Industry's biggest players lead by example.

The Horatio Alger's of the real estate world seem to be concentrated in the property management sector, where the agility they honed climbing the corporate ladder is being put to good use meeting daily challenges in an area of the industry that has been revolutionized in the past decade.

"We don't like to have an empty suit at our executive meetings," said Tony Lifrieri, who started in the business working as a painter and now oversees 28 million square feet for Silverstein Properties.

"When people sit down to talk, whether they are talking about a major capital project or tenant improvements, it really helps if you had rolled up your sleeves and really worked with different aspects of the building.

"And the best way to learn is to get into the building. That way, nobody you are dealing with, whether it is vendors or contractors, can pull the wool over your eyes," added Lifrieri, who is also president of the Building Owners and Managers Association of Greater New York.

Michael Rodriguez, president of Alliance Building Services, is another senior executive in the field whose career began on the very bottom rung. He often humbles himself by telling one of his 3000 employees about some the most gritty jobs he did on his rise to the top, including his position as a cleaner that required him to scrub urine from bathroom walls.

Rodriguez believes that humility has given him a corporate edge. "I know how to treat employees because I know what it is like to be in the positions they are in. For example, if I walk into one of the buildings and one of our porters has a question, I take the time to pay attention and to try and help him with whatever it is he needs. That creates a degree of loyalty that you can't match," Rodriguez said. "Because of that loyalty, we have a management team that I feel is second to none."

Ed Fallon, vice president of the New York region for Brookfield Properties, saw how the comprehensive knowledge of buildings he gained in a career that began as a gofer in the engine room of 55 Waters Street helped him put together an exceptional team.

When the World Trade Center towers fell on September 11, 2001, many of the employees from Brookfield's many surrounding buildings sacrificed their own safety and ran into the collapsing buildings to help with evacuations.

"It was by far the proudest moment of my career," said Fallon. "I was proud to be part of such a group of people, and all of us who ran operations on those days were proud that we were able to instill this kind of dedication."

The examples the three men and others like them have set with their lives help to motivate employees further.

As president of Alliance Building Services, one of the New York metropolitan area's leading facility service contractors, Rodriguez oversees the work of four different sectors of the firm providing cleaning, maintenance, security, courier, messenger center and restoration services to more than 100 buildings encompassing more than 60 million square feet in New York and New Jersey.

In addition to Classic Security and First Quality Maintenance, the Alliance family of companies includes Onyx Restoration Services and Bright Star Couriers. Clients include Commerce Bank, The Moinian Group, Winoker Real Estate, Murray Hill Properties, Newmark Knight Frank, Cushman & Wakefield, W&H Properties, Stellar Management, George Comfort & Sons, CB Richard Ellis and L&L Holding Company.

Rodriguez admits that sometimes he pinches himself to make sure it's all real. "I grew up in Bensonhurst, Brooklyn, now I live in Chappaqua [the picturesque Westchester town Bill and Hillary Clinton call home]. It is two different worlds. To live there and to know that my kids are going to be able to grow up in the area; to me that is kind of whacky."

Rodriguez started training for a management position with Alliance during his third year working as a porter at the World Trade Center. It soon became obvious that he was a young man not only with ambition, but with talent and it wasn't long before he began rising through the ranks, becoming the assistant director of security, a night operations supervisor and, eventually, the president of Alliance Building Services.

Lifrieri, who worked as a painter in an Insignia/ESG building for several years to put himself through college, could easily have become discouraged when his first position out of college meant a huge pay cut to work in a building's engine room.

But he always knew where his career was headed. "In those days, in the 1970's, if you wanted to be a manager in a building, you had to come out of an engine room, even with a college education," Lifrieri said.

Throughout his career, he has been what he calls a "perpetual student," learning both from the classroom and the people that have taken him under their wing.

Fallon, worked his way up from the "dirty jobs" in the engine room at 55 Waters, following in the footsteps of his father and grandfather who had both worked in the building business.

He learned the engineering trade from the ground up and, after getting his license from the fire department, became an engineer, then an assistant chief engineer and, ultimately, a chief engineer.

These men now try to return the gifts they have been given by striving to identify employees with a hunger to advance and provide them with mentorship and training opportunities. "Almost every key executive we have on staff has grown into the position," Rodriguez said.

Lifrieri tries to make sure the property managers at Silverstein Properties experience the same terrain that he did by making sure they put in their time in at a building.

"It's hard to direct people unless you have actually lived it and know what the employee goes through on a daily basis, from the buts and bolts job of being a super, to being president of your own business, which is your building," Lefrieri said.

Fallon identifies employees who have an interest in becoming assistant chief engineers, and engineers and his company offers them classes organized through BOMA to help further their career. The company also supports Local Union 94 and their training programs.

Fallon believes the fortitude of his business comes from his respect for his employees. He said, "You always have to remember where you came from. You can never forget that once you started at the bottom rung of the ladder looking up, and remember how scary that feeling was. You never want to let your head get too big."