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BKREA has released the September 2026 installment of Crexi’s “Conversation with the Chairman,” featuring BKREA Chairman & CEO Bob Knakal in an eight-question interview with Crexi Senior Director Ashley Kobovitch. The latest conversation explores the parallels between baseball and commercial real estate brokerage, including statistics, resilience, consistency, failure, data, and the importance of maintaining fundamentals throughout changing market cycles.
Drawing from a 42-year career that began in 1984 and includes more than 2,425 building sales totaling nearly $25 billion, Knakal explains how lessons from baseball have influenced his approach to measuring performance, handling setbacks, building relationships, and continuously improving as a broker.
Knakal's passion for baseball statistics shaped his approach to commercial real estate. From the beginning of his career, he has used transaction data and performance metrics to understand what worked, identify areas for improvement, and measure results.
Knakal compares rejected pitches, unreturned calls, and failed transactions to baseball at-bats. A player can fail repeatedly and still achieve an exceptional career. The same mindset applies to brokerage, where setbacks are part of the process.
Throughout his career, Knakal has navigated major market disruptions, including the Savings & Loan Crisis, the dot-com crash, September 11, the Global Financial Crisis, COVID, and periods of rising interest rates. While market conditions changed, the fundamentals of prospecting, market knowledge, honesty, and follow-up remained consistent.
Knakal discusses BKREA's Knakal Land Index, which analyzes thousands of Manhattan development site transactions using numerous variables. He emphasizes that data and AI can provide valuable insights, but human judgment remains essential because models cannot fully account for individual motivations and circumstances.
For younger brokers, Knakal recommends measuring controllable activities such as calls, meetings, and valuations rather than focusing exclusively on commissions. Tracking these inputs can help turn success into a repeatable process.
The interview discusses Knakal's distinctive business card, modeled after classic Topps baseball cards and featuring his career statistics. The concept reflects his belief that professionals who claim expertise should be able to demonstrate it through measurable results.
Knakal discusses how platforms such as Crexi bring listings, data, and market intelligence together, allowing properties to reach potential investors beyond a broker's immediate personal network.
The September installment combines lessons from baseball with practical insights into investment sales. Knakal's experience demonstrates how statistics, repetition, resilience, and consistency can provide a framework for navigating a career that spans multiple market cycles.
The conversation also highlights the evolving role of technology and data in brokerage. While analytics can help brokers understand markets and identify opportunities, Knakal emphasizes that successful execution still requires judgment, relationships, and an understanding of the people behind each transaction.
According to Knakal:
“Yesterday's strikeout has nothing to do with today's at-bat.”
The message reinforces the importance of treating each opportunity independently and continuing to execute regardless of what happened previously.
Read the September 2026 installment of “Conversation with the Chairman” featuring Bob Knakal and Crexi Senior Director Ashley Kobovitch.
It is an ongoing thought leadership series featuring Bob Knakal and produced in partnership with Crexi, exploring commercial real estate, investment sales, market trends, and lessons from Knakal's career.
The latest installment examines the parallels between baseball and investment sales, focusing on statistics, resilience, consistency, failure, data, and career-long fundamentals.
Knakal's background as a college baseball player influenced his appreciation for statistics and performance measurement. He has applied that scorekeeping mindset to commercial real estate throughout his career.
The Knakal Land Index analyzes thousands of Manhattan development site transactions across numerous variables to provide data-driven market insights.
He compares professional setbacks to individual baseball at-bats, emphasizing that one failed opportunity should not determine how a broker approaches the next one.
Successful brokerage combines measurable performance, consistent execution, resilience, data, market knowledge, and human judgment. As in baseball, each new opportunity is another at-bat.
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