership. That’s execution.
And then there’s the opposite story. Enterprise Rent-A-Car. Enterprise was once known for its people-first, promote-from-within, entrepreneurial culture. Branch managers were treated like business owners. Talent was groomed internally. Culture drove growth, not just compensation or branding.
But as the company scaled through acquisitions and centralization, that tight-knit culture began to erode. What had felt local, scrappy, and accountable started to feel corporate, transactional, and diluted. Internal decision-making slowed. Frontline autonomy disappeared.
The business grew. The culture did not. It’s a cautionary tale. Culture doesn’t disappear overnight. It unravels when no one is paying attention.
We’ve seen the same pattern in our industry, especially in hospitality, where hotel owners face growing friction between brand and management. With most major brands no longer operating the majority of their own hotels, there has been a clear decline in quality and consistency. Daily guest interactions are now delivered through fragmented third-party operators, many of whom lack alignment with either ownership or brand values.
As the management layer becomes more transactional and less mission-driven, the guest experience suffers. And when the guest experience suffers, so does asset performance. The brand may set the promise, but it’s frontline culture that delivers it. When that chain breaks, everyone loses.
And that’s what many real estate platforms are facing now.
We’ve seen firms hand the keys to a third-party manager with no shared expectations and no clarity on who owns what. We’ve seen “platforms” where every market runs differently, onboarding is improvised, and leadership is concentrated in one founder. We’ve seen operators expected to deliver a high-touch experience without a mission, a system, or a path forward.
And then we wonder why it doesn’t scale.
Culture is still treated like a buzzword, or worse, a luxury. But if Chick-fil-A can deliver consistency across thousands of locations run by different owners in different markets, real estate can too. If we take it seriously.
It starts with clarity: who we are, what we stand for, and how we operate. It requires structure: real leadership development, mobility, and accountability. And above all, it requires treating people not as cost centers, but as the engine that drives value.
Chick-fil-A built it. Enterprise lost it.
Now the question is: Will we protect it, or watch it slip away too?
At Highridge Search, we don’t just place talent, we help build cultures that scale. If you’re serious about creating a platform where execution, leadership, and values align, we’ll help you find the people who can make that real. Contact us today.
