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…
Leadership always starts in a love of people.
There is much discourse about what makes a leader. You can spend 30 seconds on LinkedIn and discover 1,000 memes wittily calling ou the difference between leaders and managers. You can spend 5 minutes on Facebook and find 1,000 rants about managers that aren’t leading. You can head over to HBR and read all about…
Managers often don’t realize the working habits of their team. #WorkplaceWednesday
I’ve been involved in a few workplace transformation projects in my career and all of them (without exception) begin with managers saying that it will never work for their team. “Sure, in principle, it could work for everyone else, but my team is different. We are all in the office every day, we’re already collaborative…
Resistance versus Inquiry
Speaking yesterday about noise being a healthy part of culture, made me think about the difference between resistance and inquiry. Some types of noise imply dissatisfaction or resentment (resistance) while other types are genuinely trying to be constructive or innovative (inquiry). But sometimes it can be very difficult to tell the difference. For example: “I…
Noise is a sign of a healthy culture
Noise is something that people complain about regularly. In the office, noise is thought of as distracting. In gossip, noise is thought of as inappropriate. In management, noise is considered a nuisance. However, noise is a key sign that people care. They are actively trying to collaborate, share and find out more information. Noise is…
I’m actually a fan of CRE Technology regardless of what it sounds like.
I’ve written a number of posts over the years discussing the state of CRE technology and, in hindsight, they may seem largely negative. I’ve talked about CRE Tech being stuck in the early 2000’s. About how there is no such thing as CRE Big Data. How it may not be possible to do CRE Technology…
Here’s wishing everyone a happy Pi Day!
Pi Day is my favorite random holiday throughout the year. It always brings me joy that more than just math/science people end up celebrating it. There’s something special about the random, unexpected people I see in life celebrating this greatest of days. If something as simple as the format of a date can get people…
Everyone together now: CRE Big Data is a Myth! BONUS: 5 rules to know when Big Data actually gets here.
Every six month this buzzword infested idea pops back up in the industry talking about how “Big Data” is going to TRANSFORM commercial real estate. I suppose it’s probably tied to some conference where the same speaker stands up and just starts launching buzzwords at the crowd making it easy to write attention grabbing headlines….
Celebrating the influence of Women on my career.
Today is International Women’s Day and I thought it would be worthwhile saying a thank you to all of the professional women who have mentored, managed and guided me through my career so far. I’ve been blessed at working for some very talented women to start my career, throughout and in my current role. They’ve…