Last week, Amazon announced their shortlist of 20 cities in the US for their HQ2. I personally think this process is just for show at this point. They needed no professional support to get to this list of cities. In fact, they could have gotten 90% of this list by simply cross-referencing NFL cities with international…
How often do you let the white space into your work?
In music, the best songs often have moments where the music disappears completely. Pauses have a purpose that allows a listener to appreciate what came before and anticipate what’s coming next. The break can look awkward when written down or described but the experience of it makes the song that much better. Graphic designers also…
Amazon just announced the most boring possible list of 20 locations for their HQ2
Amazon announced their shortlist of 20 sites for their HQ2. Other than as a publicity stunt, I can’t imagine what they actually did in Phase 1 to get here. There are no surprises here. There are no dark horse cities with special characteristics that show an ability to think outside the box. There seems to…
Embrace the unknown to enhance your solutions.
It is impossible to know everything. It is even difficult to accurately model or simulate those things that you actually do know. The very nature of the future means that it is impossible to predict. Unknowns are not a negative in a solution. Instead, they are an opportunity that should be embraced. Unknowns present the…
The smallest things are often the most important #WorkplaceWednesday
If you want to be great at real estate, you need to understand the smallest aspects of real estate. What does this mean? To understand location, you need to understand the people. To understand workplace, you need to understand how a single person works. To understand a lease, you need to understand accounting. To understand…
Sometimes you just have to see the situation with your own eyes.
Some situations can only be understood by standing right in the middle of them. When a building “floods” it can be difficult to really understand the extent of the damage without being right there. In some areas, a foot of water may not cause issues but in others, even non-visible amounts may be too much….
I believe that the power of art can fix most problems.
I believe in the art of corporate real estate. There is nothing more powerful than stepping outside of a problem and approaching it from the craziest angle that you can think of. Steve Jobs said it best with “Here’s to the Crazy Ones.” Watch it again because it’s worth the 60 seconds it takes. https://youtu.be/8rwsuXHA7RA…
5 types of performance perspectives. Can you clearly articulate your perspective on what you do?
The work we do is not as simple as a job description written down on paper. It’s not just about showing up at 8a and leaving at 5p. There are two very different parts to how every person goes about their job: What the actual job is. Their perspective on the best way of accomplishing…
Everything we do is customer service.
Every task we complete, every conversation we have, every analysis we put together has a customer service angle. Every single person doing “things” has a customer. Employees have bosses. Bosses have shareholders. Politicians have voters and donors. Parents have kids. Kids have friends. Software interfaces have users. Databases have analysts. We all have customers. It’s…
Stop training yourself to respond to bings, beeps, and blares.
Last night my wife’s phone started dinging like crazy. A massive text conversation had broken out around 10p as she was trying to unwind and relax. She immediately jumped toward her phone because regardless of the topic she was going to be disturbed by the noise. I was on that same text chain but avoided…