Many people believe that an answer with 99% confidence is better than one with only 70% confidence. On the surface, with no additional information, maybe this could make sense. But the world of trade-offs almost always makes the 70% solution better. Trade-offs occur in every decision. Moving any decision from 70% confidence to 99% requires…
Playing the short-term game versus getting the long-term gain.
It is easy to become short-sighted with our goals. Tomorrow is a lot closer than next year is and it is more likely we receive negative reinforcement tomorrow than positive reinforcement next year. It’s the same reasoning that so many companies chase quarterly earnings instead of annual growth. Amazon and Google are examples of companies…
Most algorithms cannot be set and then forgotten.
“Set it and forget it” is a popular saying on many late night infomercials. Take some new cooker, throw your food into it, push a few buttons and then a few hours later you have amazing gourmet meals with no effort. At least that’s the theory. In the business world, many people have begun treating…
The more often you call something easy, the less likely it actually is.
It’s funny to watch the relationship between a plan that is called “easy” versus an implementation that is actually quite difficult. This phenomenon most often happens when people are trying to delegate a task that they won’t be taking on themselves. Have you ever been told the phrase: “Don’t worry, this won’t take much of…
What is branding within a corporate real estate team?
Branding is important to getting things done. Personal brands tell you about the nature of the people you are dealing with and how to get things done working with them. Product brands tell you the safety and risk associated with a procurement activity if something were to go wrong. Corporate brands tell you about the…
Most #CRE issues have nothing to do with a lease.
In the big picture of CRE, most people think about brokers, landlords, and leases. People think about the “big” commissions that are earned upon lease signature. The money tied to the lease and the number of years committed to are eye catching. The reality is, the lease is a relatively minor activity in the scheme…
Productivity is the ultimate #CRE buzzword
I’ve worked in real estate for over a decade now. Every single year I have been in this industry I come across some new and novel approach to defining real estate’s impact on employee productivity. It’s always worth a laugh to me to see various workplace vendors trying to give a productivity increase number associated…
Mutually Exclusive/Collectively Exhaustive – thinking through your problem design
There’s a principle in decision theory called MECE – Mutually Exclusive and Collectively Exhaustive. It essentially says that when you define your decision criteria that shouldn’t overlap and they should include everything you are going to base your decision on. For example, you shouldn’t leave finance out of your decision list because “it will take…
It’s a beautiful day in the NEIGHBORHOOD
I was in a workshop recently where the word neighborhood was used a lot. The context was the workplace and how to promote cross-team collaboration. The solution our workplace partner had given us were neighborhoods. There is nothing particularly unique about thinking of the workplace as a series of adjoined neighborhoods. This thinking goes back a…
Are your priorities today the same as your priorities tomorrow?
Flexibility. It’s an amazing word. The word so perfectly fits within the world of real estate. In a world where investment in the physical office and workplace is expected to last at least 5 years and most likely 15 or more, flexibility should be king in all decisions. An office that cannot continue to meet…