Tyrell Murray's Growth at Cushman & Wakefield: Career Insights Part One

Laura: Tell me about your career journey

Tyrell Murray: I started in the industry over 20 years ago. It was a humble beginning for me. I was in retail and then worked at a gas station. For lack of a better way to say it, I hated my job.

A co-worker got me a job as a Leasing Agent at a Multifamily property management company called Lyon Management Group. I initially just wanted to work and didn’t realize it would become a career. I really enjoyed what I what I was doing, so I started to research Multifamily at large, understanding how it works, because I didn't know much about Multifamily real estate.

Lyon Management Group was big on procedure, and they had a manual for everything, so I spent a lot of weekends reading manuals and bringing myself up to speed on how to be a top tier seller. And then I moved from Leasing Associate to Leasing Manager, Leasing Manager to Assistant Property Manager, and then my journey to Property Manager began with another company.

Laura: I love that you got excited about the career and invested all that time learning and training yourself.

Tyrell Murray: I was kind of forced. The first property where I was placed had mostly Spanish speaking clients, and I wasn’t bilingual, so I had to figure out how to compete against my bilingual counterparts. A lot of my time was spent in the office reading, and I became more of a leasing administrator rather than a leasing consultant. I was responsible for all the reports.

Laura: So you found a way to utilize your strengths and add value. What then brought you to Cushman & Wakefield?

Tyrell Murray: I worked for Bell Partners for seven years. Then DRA sold a large portion of their portfolio to a new client, and that client had a relationship with Pinnacle (before it was C&W), so I took a leap of faith and joined Pinnacle.

I didn’t know much about Pinnacle when I joined as a Property Manager at a property in Duluth, GA, but it was the best decision I’ve ever made. Coming from the Bell Partners to Pinnacle (now C&W) was where my career really took off.

I went from Property Manager to Floating Manager to Senior Manager to Area Manager to Regional Manager, and I don't believe I would have had that opportunity with the other companies.

Laura: What was different here?

Tyrell Murray: Mentorship. I'm a firm believer that if your supervisor is not invested in your growth, you're not going to go anywhere. I don't care how good you are, regardless of the size of the company, you're probably going to hit a glass ceiling if somebody isn’t cheerleading for you.

Laura: So that was the difference - you felt like somebody invested in you and had faith that you were going to do big things?

Tyrell Murray: Absolutely. Ironically my Regional Manager at Bell Partners was the one who encouraged me to take the role at Pinnacle. Despite the changes and him losing me as a manager, he pushed me to go. I originally wasn't going to leave, but I was made better from it. He is now a Senior Director here at CW, Tony Pistone.

I believe that promotion is something that's thought of you, not something you chase. I've never received a promotion without my regional manager coming to me and seeing if I was ready. I didn't have to chase it, but somebody else’s story may be different from mine. I just don't think you should chase a promotion.

It's something that your boss has seen and should be cultivating without you knowing, so when the time is right and they put you in that seat, you're set up for success.

Before I became a Regional Manager, my manager Kim Senior had been preparing me without me knowing it. I thought she was just teaching me things to teach me, and at times it seemed like a lot of extra work, but she was preparing me for the next role.