The data is never completely in. Change is a function of everything.

At heart, I’m a data person that believes strongly in non-binary solutions to problems (there are always more than two options to any decision). I like to understand the information that both leads to a question being asked before then also looking at the information that would inform a decision. There are no beginnings or ends to the question/answer cycle, only moments of decision.

But that’s the entire point, everything comes from somewhere before it and leads to something else. A perfect answer today may be wrong tomorrow. What’s funny today is politically incorrect tomorrow. Today’s impossible is tomorrow’s normal.

Change is something that is simply the nature of everything we do. Unfortunately, this concept is particularly powerful in the world of corporate real estate. It is not unusual for us to plan a project over the course of 18 months based on information from the year prior to that and then need that solution to last at least the next 10 years. At the start of that workplace’s life, the solution is already based on information that is 2 1/2 years old (or more).

The harder we tie ourselves to believing today’s data is correct, the more wrong we will be with every project we implement. Everyone in real estate has dealt with completing a project that was easily approved, saved money, had the business fully on board, and implemented on time and budget just for that project to be viewed as a white elephant just two years later. Things change in both predictable and unpredictable ways. Holding on to a view of “being right” will only make it more likely that the solution is wrong.

Time continues to tick along no matter what we want and with it change happens. Chaos theory says (in poorly paraphrased shorthand) that the smallest actions of others will have unpredictable downstream actions in unexpected areas. The best we can do is make sure we create a concise decision-making process for ourselves and our teams that account for random variables each time.

Sometimes the right answer can be found by sticking your head in the sand and hoping for the best. However, the way to get more positive outcomes is to proactively take charge of what you can.