Quarterly Earnings Call... "We believe the use of equity-based incentives contributes to our financial success for shareholders by continuing to motivate and reward key employees and aligning their interests with those of our shareholders.

"Stock-based programs are an essential part of our salary and bonus-based compensation system, a system that differentiates our company from real estate industry practice, which is typically driven by commissions."

That’s Colin Dyer, CEO of Jones Lang LaSalle speaking on JLL's April 28, 2005, First Quarter Earnings Conference Call. These calls always make me smile because they remind me how difficult it is to predict transaction (brokerage) revenues. (Of course, large service providers earn more predictable streams of real estate service fees, too.)

Imagine having to explain to the world every 90 days how well your company performed or did not perform -- and why. That's tough -- always presenting a credible story in an industry anchored by personal relationships, subject to a volatile mix of inertia, change and serendipity.

Part of the narrative for 2005 outlined by Dyer and CFO Lauralee Martin is a $10 million "strategic investment to accelerate our leadership position..." Translation: JLL wants to add "50 key people -- key market leaders around the globe." Of course, that's not easy.

Responding to an analyst's question about the challenge, Dyer said, "Yes, it is competitive. But that’s the way the market is at the moment. We are generally not losing people. We are picking people up. Sometimes teams, sometimes individuals. But the process of finding and hiring individuals in this sort of market is typically protracted."

And here's a longer term strategy described by Dyer. "Looking to the future in China and recognizing the need to develop and attract skilled Chinese Nationals to our business, we also launched the Jones Lang LaSalle Real Estate Scholarship with Tsinghua University [Beijing] to support outstanding students of this top institution."

Fortune lauds Tingshua in its latest issue, From Marx to Market: How China's best business school is rewiring the nation's economy. (May 16, 2005) ... Yep, the world is changing.

--Peter Pike