Bookmarks: 5 Interesting Articles to Help You This Week

January 3rd, 2017

Credit: iStockEach 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!

How a Laid-Off IT Guy Built a Million-Dollar Nutcracker Empire"In the space of a year, Glenn Crider lost his job and saw his products enshrined in the Smithsonian Institution.

Crider makes nutcrackers. If you mailed or received Christmas cards, you've probably seen his work. That year a fierce soldier in a yellow uniform, a shaggy-haired drummer, a red-suited Santa clutching a snowflake staff, and a king in a high golden crown stared proudly from the perforated frames of holiday stamps. After posing for their close-ups, the four wooden originals marched from Crider's garage workshop into the U.S. Postal Museum in Washington D.C." www.inc.com

Millennial Start-Up Love Your Melon: Why Giving Back Is Sweeter Than Making Millions"Older people” have a lot of misperceptions about the Millennial me-me-me generation. Millennials are professional wafflers, they say, rarely staying at a job for more than a few years. They move relentlessly, avoiding roots, community, and settling down. Most of all, their addiction to technology, digital devices, and virtual relationships desensitizes them from engaging in meaningful ways with real people and real problems.www.forbes.com

How Google Channels Diversity Into Creativity"Google hasn't let up on its efforts. Google's leaders know that diversity on their teams -- specifically the inclusion of individuals from underrepresented groups -- is key to its businesses and has a direct impact on its bottom line. The company wants individuals from underrepresented backgrounds to apply for its job openings and feel welcome at the company.

'We fully acknowledge we have work to do and are committed to this work for the long haul,' says Thygesen, whose own division features a program designed to help grow women and minority-led businesses that are interested in working with Google. 'We hope that by highlighting these folks' accomplishments -- both tangibly as it relates to our bottom line and intangibly as it improves our collective ability understand, embrace, and celebrate our differences -- others like them will see themselves in fulfilling careers at Google.'" www.forbes.com

[tweet_box design="box_08" float="none"]Diversity on teams is key to Google's businesses and has a direct impact on its bottom line[/tweet_box]

No Laptop, No Phone, No Desk: UBS Reinvents the Work Space"The elimination of fixed desks is not a new concept — it has proved particularly popular among technology companies and start-ups — but only in recent years has technology made it more viable for larger companies.

It is still a rarity, however, in investment banking. Citigroup is one of the few companies that has a similar setup, at its new headquarters in downtown Manhattan." www.wsj.com

How To Earn Your Manager's Respect"recent HBR study of nearly 20,000 employees around the world found that the most important thing that workers want from their managers is respect. “If you don’t feel respected, you won’t be engaged in your work,” says Linda Hill, professor at Harvard Business School and the coauthor of Being the Boss: The 3 Imperatives for Becoming a Great Leader. Respect from your boss has many layers, according to Michael Watkins, chairman of Genesis Advisers and a professor at IMD. It begins with being seen as “someone worth keeping and someone [your boss] wants to have as part of his team.” It progresses to being viewed as an employee deserving of “interesting and challenging assignments,” and finally as an employee that your manager, “wants to invest in and develop because he thinks you have a bright future.” Wanting respect is one thing; getting it is another. Here are some strategies." www.hbr.comWhen You Outgrow Your iCloud StorageHow can I tell how much iCloud storage I have? Should I look at my iPhone or my computer?www.nytimes.comYour success blesses others. I wish you a great a hugely impactful week!Ken 

Bookmarks: 5 Interesting Articles to Help You This Week

December 12th, 2016

Credit: iStockEach 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!

How Successful People Network with Each Other"Networking is facing an inflection point. Most professionals are constantly bombarded with Facebook and LinkedIn connection requests, not to mention endless requests to “pick their brain.” Trying to stand out in the midst of that noise is a losing battle, and you probably don’t have time to send a bunch of cold emails anyway.

Instead, you can successfully network with the most prominent people by doing something very different from everyone else: attracting them to you with inbound networking. In other words, make yourself interesting enough that they choose to seek you out. Here are three ways to do it." www.hbr.com

[tweet_box design="box_09" float="none"]successfully network with the most prominent people by doing something very different: attracting them to you with inbound networking[/tweet_box]

Meet The Woman Behind LinkedIn's Thriving Company Culture"So what does LinkedIn do in order to maintain and develop its culture? The woman currently tasked with answering that question is Nina McQueen, VP of Global Benefits, Mobility, and Employee Experience.

McQueen is one of the best people in Silicon Valley to discuss actively managing culture. Her background includes companies like Yahoo, Facebook, and Gap, Inc. At LinkedIn, she leads the Benefits & Employee Experience teams, which focuses on sustaining a strong culture in the company.www.forbes.com

No Laptop, No Phone, No Desk: UBS Reinvents the Work Space"The elimination of fixed desks is not a new concept — it has proved particularly popular among technology companies and start-ups — but only in recent years has technology made it more viable for larger companies.

It is still a rarity, however, in investment banking. Citigroup is one of the few companies that has a similar setup, at its new headquarters in downtown Manhattan." www.wsj.com

How To Earn Your Manager's Respect"recent HBR study of nearly 20,000 employees around the world found that the most important thing that workers want from their managers is respect. “If you don’t feel respected, you won’t be engaged in your work,” says Linda Hill, professor at Harvard Business School and the coauthor of Being the Boss: The 3 Imperatives for Becoming a Great Leader. Respect from your boss has many layers, according to Michael Watkins, chairman of Genesis Advisers and a professor at IMD. It begins with being seen as “someone worth keeping and someone [your boss] wants to have as part of his team.” It progresses to being viewed as an employee deserving of “interesting and challenging assignments,” and finally as an employee that your manager, “wants to invest in and develop because he thinks you have a bright future.” Wanting respect is one thing; getting it is another. Here are some strategies." www.hbr.comWhen You Outgrow Your iCloud StorageHow can I tell how much iCloud storage I have? Should I look at my iPhone or my computer?www.nytimes.comYour success blesses others. I wish you a great a hugely impactful week!Ken 

Bookmarks: 5 Interesting Articles to Help You This Week

November 28th, 2016

Credit: iStockEach 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!Slow but Steady Office Rent Growth Feels Even Stronger in Today's Low Inflation Environment"Along with steady growth in office jobs and muted levels of construction, the slow but steady growth in office leasing rates since 2011 may be helping extend the current recovery, in contrast to past cycles when rent spikes preceded market downturns in 1999-2000 and especially 2006-2007." www.costar.comHow Predictive AI Will Change Shopping"Responsive retail has peaked, and we’re about to enter the era of predictive commerce. It’s time for retailers to help people find products in their precise moment of need — and perhaps before they even perceive that need — whether or not they’re logged in or ready to click a “buy” button on a screen. This shift will require designing experiences that merge an understanding of human behavior with large-scale automation and data integration." www.hbr.comDear Tenant: Your Uber Is HereRide-sharing starts to change the way cities, urban landlords think about real estate"As urban real estate becomes ever-more expensive, some property developers are shrinking or killing their parking spaces and offering Uber subsidies and other incentives instead." www.wsj.comLong-Term Employment Is Over -- Where Does That Leave You?"We are rapidly moving out of one working world and into a new one. A generation ago you got a job straight out of college and kept that job for years or decades.Now it’s hard to keep a job for five years, much less twenty or thirty years.More and more people who were working full-time are being pushed outside their organizations to work for contract agencies or outsourcing companies.” www.forbes.comWhen You Outgrow Your iCloud StorageHow can I tell how much iCloud storage I have? Should I look at my iPhone or my computer?www.nytimes.com Your success blesses others. I wish you a great a hugely impactful week! 

Bookmarks: 5 Interesting Articles to Help You This Week

November 14th, 2016

Credit: iStockEach 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!Big Companies Start Buying Into WeWork Offices"In the last year, WeWork has established a new team that caters to the needs of large companies. The New York startup, which keeps citrus spa water and beer kegs at the ready for its co-working customers, woos them with a hip, bustling workplace crowded with entrepreneurs and inspiration." www.bloomberg.comWhy Morning People Thrive"This week in the medical journal Pediatrics, Owens and colleagues found that even among people who sleep the same number of hours, there are behavioral, emotional, and cognitive differences between people who are “night owls” and people who are “morning larks.” This is what she and some sleep experts have lately begun calling a person’s chronotype: the idea that people are “programmed” or “wired” to sleep later or earlier in any 24-hour period." www.theatlantic.comMeet America’s Least Likely Media Mogul: AT&T Boss Randall Stephenson"When AT&T Inc. Chief Executive Randall Stephenson addressed hundreds of employees last month, he surprised them with his topic: a nuanced discussion of the Black Lives Matter movement and racial justice in America." www.wsj.comBig-Box Warehouse Sector Breaks Records in Demand, New Construction"This is happening because of the incredibly fast shift in demand for e-commerce; this has never happened before in the supply chain,” he says. “Absorption continues to outpace new construction, and while some retailers are starting to be able to compete with Amazon, there are others that are just getting started on their e-commerce strategies. Companies are becoming more adept, and investment is shifting away from stores to the distribution centers.” www.nrei.com[tweet_box design="box_09"]Industrial absorption continues to outpace new construction, and while some..are starting to be able to compete with AMZN, there are others that are just getting started on their e-commerce strategies #cre[/tweet_box]When You Outgrow Your iCloud StorageHow can I tell how much iCloud storage I have? Should I look at my iPhone or my computer?www.nytimes.com Your success blesses others. I wish you a great a hugely impactful week! 

Bookmarks: 5 Interesting Articles to Help You This Week

October 24th, 2016

Credit: iStockEach 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!How to Steer Clear of Office Gossip"Staying above the fray sends the right management message: This isn’t the sort of thing we should all be spending company time on. As a manager you’ll never go wrong projecting an image of a fair person who’s all business. There are far worse reputations to have." www.hbr.comThe Fixer: Chatty Coworker Driving You Nuts (Short video)Pro tip: Don't user your noise canceling headphones...try this. www.wsj.comThe Definitive Guide to Cord-Cutting in 2016, Based on Your Habits"Here’s the state of cord-cutting in America today: It’s chaotic. Consider what’s faced by people who want to end their TV subscriptions — otherwise known as cutting the cable cord. There are now multiple different streaming services and bills to juggle. And there are numerous streaming gadgets to choose from." www.nytimes.comBig-Box Warehouse Sector Breaks Records in Demand, New Construction"This is happening because of the incredibly fast shift in demand for e-commerce; this has never happened before in the supply chain,” he says. “Absorption continues to outpace new construction, and while some retailers are starting to be able to compete with Amazon, there are others that are just getting started on their e-commerce strategies. Companies are becoming more adept, and investment is shifting away from stores to the distribution centers.” www.nrei.com[tweet_box design="box_09"]Industrial absorption continues to outpace new construction, and while some..are starting to be able to compete with AMZN, there are others that are just getting started on their e-commerce strategies #cre[/tweet_box]When You Outgrow Your iCloud StorageHow can I tell how much iCloud storage I have? Should I look at my iPhone or my computer?www.nytimes.com Your success blesses others. I wish you a great a hugely impactful week!