KEN BLOCK | BLOCK REAL ESTATE SERVICES
Real estate was in Ken Block’s blood before there even was a Ken Block.
His father, the late Kansas City real estate legend Allen Block, launched what would become Block & Co., Inc., Realtors, in 1940. By the time Ken was born, 13 years later, the company was well on the way to being a local institution. So he understood what real success meant before joining forces with his father in 1975, and eventually with his brothers, Stephen and Michael: “Dad had the ability to make people want to do business with him,” Block says, “because he was ethical, he was trustworthy, you could count on his advice. He taught the three sons that all you’ve got is your reputation, and you have to work very, very hard to keep it.”
Those values, and a hard-nosed sense of determination—“I don’t take ‘no’ for an answer,” Block says—helped turn the company into an $812 million behemoth in gross sales last year, easily making it No. 1 in the Kansas City market. Earlier this year, Allen Block’s sons separated some company operations from the entity their father founded to create Block Real Estate Services, where Ken Block serves as managing principal. Success comes from an iron resolve to get the deal done, but not for his own sake or his company’s: If the client doesn’t succeed, Block doesn’t. That’s the philosophy behind the successful creation of the Block Income Funds, which allow smaller investors to get into the commercial real estate game, in increments as little as $50,000. Meeting the goals of smaller investors, he says, helps create more higher-value investors. But again, the key is delivering on the promise.
“Nobody wants to use you unless you can bring something to the table,” he notes. “You have to add value. My success is that I am really good at bringing people together and putting deals together, structuring deals, and assisting people in getting to their desired outcomes.”
TRACY KENISON | FREIGHTQUOTE.COM
It won’t take a Sherlock Holmes to connect these dots: Freightquote.com is one of Kansas City’s 25 fastest-growing companies, with revenues increasing 184.5 percent from 2005 through 2008. And four times in the past four years, Tracy Kenison has been recognized as either the company’s top sales representative or top sales manager, making him, in the words of chief information officer Shawn McCarrick, “one of the most decorated members in Freightquote’s President’s Club history.”
But what did it take to get there? “A solid work ethic and persistence,” Kenison says. “In sales, you hear ‘no’ on a regular basis, so you have to focus on the positives and learn from your own failures”—a lesson that didn’t take long to sink in. “As is the case in any competitive industry, you have to be prepared for attrition,” he said. “Early in my career, I was not. Looking back, it was those setbacks that I learned the most from. I became proactive in making sure that I never left any loose ends that might jeopardize an account.”
That diligence, and that performance, was rewarded earlier this year when Kenison assumed an even more prominent leadership role, becoming Director of Sales. Many executives can trace their success to early-career mentors. Kenison’s inspiration runs much further back. “I think my parents influenced my work ethic more so than anyone,” he said. “It was never what they said, but what they did.” He’s been applying those principles at Freightquote since December 1999.
When he’s not elevating Freightquote’s bottom line, Kenison revels in the time he can spend with his daughter, Katie: “Whether it is soccer, basketball, a movie, vacationing, or just spending time together, she reminds me that there is more to life than just work.”
