Pick as many curses as you want to describe the COVID-19 pandemic. I look forward to the creativity that is still to come to describe this shared period we’ve all lived through and endured. It hasn’t been easy personally or professionally. In fact, I’d argue that even for those that had it fairly easy (and…
Always separate the commercial real estate market from how you approach your occupied portfolio. The relationship between the two is tenuous at best.
The purpose of a corporate real estate function is to provide the space that a company uses to execute its business strategy. This is not to be confused with business models focused on investing in real estate as a separate profit seeking venture. Corporate real estate is about providing space for people, products, customers, and…
Workplace Experience has a new definition in 2021 that means you have to think about real estate more intensely.
It’s been awhile since I posted because this has been a strange year. On one side, the pandemic situation has completely upended the industry I work in. On the other, there’s professional things going on that tie right back in and make it a challenge to think through as well. Because I try to keep…
Understanding context requires both experience in the field and the organization.
2021 is the year that everyone in every organization became an expert in corporate real estate. I have heard the term “hot desk” used more in the last six months than I have in the last decade. Amazingly, it’s a term that I had thought was effectively dead five years ago. Yet, here it is…
Are you checking behind your AI to make sure it isn’t leading you wrong?
The story of technology is predictable. A new tool comes out in alpha and starts to generate press. It moves to beta and shows amazing potential for some universal use cases. It moves to early adopter production and word grows exponentially as the cases generate business benefits for those early adopters. It begins to be…
Move beyond hoteling and hot-desking in your CRE language. You can do better and your employees deserve better.
As businesses begin to think about the future of their workplaces, everyone is becoming a CRE expert. Buzzwords that I had hoped and prayed were behind us are seeing renewed interest. Concepts that I had hoped were relegated to the trashbin of history are being brushed off and given new life. Somehow, the CRE of…
Good stories take time to develop, craft and articulate
Humans are storytellers. Conversations are stories between people. Relationships are shared stories. Decisions are someone picking up a story and figuring out how to tell the next chapter. In business, understanding how to tell effective and compelling stories is the difference between staying where you are and moving up to the next level. It’s an…
Never talk about “how Technology is going to” do something. Technology is a component of a solution, not the solution.
It’s hard to be a player in “the Technology” space these days. Technology has slowly become a part of every facet of modern life. A decade ago: TVs weren’t smart Every smartphone release was a material step forward Blackberry was still trying to make a comeback Netflix still made money from DVDs Uber wasn’t a…
Forecasting CRE portfolio requirements starts with balancing art, science, and gut.
I love forecasting. Trying to predict the future is a great way to try and better understand the things that matter today. Corporate Real Estate is a particularly hard area to try and forecast because the degree of variables impacting future state is incredibly diverse. Today it is even more difficult as COVID-19 has thrown…
Let’s talk about polls and what they really mean. (Hint: If you are planning for the future of the office, don’t rely on today’s polls.)
The workplace is changing (or maybe not). People are going to work from home at higher rates than before (or maybe not). Companies are going to close their offices (or maybe open more). The nature of work is changing before our eyes (or maybe not). COVID-19 has brought a wealth of discussion about the nature…