Leadership
Carrying the torch
How Bill Hankowsky perpetuates a culture of integrity at Liberty Property Trust
By Erik Cassano
Smart Business Philadelphia | August 2008
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It was 2003 when Bill Hankowsky found himself alone at the top.
Less than a year after taking over as chairman and CEO of
Liberty Property Trust, Hankowsky was charged with both preserving a legacy and building a future.
Willard G. “Bill” Rouse III, the man who founded the company
that would become Liberty Property Trust, succumbed to cancer
that May. Rouse was the only leader the company had ever known
since its inception in 1972, and he was the one who had set in place
the standards, ethics and policies that became Liberty Property’s
culture.
Now Hankowsky, who had been named president in 2002, was
charged with preserving that culture while building a company
that could flourish in the 21st century.
“Bill was a visionary in the business and a beloved leader,”
Hankowsky says. “As with all entrepreneurial founders, it was
Bill’s company, so I didn’t view it as stepping into Bill’s shoes.
I don’t think anyone could have stepped into Bill’s shoes. But
it was a tough situation to step into.”
For Hankowsky, taking over for Rouse meant starting with a
return to the basics upon which Rouse founded the commercial real estate company: Promoting the culture, building longstanding relationships with customers and real estate brokers,
and finding employees who wanted to do the same.
If your company is built on a foundation of solid core values
and a strong culture, chances are the moves you should make
in the future will become more evident.
This is how Hankowsky has used communication and a
strong corporate culture to continue carrying the Liberty
Property torch lit by Rouse more than a quarter-century ago.
