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.”