Most people like to think they think clearly. It’s possibly the thing we do most in life. Before we speak, the words run through our minds. Before we act, we plan what is going to happen. As we perform an action, our thoughts review the progress for errors, faults, and ommissions. In hindsight we look…
Sometimes growth curve head toward zero – musings on “flex office” forecasts
I was doing my typical scrolling through LinkedIn today where I came across three separate articles talking about the growth of flexible office space. One was about WeWork potentially collapsing but the industry expanding, another about the concept applying to more organizations and then a third that included a chart showing a low, medium and…
Framing the story you are trying to tell
As mentioned in a previous post, I recently finished reading The Undoing Project. (Seriously, go read it if you haven’t already.) One of the great lessons in the book is that people change their response to a question based on the way it is framed. Consider the following two statements: We are deploying a new…
The Undoing Project – a review of its impact on CRE
Humans are funny creatures. We often seem rationale in how we approach the world and the decisions we make. But the reality is, people are not designed to make rational decisions. We have many subconscious routines that drive our processes for coming up with answers to the questions we face. I just finished reading Michael…
Following real estate hype and trends is a bad way to design a workplace
As real estate professionals, the single best way we have to leave our mark on an organization is through the workplaces we implement. The design, furniture, layout, colors, materials, amenities, and feel of the space are all things we can point to and say “I did that.” But real estate is not usually the place…
If you have given up on blockchain as a technology already, you don’t understand how technology works.
I find it fascinating how technology fads work. When cool new technology graduates from laboratory to alpha stage release, it gets celebrated as if it was ready for enterprise-scale deployment. By the time it hits beta (and is clearly still not ready for enterprise-scale deployment) it gets lambasted for not being good enough. Once it…
Just because a real estate project will save you money this year, doesn’t mean it won’t cost you in the long run
Agile! Flex space! Move to new ways of working! Flexible lease clauses! Never in the history of real estate has flexibility and short-term options been valued as highly as they are now. Take less space today and worry about tomorrow later. Do the minimum and add over time. The problem with thinking about real estate…
#CRE occupiers are in the Risk Management business
Risk is a great word because it is both scary and full of positive potential. It can mean almost anything to anyone. Depending on the day of the week it could be either positive or negative. It could be proactive or reactive. It could even be controllable or non-controllable. CRE occupiers (not to be confused…
Yesterday’s rebels are today’s middle-of-the-road boring folks
I was looking at some of the posts that had been viewed recently and one from 2013 was on the list: Something to keep in mind….Bill Gates used to be a rebel. First, I love seeing the Long Tail in action. A one paragraph, 6-year-old post got a hit. Second, the sentiment is a timeless…
Corporate Real Estate is not a world where you can operate by thinking there will be winners and losers
Corporate real estate is not a world where people win or lose. Thinking that way leads to bad outcomes for all parties. There is no better space for examining how projects are done right are win/win for all parties. Too often, people think that for them to succeed someone else needs to fail. If I…