Over the past two weeks, I wrote 7 parts for what it takes to Create a Real Estate Program. For those that prefer their materials all in one place, this summary is for you. Here, for ease of reference, I will put together the links and key takeaways for those trying to build a program…
Tag: strategy
Creating a Real Estate Program [Part 2] – Forecasting your opportunities (crystal ball not included)
Let’s talk about the building blocks of a real estate program: the potential projects. Across my experience, the best programs start by assuming every single site, lease, workplace, or real estate service could be a possible project. Every single location should go into the analysis bucket to be evaluated for what may be possible. Yes,…
Creating a Real Estate Program [Part 1] – Setting (realistic) goals for your program
The first step in any business program is identifying the rationale, goals, and time horizon you are working with. These will form the basis of all your decisions and reviews that come after this point. If you do not have a solid basis for why the program should exist, what it is meant to do,…
Creating a Real Estate Program [Intro]: A series of posts on what it takes to do it right.
Welcome friends and strangers to the first of seven posts on Creating a Real Estate Program. Over the past few months of conversations, I have heard a common refrain from real estate consultants, corporates, service providers, and technology companies: real estate occupiers have data, they know generally what needs to be done, they may even…
It is not always possible to solve the biggest problem facing you in the moment.
I have spent some time reflecting on my posts over the past year. There has been a strong workplace slant to them. On reflection, this makes a lot of sense. The problems facing CRE professionals are down to how to design and build an office for the post-pandemic world. For most of my time on…
Power, Community, Empathy.
Welcome to 2025! This is the year we finally get a direction, figure out together where corporate real estate is going, and make a plan to get there! Or not. I’m not sure anymore to be honest what is going on. As I write this, it is nearing the end of January. Not even a…
A surprisingly difficult question to answer in the current world: what is the role of the workplace in how employees work?
Most everyone reading one of my posts works in or around Corporate Real Estate. This self-selected group has probably spent an inordinate amount of time in their career thinking about what a workplace is, how they are designed, how employees use them, and the attributes successful workplaces have. But one big fact has been brewing…
CRE leaders need to stop thinking in terms of weekly occupancy and shift to a monthly framework.
Most conversations I have with people about workplace occupancy include the phrase “days per week in the office.” Over the past two years, this way of thinking about occupancy has become increasingly problematic when considering how people actually work. It can be hard to overcome the hybrid propaganda about 2 to 3 days per week…
It is time to retire all “Return to” concepts. If your Return has not yet happened, it probably is not going to. #CRE
The world is now mostly two years beyond the end of almost all COVID-era restrictions. A “New Normal” has been established through intentional action or unintentional patterns forming. Headlines that continue to talk about Return to Office or Return to Work (with Amazon causing the most recent ruckus) are missing the point about how people…
Not every decision needs to be data-driven.
I am a data-focused person who uses data to develop strategies, guide site plans, plan budgets, and generally make decisions. What people do not see are the many, many times when I decide not to use data to back up a particular point. The editing process is tricky that way, it is impossible to see…