Whitney Johnson left a seven figure Wall Street job in an effort to help women dream. Her BLOG, Dare to Dream, states: “women in the U.S. may be placated, even pampered, but because we aren’t dreaming, we are also desperate and depressed.” Whitney hopes to inspire other women to dream as big as she has. With a degree in music from Brigham Young University, Whitney moved, with her husband, to New York City, where she was promptly told she would be a good secretary. Whitney took the opportunity, but went back to school for accounting, and was soon placed on the administrative track on Wall Street.

Ten years later Whitney left Wall Street ranked among the best investors in the world. “Every time you make a big decision,” says Whitney, “there’s a push and a pull.” The push, she says, was reaching the ceiling of accomplishment in investing. The pull was turning forty, which she calls a “mid-life opportunity.”
Now, she counts blogging, publishing and managing a hedge fund among her pursuits. Organize Magizine, of which she is an investor and member of the advisory board, has a circulation of 100,000, and is available in many major retail outlets. Whitney’s advice for those pursuing their dreams is to simply “go out and try. Don’t be afraid. You have to be willing to take risks to dream.”

Whitney’s BLOG is found at: www.daretodream.typepad.com

Renee West is the first female president of a property on the Las Vegas strip, but she doesn’t really care that much. “It’s pretty cool,” says Renee, “People make a big deal about it, but I don’t really care that much.”

As the president of Excalibur, owned by the MGM group, Renee relishes in the autonomy she is allowed. “I don’t own the place,” she says, “But I often get to function like I do.” What began as a career in human resources has now blossomed into a very powerful position, from which Renee is able to pursue her passion: developing people.

Renee lives in “a constant state of growth,” constantly evolving and adapting to new situations. She is open about the decision making process, allowing all employees to see why certain decisions are made, and furthermore, allowing them to freely express their opinions. This has created a community instead of a dictatorship, and her staff appreciates the openness.

When asked to elaborate on the assumed struggles of a woman in a male-dominant world, Renee says that she “experienced very few obstacle because [she] never showed up like [she] was disadvantaged.” Renee advises people to take risks. “I could’ve pushed it more,” she admits. If to do it over again “I would get rid of my limiting beliefs.” She finishes simply, “Don’t listen to the chatter that tells you can’t have it.”

Gamal Aziz, CEO of MGM Mirage and COO of the MGM Grand, has spent his entire life in the tourism industry. Born in Egypt, Gamal was fortunate enough to naturally acquire various languages as a child, possibly foreshadowing a life of demanding communication. At 16, Gamal spent his entire savings on a roundtrip ticket to France; his first job was bussing tables in Paris. After business school at the University of Cairo, Gamal realized that his “true passion is quality service.”

Today, Gamal uses that passion to lead more than 9,000 employees, a responsibility he gladly undertakes. “It is essential to know,” says Gamal, “That leadership is leadership, wherever you employ it,” whether as the CEO, or a pool attendant.

“There is nothing better,” Gamal says, “Than loving what you do. What a waste it is to dread doing your job.”

When asked how people can better identify their talents, Gamal suggests they make a list of everything they like to do, regardless of how applicable to the business world it seems. “What do you flock to?” says Gamal. “With what are you most comfortable?” The more honest people can be with themselves, the more chance they have of finding their passions as coinciding with real world opportunities.

When Phil Rapoport found his way into commercial property management in the 1980’s, he brought many of the things he had learned in hotel management with him. At the time, this was considered quite revolutionary, if not a little nonsensical. His bosses were hesitant about a tenant feedback survey, much like the comment cards left in nearly every hotel in America.

Why, his bosses wondered, would we leave ourselves open to criticism in that way?

This “hear no evil” attitude has been exactly what Phil has worked to eliminate from the commercial properties he has managed, including San Francisco’s Pyramid Center, where he currently serves as the General Manager.

After graduating from the University of San Francisco, Phil had no idea what he wanted to do with his life. A trip to Hawaii with his family inspired his career in the hospitality world. Phil could not, however, have imagined that his management of hotels would lead him today to be the GM of one of San Francisco’s most recognizable monuments. He made it this far because he acknowledged the importance of the little things, and continues to imbue his management team with similar values. These little things are what truly distinguish Phil from the stereotypical landlord.

Side note: We received an exclusive tour of the Trans America building, San Francisco’s signature building. We went from the security station to the tippy top of the building. It was sweet, and was capped off with a free hat giveaway.

One might expect the head killer whale trainer at Sea World SeaWorld San Diego to have, well, a killer whale size ego; that could not be further away from the truth. Although Robin held an almost prenatal love for the ocean and its inhabitants, having been raised around a SCUBA air station owned by his father, Robin found himself at 27 working in sales. An ad in the paper for SeaWorld caught his eye one day, and his inner child took control.

Yet through all of his successes, he remains humble, approachable, and as inspired as ever. These are the footprints of passion. Robin, who has led countless Shamu performances during his tenure at SeaWorld, still speaks with a charming reverence for his craft, and for the animals he so dearly respects and admires. Robin calls himself a behaviorist, but any similarities with Pavlov’s bell end there. To see Robin and the other trainers interact with the whales is to see a microcosm of a better world, where diverse inhabitants embrace their differences on the way to understanding their similarities.

We met up with Amy in her Southside Chicago loft, to hear her story of how she made a leap of faith from the security of Corporate America, to the exhilarating yet exhausting world of entrepreneurship. While we devoured the best pound cake known to man, the warm and collected Amy relived the events that led to her following her passion, and the opening of her business Comfort Cake®.

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The Road To General Manager

At age 18, Billy Beane had more hype surrounding him than LeBron James did coming out of high school. Scouts would flounder to his high school and drool at the opportunity of drafting the 6′4, power hitting sensation. The New York Mets got that opportunity, taking Billy with the 20^th pick in the first round of the 1980 baseball amateur draft.

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When we walked into the Chicago Housing Authority headquarters we wondered if we were in the right place. The unassuming security guard, who questioned the validity of my Arizona driver’s license, didn’t seem to fit what I had imagined of the organization that is single handedly changing the face of public housing in Chicago. But after meeting Rayne Martin a few minutes later, I began to realize that public service is only made possible by people with a passion for making a difference.

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Gary grew up in show business. His father was a press agent for big names like Marilyn Monroe, Bette Davis, Henry Fonda, Joan Crawford, Cary Grant, and many others. His father was one of the best in the business. He must had some clout to have his young son Gary be babysat by Marilyn Monroe herself!

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On a rainy day in the middle of summer in New York City, huddled under the umbrellas that we bought on a street corner for $2.99 each, we made our way to the CBS building at 51 W. 52nd Street, the home of Cushman and Wakefield. Cushman and Wakefield was founded in 1917 in New York City, and is the world’s largest privately held real estate firm. Since its inception almost eighty years ago, it has now expanded to doing business in 192 cities in 58 countries, with over 11,000 employees. One of those employees that is about to take the world by storm is Andrew Ackerman.

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