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Kristy K.: Hello and welcome back.

I'm Christy K. On business five 360.

We love courageous leadership and tenacious, resilient leaders reveal themselves, particularly during challenging times.

So to that end, our topic on this business life 360 is just that leadership during challenging times and the veteran executives you're about to meet reveal through their actions how they've worked to transform their worlds and the lives of customers and constituents across the globe.

And now let's hear more about challenges facing the real estate industry through the years as I meet up with New York real estate exec Steven Klarr.

Thank you so much for joining us today.

Steven Klar: My pleasure to be here.

Kristie K.: It's really great to interview you and hear more about the real estate industry.

So you have definitely seen the ebbs and flows in the real estate industry, in the markets through the years.

So tell us a little bit more about how many years you've been in real estate?

Steven Klar: Uh, probably all my life.

My father started a business representing developers in 1947, and I have definitely been part of it since then.

I've enjoyed it and I became a developer myself in 1979.

Kristie K.: So a few years.

Steven Klar:A few years ups and downs.

Kristie K.: For sure.

So let's talk a little bit about that.

What are some of the highs that you've seen through the years and some of the glory days and the best days that you've seen in real estate?

Because you really in New York, most of your of your days, correct?

Steven Klar: Yes.

I'm a suburban developer.

And certainly what my father started a business was representing all the builders who had taken care of the vets after World War Two.

So suburbia really grew on Long Island of 11 towns and others grew up right there.

I've watched their growth.

There were boom times and yet, you know, there are recessions.

There would never been a depression that I've lived through.

But I can tell you right now, the pandemic hit us very badly, both price wise, and inflation is back.

So things we've had gas crisis in the seventies.

We've had other times where it's been bad builders get through it.

But it's very hard on the buying public right now.

Interest rates have gone back up.

It's getting tougher and tougher, but real estate has proved to be a very important commodity that people want to own.

It's part of the American dream, and so we want to help encourage that dream.

So I am still building even though I hit 75 this year.

Kristie K.: Tell our viewers a bit more about the real estate that you specialize in.

How are you building from scratch?

Are you?

Steven Klar: Oh, I always build from scratch.

I am not a renovator.

I don't like that.

I take a piece of property, I decide what goes on it, and then we build it and get.

Some are for families, some are.

Right now I just am opening up a senior's project where I have a thousand people on a waiting list for 40 homes.

So there's definitely a need for what we're building.

We try to plan what they want.

We have elevators for this group of people for second floor units, so they feel they could age in place.

And when we say seniors, 55 and over is not old, but we have people that in this particular community we built there ten, 15 years ago, a lot of those people are still there.

So they are now 80.

So they do need the help and that's what we designed master bedrooms on the first floor so we make it so it's a comfortable community for them.

Kristie K.: What are some of the current trends you're seeing in real estate that you don't think are going away in the future of the business?

Steven Klar: We know nobody's replicating land, so land costs have gone through the roof all over the country and because of that, there's nothing going to be affordable for the first time homebuyer who wants to come in, wants to buy and bring their families up, whether it's houses or whether it's condominiums or whatever.

So we builders, unfortunately, are accommodating to a more exclusive class rather than.

all.

Kristie K.: I did hear something and I want to get this right.

You once listed your very own octagon shaped penthouse property in New York City at City Spire for a mere $100 million.

Is that correct?

And give me a give us all a little bit more information on that.

Steven Klar: I did put it on the market when my child, Ashton Klar, was five years old and I said, what happens if he goes out on the terrorist?

We have 360 degree terraces on the 73rd, 74th and 75th floor.

What happens if he goes out there and, God forbid, something bad could happen?

So my wife and I had a discussion and we did I did build out this.

I didn't build the project.

It was a work out for a bank.

So I went in and took the penthouse myself.

It was unfinished space and I took two and a half years of my life to build it out.

And it's a wonderful space.

I still have it today.

I did not get the $100 million offer.

I was looking forward to it.

I'm still happy and.

Kristie K.: Tell us more about the Klar Leadership Academy and how you came to start that and what that is doing for students.

Steven Klar: So when I was a student here, we didn't have anything that tried to think outside the box.

So we have come up with a system that tries to encourage students to feel confident in themselves, build a support network for themselves that they can use long beyond college, but take the things they learned and put it into charitable institutions.

Put it into any other form of giving them the ability to be leaders.

That means we give them mentors, we give them business industrialists here in the Midwest who teach them, talk to them.

We take them out to places like the Air National Guard.

And we have been working with Feed My Starving Children as a charity where we do a couple of hundred thousand meals every year to help on, you know, needy people in the countries all around the world.

So I'm very proud that they work hard and they seem to like it a lot.

And they have a distinct feeling that this helps them believe college after four years.

Kristie K.: So Steven, when you are in business life 360, we do something that is called Quick Hits where we ask you some rapid questions and we get some quick responses from you to help our viewers get to know you a little better.

The biggest learning moment in your career.

Steven Klar: Adjusting to the army.

Kristie K.: Hm.

Thank you for your service.

What you most enjoy doing when you aren't working.

Steven Klar: Spending time with my son.

He's a good golfer.

I'm not as good.

So I could say I like being on the golf course with him and seeing his improvement.

Kristie K.: Who's your mentor?

Steven Klar: Probably my father.

Kristie K.: One big challenge in life that you've had to overcome.

Steven Klar: I had a brother who was very brilliant, and I think I had to overcome the fact that I wasn't as smart as he was book wise.

So I overcame that and I became the man that I am today.

Kristie K.: Terrific.

Deal or sale that you are most proud of.

Steven Klar: Purchasing my apartment in the city.

Kristie K.: Outside of family.

Who is the most fascinating person you've ever met?

Steven Klar: I met John Paul in Rome, who was undoubtedly the holiest person I ever met and I guess was the most fascinating.

It was just an amazing thing to be in his presence.

So I'm a Jewish man meeting the Catholic Pope.

Kristie K.: Steven Klar, thank you for being in business life.

364 your real estate expertize and for all you do for our world.

Steven Klar: Thank you.

Nice being here.

Kristie K.: For the life and career of a United States congressman is no easy task, particularly in times of a divided nation.

In many regards.

Congressman Bob Latta is here to tell us why a career in US Congress truly matters.

Congressman Latta, thanks so much for joining us.

So Congressman Latta, as a whole kind of big picture wise, are the majority of businesses in the state of Ohio able to thrive post-pandemic?

Bob Latta: That's a great question because again, what I'm hearing from small, medium and large businesses out there, it's all about finding employees.

And for the smaller employers out there, just trying to keep the doors open where they don't have to be behind the counters or serving customers, it's tough.

And so this is something that's not only across our district or the state, but across the entire country.

And we saw the labor participation rate in the country, you know, go from about 64% to about 62% post-pandemic.

So we need to get people back into the labor force.

But, you know, these are that's the number one issue I'm hearing from folks out there.

But again, I'm on the road constantly.

And we're also seeing is forces that with rising interest rates out there that's affecting businesses, higher inflation has really socked it to everyone out there, that it's really been a tough year, that, of course, energy prices have put things also a big squeeze because again, when 82 and a half percent of everything in Ohio is trucked, that's a major cost.

And then, of course, if you think about locomotives, they're diesel and diesels over $5 a gallon.

Kristie K.: Are there any things going well right now in terms of of our business success rates and entrepreneurial companies out there?

Bob Latta: Well, I think, you know, you always want to be on the positive side.

And that's one of the things I think, again, you've got so many entrepreneurs out there who want to get started and so, you know, they're willing to take that risk, you know, but there are precious resources out there that they might never recover if something doesn't work for them.

But, you know, we want to make sure that they're have that opportunity to succeed.

And so when you look at what the smaller companies are doing and even the large, you know, everyone's out there, you know, scrambling.

But the great thing that you hear from everybody is this in a lot of cases, they have more orders than they can actually fill.

And so that's one of the big things out there is, again, when you you know, it's supply chain issues and all that.

You know, I think that, you know, companies have really looked at how they can fix these supply chain issues and move forward.

And, you know, we're seeing it right here in northwest Ohio with companies that are looking in their own backyards to keep that supply chain as short as possible.

Kristie K.: Now, Ohio, your state is home to, as you said earlier, more than 60,000 manufacturing jobs.

You've got the glass, steel, auto industry.

You even have candy and cookie companies in Ohio.

So do you have companies now that are interested in moving into the state of Ohio and continuing to grow, or is the opposite still occurring?

Kind of what does that state of economic development in Ohio to date?

Bob Latta: You know, when you look at the overall, I think Ohio, it's very, very positive because, again, we have a lot of resources here that a lot of states don't have.

You know, first of all, it's sometimes we talk about our weather here in Ohio.

Well, let's face it, it's not the greatest.

But we have we have water.

You go to a lot of places in this country now and they have no water.

So we have a lot of resources out there.

On the natural side, we look at our roads out there that we have a great interstate system that we can move things.

We look at the Great Lake or Lake Erie that we right here that for shipping.

You look at our rail transportation.

So we have all of these things going for us.

But again, you know, one of the things we always want to make sure that we're doing is making sure that we keep these costs down for companies because, again, that's what they look at.

So when you think about on natural gas from your heating or building or using it to run your furnaces or something else like that, you want to make sure that we have very competitive rates.

And I think Ohio has that.

And I think that's where a lot of companies are looking at Ohio right now and saying that, you know what, we really want to come into Ohio.

But, you know, again, they look at another one, that first issue we talked about, do we have the labor force out there for them?

But I think we have that, too.

Kristie K.: Well, certainly inflation is an issue.

You touched upon that earlier in our conversation affecting businesses negatively.

So how is it affecting them and what can we be doing to kind of impact the struggles that businesses are facing as it ties to inflation?

Bob Latta:Well, you know, first and foremost, when you think about the cost of doing business, you know, we have some companies, in fact, different types of businesses out there.

Their profit margins might only be 1 to 2%, and that's pretty tight.

So when you think about what they have to go through, so then it goes down to the whole question of, okay, so what are they paying, you know, for the service for, you know, the cost of having employees is going to be at all these things up.

And so you look at the overall picture, inflation is one of those things that is a real killer up there because, again, it's too much too much money chasing too few goods out there is, you know, the definition pretty much as inflation.

But for for companies and small businesses and everything else out, they're feeling because, again, as costs go up and also energy costs, they're talking about utility rates in Ohio going up because of, again, what's happened in Washington.

And we could be doing so much more in this country to take care of ourselves and make sure that we have that energy.

Because it wasn't too long ago that, you know, I was talking to leaders from different countries and businesses from overseas.

You're looking at the United States saying that, look, your labor costs are higher, but you have the natural resources, you have energy.

We can build plants here in the United States, hire Americans and cut down that whole supply chain issue to a very, you know, right here in the United to North America and keep it here.

Kristie K.: Final question for you.

What will it take for our nation to return to economic growth, for job recovery and beyond?

Bob Latta: Well, first of all, we've got to have a balanced budget out there.

We can't have the federal government spending the way we are because we're over $30 trillion in debt.

And within eight years now and I am wrong in my prediction, I thought being in ten years, but in eight years we'll be paying $1,000,000,000,000 a year.

Just pay interest on the debt.

It'll be a third highest payment we make every year.

And so, you know, we've got to really make sure that we get our our budget in line and we stay with it.

Kristie K.: And as an Ohio girl myself, I want to say thank you to U.S. Representative Bob Latta for being here on Business Life 360.

And we thank you for all you do day in and day out to make a difference to those in the state of Ohio.

And in this great country.

Very much never has the challenge of solid leadership and more parents than in the travel and tourism industry, particularly in the last few years.

Talk about pivoting.

Well, with me today is someone who has been leading the charge in the travel and tourism industry for 45 years.

Dana miller is here with me from Central Travel to talk more about the industry ebbs and flows.

Jamie, it's great to be with you.

Thank you.

Great to be here.

So you have seen so much through the 45 years you've been in the industry.

Can you believe it's been that long?

No, I can't.

But, yeah, we've seen it all.

You have seen it all.

Now, when we talk about sales and revenue in the travel and tourism business, what is it in terms of the global markets, if you will, that really have to fall in line for things to be running smoothly and be successful in this business?

Jani Miller: It's it's driven by the economy, hands down by the economy.

And when there's supply, there's demand.

And so things are coming back.

We're getting really, really excited.

It was a rough few years with COVID.

Kristie K.: As a consumer myself in the travel industry, I marvel at the fact that you worked through so many issues and were successful.

And here we are, post-pandemic.

How did you navigate some of those ebbs and flows?

And what do you do when the the high highs turn into those really difficult times, such as the pandemic?

Dani Miller: We just have to have a plan and you have to be prepared.

You know, I've lived through everything deregulation, Gulf War.

You know, 9-11, the recession.

Commission cuts, commission caps.

And then COVID.

COVID now you've got a world wide issue, but you have to have a plan and you have to have cash reserves.

It's pretty simple.

You know, you've got when you have great years, you tuck some of that money aside, you save it for a rainy day.

Kristie K.: When you talk about travel, then you talk about air travel.

What about trains?

Are trains, popular boats?

Cruises?

Dani Miller: Yes.

The cruise industry is definitely back river cruises.

Huge, huge, huge river cruises.

Ocean cruises.

A bunch of newbuilds out there and expedition ships.

You've got expedition ships all over the world, Antarctica, the Arctic, Galapagos.

But now we've got really sophisticated hardware.

So you can go out and you can snorkel with the sea lions and then come back and have this thread count.

That's unbelievable in your bed.

That's really cool.

Train travel in Europe is huge.

Not so much in the U.S.. Kristie K.: How has consumer demand changed through the years?

Dani Miller: Early on, all they wanted was somebody to book their travel book.

My airline ticket, take care of my car rental, take care of my hotel.

And it has evolved to help me craft a lovely itinerary.

Kristie K.: VRBO and some of the the vacation hubs, Airbnb.

How has that impacted your business?

That advent of those companies is is soaring at this point.

Dani Miller: It really hasn't impacted us that much.

There's a certain segment that's going to want to do it themselves and they can do it themselves.

Some of those people are our customers and it's okay.

But if they have a problem, they're on their own.

Kristie K.: For us, it's sort of like that DIY, the do it yourself versus having you to really handle the logistics and make sure that there's a service level that is up here.

And I think that's always kind of reassuring and nice for the traveler to know that you're there every step of the way.

Should there be an issue or a problem?

And speaking of that, with cancelations and all of the things that were happening, how did you navigate the airline situations, post-COVID?

And with some of the strikes and things of that nature, how did you how were you able to pivot and really handle the customer juggling of flights and all kinds of it?

Dani Miller: it was a mess.

You just you have to be well connected, have a good network.

So we belong to a consortia of 202 agencies.

So we have networks all over.

And so we have the inside scoop with all the airlines.

We've got VIP lines with all the airlines.

If there's a problem, the airlines will go to the mat for us so we can take care of our customer and our customer can get hold of us.

24 seven.

That's how it should be.

Kristie K.: When we talk about the GDP and some of the numbers in the travel and tourism industry, tell us a little bit more about that and what that represents.

Dani Miller: So globally, travel and tourism makes up about 10% of the total GDP globally.

That's like 9 trillion.

It's huge.

It's huge.

In the US is about 3%, about 1.9 trillion, something like that.

Now, that was 19.

Now we drop back a few the last couple of years.

But they're saying by the end of next year, we should be back up at those levels.

Kristie K.: So where do you see the future of the travel and tourism industry when you look forward now, you've been through these really, really difficult times in the last few years here with COVID and now coming out of COVID.

How do you see the industry changing and evolving as we look forward?

Dani Miller: It's going robust.

I am so excited.

I can't believe the things we have on the books for the next two three years already.

We had this Midwest mindset that you go someplace for sun and sand first quarter.

That's all gone.

People want to see the world.

They want to see the whole world, and they want to stay in really nice places.

Kristie K.: Thanks, Dani Miller.

Thank you.

So here we are talking about the travel and tourism industry.

And we're going to talk with someone who books travel.

Our travel advisors with us today.

Diane.

Thanks for being with us.

Thank you.

It is so interesting to hear how you handled COVID, how you got beyond it.

Dianne Cordell: There was no travel that was the same.

We had people stranded halfway through like Alaska.

Cruise tours seemed to be the biggest one.

They would start the land.

They'd test positive, wouldn't make the ship.

I had a client that got through the whole trip, got to Canada, tested positive.

Canada said, You can't come here.

Put them back on the ship and send them back the other way.

My goodness.

We have clients so difficult.

We had clients that made it to Canada and they put them up at a hotel at the airport.

So every case was unique.

Kristie K.: Now we talk about trends in the travel and tourism industry.

What are some of the current trends that you're seeing, particularly as we come out of the pandemic and sort of post-pandemic moving forward.

Dianne Cordell: Because people haven't been able to travel for almost two years.

All that money that they've had building up in their vacation funds, they are spending it and they are ready to spend it and more.

I didn't treat myself for two years and I'm going to upgrade my room.

I'm going to extend my stay.

I'm going to fly first class.

I have never treated myself to that.

So we're seeing a lot more increased budgets.

Destinations that people thought they'd never be able to afford to go to.

Just saying yes.

They're just saying yes.

Kristie K.: big groups, small groups, average travelers.

All of the above.

Yeah.

Dianne Cordell: Yeah.

Corporate incentives.

They want to be face to face like they want to see people again.

They just spent so long.

So yeah, two years, over two years.

Kristie K.: talked a little bit earlier about some of the disruptors in the travel industry, one of which could be in your cases are booking things, hurricanes or maybe earthquakes in other parts of the of the world.

How does that impact the bookings with clients?

Dianne Cordell: All those people need to be rebooked and there's not a lot of space.

So that's that's been a huge challenge.

I had some people that were scheduled to go to Russia and the Ukraine.

Obviously, those people had to be accommodated to a Europe destination that was outside of their norm.

Vietnam, Cambodia was another one.

People were scheduled to go and they had to be rebooked to a different destination as well.

Kristie K.: Dianne, thank you so much for being.

Dianne Cordell: You're welcome.

You're welcome.

Thank you.

Kristie K.: Leadership is not an easy road yet.

Each of our guests has exemplified how navigating a path to success through adversity is at its core, a true definition of leadership.

And that's a wrap on this episode of Business Life 360, where we know there's always more room to learn, lead and grow.

Thanks for joining us.

I'm Kristi Kay and I look forward to seeing you on the next business life.

360.

Announcer: Connect with Kristi Kay on LinkedIn at Kristi Kay Hoffman and hear the business Life360 conversation on FM 91 on Thursday mornings to watch previous episodes and more.

Visit our website at WG t Dawgs B 360 and join Kristy for her new podcast business Life After Hours.

Business Life360 with Kristi Kay is made possible by Promedica, a locally owned, nationally recognized not for profit health care network that has a strong commitment to clinical excellence, providing safe, high quality patient care and addressing social issues that impact health.

The John B and Lillian E Neff College of Business and Innovation at the University of Toledo, developing lifelong leaders for the world of business and by KeyBank, also by viewers like you.

Thank you.