Bookmarks: 5 Interesting Articles to Help You This Week

July 10th, 2017

Each week, I select a few articles that rise above the fray and hopefully help you on your journey in the CRE world. They pull from one of four "corners:" corporate real estate, technology, management science and anything positive. I welcome your comments on these articles and the submissions of others (with credit to you if I post them). I wish you a terrific week!Duke Long's 2017 List of 150 Commercial Real Estate People You Must Connect With On LinkedInHonored to be on Duke's list! www.dukelong.com

Why Company Leaders Need To Distribute Their Own Content"Imagine receiving a birthday card from your mom. It’s written in third person — and not as a joke. “Mary wishes you a wonderful day. She wants you to celebrate the day of your birth.” It’s signed in one of those faux handwriting fonts that don't fool anyone into believing you actually signed it yourself. With resignation, you tell yourself that at least it isn’t Comic Sans.

It feels weird, impersonal, and cold.Now, transfer your reaction to this imaginary touchpoint between you and your mom to the actual touchpoints between your brand and your audience. Your audience hears tons about your organization from top to bottom, all thanks to the hard work your marketing team puts into your content distribution strategy.But if your audience never hears from you as a leader; you’re just a nameless, faceless founder barricaded behind a frosted glass door. That impersonal image won't help you build better relationships, knock down trust barriers, or become a leader in your industry." www.forbes.com[tweet_box design="box_09" float="none"]"if your audience never hears from you as a leader; you’re just a nameless, faceless founder barricaded behind a frosted glass door"[/tweet_box]

Motivating Employees Is Not About Carrots or Sticks"The bottom line is: Don’t rely on outdated methods and tricks to motivate employees. Talk with your team about the relevance of the work they do every day. Be proactive in identifying and solving problems for your employees. Recognize employee contributions in specific, meaningful ways on a regular basis. Connect with your own motivation, and share it freely with your team. Put away the carrots and sticks and have meaningful conversations instead. You’ll be well on your way to leading a highly motivated team.." www.hbr.org

[tweet_box design="box_09" float="none"]Put away the carrots and sticks and have meaningful conversations instead.[/tweet_box]

Apple’s Architect Says the Future of Offices Must Be Flexible“Ultimately, the most enduring workplaces will take into account the deep-rooted desires of the people who spend time there. They’ll prioritize smart paths of circulation to help people connect with one another. Instead of sequestering employees into glass boxes, they’ll encourage them to connect with nature. To be truly competitive, architects and companies have to think beyond productivity. “From the very beginning, I’ve protested the idea that an office headquarters, whether it’s mega or micro, is only about work,” Foster said. “It’s about lifestyle.” www.wired.com

[tweet_box design="box_09" float="none"]"an #office #headquarters, whether it’s mega or micro, is only about work, it’s about lifestyle." #cre[/tweet_box]

The Beauty of Amazon's 6-Pager"How great would it be not to be constantly interrupted by clarifying questions?  How great would it be not to have the decisions in the meeting based on the social networking advocacy that happened before the meeting?  How great would it be if executives deeply understood your organization from your perspective before asserting they know better how to do it?  How great would it be to be able to review the core data going into a decision rather than have someone summarize it and assert that correlation is causality without revealing their work?

This is what meetings are like at Amazon and it is magical. " www.linkedin.comYour success blesses others. I wish you a great a hugely impactful week!Ken