201: Building Real Estate Operations that Scale with Leslie Cohen, Ops Alchemy

Founders can run a real estate firm on heroics for a while. At some point, the business needs a system.

In this episode of Design Development, Leslie Cohen, Founder and Principal of Ops Alchemy, talks about strengthening operations, reducing founder dependence, and preparing a business for growth and leadership transitions.

Leslie shares how she approached becoming the first COO at Samuels & Associates: establishing a cadence around the operating budget, listening to people throughout the organization, and clarifying decision ownership among partners. She also explains how she diagnoses operational challenges today and helps teams implement improvements.

In this episode

• Recognizing when a real estate firm has outgrown the way it operates.
• Giving operations dedicated attention as the company grows.
• Defining roles and decision ownership before assessing whether people are in the right seats.
• Understanding the communication problems created when founders bypass management.
• Aligning operational improvements with the founder’s goals and succession plans.
• Starting with the most important pain points and documenting workflows, including tenant introduction through lease execution.
• Using standard operating procedures to support onboarding, training, and consistent execution.
• Connecting operational improvements to financial results and sharing the operating company’s financial picture with the team.
• Building quality management through defined processes and standards while preserving independent judgment.
• Documenting processes before introducing automation or AI.

About Leslie Cohen

Leslie Cohen is the Founder and Principal of Ops Alchemy, a consulting firm that helps growth-stage companies scale by aligning people, process and profit. Its approach: “We focus on the business so you can focus in the business.”

With more than 30 years of experience in real estate, Leslie brings an operator’s perspective, having built her career from developer to Chief Operating Officer. She partners with founders and leadership teams to transform organizations in a growth mode or period of transition, creating operational clarity, systems and structure.

Before launching Ops Alchemy, Leslie served as COO for Davis and COO for Samuels & Associates, where she executed firm-wide strategy. Known for translating vision into execution, she has led organizations through periods of growth and change while strengthening culture and driving financial performance.

A respected industry leader, Leslie has served as President of CREW Boston and NAIOP MA. Her numerous honors include Bisnow Power Women in Commercial Real Estate, BBJ Women Who Mean Business, Globe Street Women of Influence, the CREW Boston Leadership Award and BBJ 40 Under 40.

Leslie has a BSCE from Tufts University and an MBA from Babson College. She resides in Brookline, Massachusetts, with her husband and two children.

Connect with Leslie

• Ops Alchemy
• Leslie Cohen on LinkedIn

Resources mentioned

• EOS and the Accountability Chart
• The Great Game of Business by Jack Stack and Bo Burlingham
• Walker Webcast
• Adam Grant’s podcasts

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