This is a topic that has bothered me ever since I first got into this crazy CRE industry. CRE is used as the abbreviation for both Commercial Real Estate and Corporate Real Estate with very little differentiation. As far as I can tell, from common usage in various environments, Corporate Real Estate is used when…
Existing on the periphery of other people’s decisions can be difficult
All of us are impacted by the decisions of others. When we are children our lives are dictated by the decisions of parents, teachers and other adults. When we first start working, we are pushed by the decisions of managers. As we grow in our careers, we are still impacted by managers but often we…
What unspoken skills do you use all the time that could use sharpening?
One of the main attributes of self-reflection is that you need to constantly question and evaluate how you do what you do. No task is so simple as to be accomplished through only a single skill. Listening effectively requires empathy, patience, analytical thinking, and self-control (just to name a few). Many people know that they…
Do you remember the iPhone release and how the world changed?
Probably not, because the world did not change with the release of the iPhone. There was no immediate shift in ability. There was no sudden realization that the world was different. In fact, many thought that the initial iPhone was a very imperfect device (which history has proved out). It was only years later that…
It’s impossible to have perfect understanding.
Many people strive to understand. We seek to understand ourselves, others, the problem in front of us, the solution we were given, how a situation came about. There are many things that we may wish to understand. Perfect understanding is not possible. All problems have too many variables to truly grasp everything in significant detail…
Recognition is not always worthwhile.
One of the lessons I learned early in my career is that if you make the cover of a magazine, you’ve done something wrong. Doesn’t matter if you make the cover for good reasons or bad. Making the cover means that you did something completely new or different (or wildly wrong and a roof fell…
Real Estate Technology is a thing of the past. Long live Technology.
It’s funny, every time I evaluate “Real Estate Technology” I almost always come away thinking “this other [non-real estate] system does that better.” There are a few exceptions – work order/maintenance management, lease administration, room booking – but those prove the rule as they deal with things that only real estate encounters historically. Ironically, the…
Dictating process without owning delivery accountability will always lead to fragmented implementation.
Delegation is common across all types of organizations. You naturally end up with some experts in designing process and other experts at delivery within process. When trying to improve a process, it is not uncommon to bring in the first group of experts to develop something better to be handed off. However, there is a…
How do you create trust in corporate real estate?
Trust is the main ingredient in the process of “getting things done.” If you don’t have trust between people or groups, the schedule gets extended due to over-validation, every decision takes longer to make, political maneuvering accelerates behind the scenes, budgets/funds dry up, and support goes away. Without trust, there is no success. Real estate…
Internal competition and desires to win does not make the situation a zero sum game
It is really easy to fall into the trap of thinking someone else’s victory is your defeat. That their achievement makes you seem smaller. This thinking is so wrong as to be dangerous. Internal teams may compete and even keep score but the competition must be friendly. There are not winners and losers. My success…