Bookmarks: 5 Interesting Articles to Help You This Week

June 25th, 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!

A New Life for Dead Malls"In case you haven’t heard, suburban malls are on the way out (sorry Paul Blart). Some have become abandoned wastelands. Others have been torn down and turned into industrial sites.

According to Ellen Dunham-Jones, an architect and professor at Georgia Tech, there are about 1,200 enclosed malls in the United States, and about one-third of them are dead or dying. That's because developers rapidly overbuilt malls in the 20th century, she said: The U.S. has twice as much square footage in shopping centers per capita than the rest of the world, and six times as much as countries in Europe.“The malls died for a reason,” she told me. “We were way over-retailed.”But there is good news: In many areas of the country developers are finding new uses for dead malls...." www.theatlantic.com

Amazon, Whole Foods, and the Future of the (Old) New Economy"I heard the news today, oh boy — Amazon is buying Whole Foods Market in a deal worth nearly $14 billion. The combination of these iconic companies, both of which have come of age in the last two decades, raises obvious questions. Does the transaction reflect how hard it’s been for Whole Foods to keep Wall Street satisfied with its growth and profits? (It does.) Does the deal underscore just how expansive a vision Jeff Bezos has for Amazon, his dream of it becoming the “everything store”? (No doubt.)

To me, though, the much more profound question, both substantively and symbolically, is what the deal says about the future of an approach to business, branding, and organizational culture that Whole Foods and Amazon have come to represent." www.hbr.org

Disregard Your Financials, Cash Is All That Matters"The only thing that matters when determining the success of your business is cash, cash, cash, more cash, and when you think you’ve got enough, more cash. I challenge you to shut down your line of credit, and don’t use it for 90 days. See how well you do. If you are cash-stressed, then it really boils down to bad management, no real profits and nothing else." www.forbes.com

[tweet_box design="box_09" float="none"]The only thing that matters when determining the success of your business is cash, cash, cash, more cash, and when you think you’ve got enough, more cash. #cre[/tweet_box]

What to Delete When Your Phone Runs Out of Storage Space“If you’re like most people and use your smartphone for pretty much everything in your life — from taking photos to managing your finances — then you’re probably familiar with that frustrating alert warning you there’s “not enough storage” to download or do anything else until you free up some space.

Seriously, it’s the WORST!But the good news is that there are a few easy tips and tricks to prevent that stressful alert from constantly ruining your day.” www.clark.com

Robocalls Flooding Your Cellphone? Here’s How to Stop Them"In a Robocall Strike Force Report in October, the Federal Communications Commission said telemarketing calls were the No. 1 consumer complaint.

Citing statistics from YouMail, a developer of robocall-blocking software, the commission said consumers received an estimated 2.4 billion robocalls per month last year, driven in part by internet-powered phone systems that have made it cheap and easy to make them from anywhere in the world.

Alex Quilici, chief executive of YouMail, said his company estimated that 2.3 billion calls were made in December 2016, up from 1.5 billion in December 2015.

“If the robocalls were not valuable to the scammers, they wouldn’t be doing them,” Mr. Kalember said.

Here’s how you can fight them:" www.nytimes.com

[tweet_box design="box_09" float="none"]If the robocalls were not valuable to the scammers, they wouldn’t be doing them[/tweet_box]

Your success blesses others. I wish you a great a hugely impactful week!Ken 

Bookmarks: 5 Interesting Articles to Help You This Week

June 19th, 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!

Amazon, Whole Foods, and the Future of the (Old) New Economy"I heard the news today, oh boy — Amazon is buying Whole Foods Market in a deal worth nearly $14 billion. The combination of these iconic companies, both of which have come of age in the last two decades, raises obvious questions. Does the transaction reflect how hard it’s been for Whole Foods to keep Wall Street satisfied with its growth and profits? (It does.) Does the deal underscore just how expansive a vision Jeff Bezos has for Amazon, his dream of it becoming the “everything store”? (No doubt.)." www.hbr.com

10 years later, Zell explains the perfect timing of his Equity Office sale"In his new memoir, "Am I Being Too Subtle?," the anything-but-subtle maverick, now 75, confesses: He sold Equity Office Properties in 2007 because Blackstone Group simply made an offer he couldn't refuse. The $39 billion bid was 25 percent above the public REIT's market cap and nearly double the firm's year-earlier value.

"To this day, people credit me with calling the top of the market when I sold Equity Office," he writes. "The reality is, I wasn't trying to. While the market was frothy, I wasn't selling to get out of the office market. I had simply received a Godfather offer." www.chicagobusiness.com

Pivoting Brands: The “Tech” Label and Why Space Still Matters"As Jeff Bezos once said, “Your brand is what people say about you when you’re not in the room,” and from the outside looking in I would argue that consumers see finance as finance and tech as tech.

Since these companies are self-selecting a label other than what most would describe them by, it creates a gap in understanding and ability for consumers to speak as true advocates of the products and services that these companies deliver on. There is a misalignment between how these organizations view themselves internally versus how their consumer base would articulate what they do. Organizations rely on their mission and value proposition to communicate their business focus, so why are these organizations making this shift and how can they help consumers understand what they are really selling?" www.gensleron.com[tweet_box design="box_10" float="none"]Your brand is what people say about you when you’re not in the room #cre[/tweet_box]

How Amazon Just Changed The $800 Billion Supermarket World“The greatest innovation in the history of grocery was of course mocked by the industry back in 1916. Clarence Saunders opened a store with a silly name that let customers walk the aisles and pick out the products for themselves. The day before grocery shopping was done by an attendant who picked out your products as the customer waited patiently at the counter. Very little of what that first Piggly Wiggly customer experienced 101 years ago has changed.  Until ecommerce came along and rocked the core of the supermarket revenue model. It shifted the labor cost back to the store. Turning back the clock, the chain must employ labor to pick products off the shelf instead of the customer doing the work for them. Those dollars are more significant in grocery versus fashion or electronics because the average customer buys 12-20 products that are low margin and heavy.” www.forbes.com

How To Get Toxic People Out Of Your Life"Old friends can suck your mojo away, and so can family members. You might think "I am stuck with my family members!" but you have more control over your interactions with relatives than you might think.

You can put off get-togethers with people who suck your energy away, no matter how long you've known them or how you and they are related. You owe it to yourself to create appropriate boundaries, even with people you've known your whole life." www.forbes.com

[tweet_box design="box_10" float="none"]You can put off get-togethers with people who suck your energy away, no matter how long you've known them or how you and they are related[/tweet_box]

Your success blesses others. I wish you a great a hugely impactful week!Ken 

Bookmarks: 5 Interesting Articles to Help You This Week

June 12th, 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!

Best Answer to “Sell Me This Pen” I Have Ever Seen"At first, I didn’t realize why it mattered. It just seemed like a silly question. But, you’ll see. When you become good at answering this question, you actually become one hell of a salesperson. And that’s why people still ask it in interviews. It shows your creative approach and how good you are at actually selling product (not just reading your resume).

There are exactly four sales skills the interviewer is looking to see when you answer..." www.linkedin.com

CEOs Want Their Offices Back(WSJ.com paywall)"The lofty building Jordan Hamad moved his tech-advisory firm into four years ago had the trappings of a startup idyll: open floor plan, polished concrete floors, custom-built communal tables.

Soon, the 33-year-old founder of Chairseven says he craved something else: walls and a door.” www.wsj.comHow to Protect Yourself From Ransomware Attack"The most disheartening revelation from the cyberattack was that there was a fix available for the ransomware before the attack. Microsoft, which makes Windows, released a patch for the WannaCry vulnerability eight weeks ago, said Chris Wysopal, the chief technology officer of Veracode, an application security company." www.nytimes.comAmazon No. 2 on LinkedIn’s Top Companies list — see where else ‘the world wants to work now“I believe the biggest reason that the best talent in the world wants to work and stay at Amazon is our unique culture of innovation and customer obsession,” said Beth Galetti, SVP of human resources at Amazon. “Thank you to our hundreds of thousands of employees who bring this culture to life and make sure every day at Amazon is Day 1.” www.geekwire.comIBM Tells Remote Employees to get Back to the Office"IBM, one of the technology-sector giants that pioneered the concept of allowing its employees to work from home, is pulling the plug on its remote-working policy in an effort to create a more collaborative environment for it's approximately 380,000 workers around the world." www.wsj.com

[tweet_box design="box_09" float="none"]IBM, is pulling the plug on its remote-work policy in an effort to create a collaborative environment for its approximately 380,000 workers  #cre #huge[/tweet_box]

Your success blesses others. I wish you a great a hugely impactful week!Ken 

Bookmarks: 5 Interesting Articles to Help You This Week

May 15th, 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!

Sam Zell Looks Back"Over his long career, he says, “the thing I’m most proud of is nobody has ever left a meeting with me and said, ‘What do you think he meant?’ A lot of times you don’t agree, and a lot of times…you could be irate, but you’re not going to come back and say, ‘What did you say?’” www.wsj.com

[tweet_box design="box_09" float="none"]#Samzell - nobody has ever left a meeting with me and said, ‘What do you think he meant? #cre[/tweet_box]

Take Something Off: How To Get The Life And Career You Really Want"First of all, don't be so stuck in anything. What if Jacki has a heart attack or is diagnosed with cancer or if something happens in her life that is a wakeup call? She would give up her work, take care of herself and do what she loves because suddenly life becomes precious. We live as if we’re going to live forever." www.forbes.com

[tweet_box design="box_09" float="none"]We live as if we’re going to live forever[/tweet_box]

Amazon to Share New Building With Homeless Shelter in SeattleTalk About Mixed Use"In an unusual arrangement, the company has agreed to give (a homeless) shelter, Mary’s Place, a permanent home inside one of the new office buildings for which it will break ground in the fall.

Amazon will give roughly half of the six-story building to the shelter, providing it with 47,000 square feet of space with private rooms that can hold 65 families, or about 220 people and their pets. The facility, expected to open in early 2020, will have its own entrance and elevators.” www.NYTimes.com

Your Boss Wants To See You. Again."Welcome to the era of the never-ending performance review. As companies such as Adobe Systems Inc. and General Electric Co. revamp and rethink the detested annual review, they have put in place new evaluations designed to give employees more-frequent feedback. Companies say they are staying current with young workers accustomed to instant gratification in form of Facebook likes and Yelp ratings. Managers and employees say it is tough learning to give - and receive - constant critiques and praise.

“You really have to put your ego aside,” said Deloitte LLP consultant Cashel Discepola, who transitioned last year from twice-annual feedback to talking about performance with her manager every other week." www.wsj.com

The Next Hot Housing Market: Starter Homes“They’re crawling out of their parents’ basements, they’re forming households and they’re looking to buy,” said Doug Bauer, chief executive of home builder Tri Pointe Group Inc., which operates in eight states.

In a shift, new households are overwhelmingly choosing to buy rather than rent. Some 854,000 new-owner households were formed during the first three months of the year, more than double the 365,000 new-renter households formed during the period, according to Census Bureau data. It was the first time in a decade there were more new buyers than renters, according to an analysis by home-tracker Trulia. www.wsj.comYour success blesses others. I wish you a great a hugely impactful week!Ken 

Bookmarks: 5 Interesting Articles to Help You This Week

May 8th, 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!

Why You Really Need to Stop Using Public Wi-Fi"...not convinced of the risks? Here’s a story that should worry business travelers in particular. In 2014 experts from Kaspersky Lab uncovered a very sophisticated hacking campaign called “Dark Hotel.” Operating for more than seven years and believed to be a sophisticated economic espionage campaign by an unknown country, Dark Hotel targeted CEOs, government agencies, U.S. executives, NGOs, and other high-value targets while they were in Asia. When executives connected to their luxury hotel’s Wi-Fi network and downloaded what they believed were regular software updates, their devices were infected with malware. This malware could sit inactive and undetected for several months before being remotely accessed to obtain sensitive information on the device." www.hbr.com

[tweet_box design="box_09" float="none"]When executives connected to their luxury hotel’s Wi-Fi network and downloaded what they believed were regular software updates, their devices were infected with malware.[/tweet_box]

Five Reasons Why 'The Retail Apocalypse' Is A False Scare Story"Talk about the death of retail is great click bait. Media outlets from the Wall Street Journal to Fortune to USA Today have trumpeted news about store closings, retail bankruptcies, and the end of retail as we know it. If we’re to believe these articles, we’ll all be buying from Amazon.com, and malls will become old age homes for Baby Boomers. And the rest of us should just close up shop now, and put an end to the pain." www.forbes.com

[tweet_box design="box_09" float="none"]Talk about the death of #retail is great click bait #cre[/tweet_box]

Alexa and Cortana May Be Heading to the Office"Whether for work or home, intelligent assistants are part of a trend that has brought voice-control capabilities to such devices as cellphones, connected cars and certain home appliances. Apple Inc. (AAPL) introduced voice-recognition technology to customers’ pockets with the release of iPhone 4s with Siri in 2011.” www.wsj.com

How To Use Your Digital Footprint To Advance Your Career"In today’s world, your social media presence is essential. The content you share represents who you are and what you stand for—it is your digital footprint. With one google search of your name prospective clients, employers, and co-workers can get a snapshot of your history.

Surveys show employers check LinkedIn as the most popular channel (96%), followed by Facebook (56%), Twitter (41%) and Instagram (7%). It’s a common misconception that you should only focus on your social media presence if you want to be an influencer. In many cases having no online presence can hinder your chances for employment or future collaborations even further." www.forbes.com

At These Startups, HR Comes Before the Ping-Pong Tables“Even with five to 10 people, if you don’t get the right culture going early, it’s almost impossible to get right later,” says CodeFights Chief Executive Tigran Sloyan. Quickly adding staff without building the right team can hit, not help, the bottom line of an early startup, he said.

These efforts test the conventional wisdom that spending time on HR policies drags on startups’ growth. Uber, for instance, had recruiting staff and a team to handle administrative HR functions in its earlier years but didn’t hire its first senior HR chief until 2014, when it had about 600 employees."  www.wsj.comYour success blesses others. I wish you a great a hugely impactful week!Ken 

Bookmarks: 5 Interesting Articles to Help You This Week

May 1st, 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!

At These Startups, HR Comes Before the Ping-Pong TablesRather than scale hastily, handful of tech firms focus on getting office culture right—the first time

"Amid recent workplace troubles at Zenefits, Uber Technologies Inc. and elsewhere, a handful of founders are taking a different tack and formalizing their workplace culture as deliberately as they build their products—sometimes before they have enough staff to fill a conference room. The hope, these founders say, is that a more motivated, well-oiled workforce will attract top talent and avoid troubles down the road." www.wsj.com

[tweet_box design="box_09" float="none"]A handful of #founders are taking a different tack and formalizing their #workplace #culture as deliberately as they build their products #cre[/tweet_box]

Optimism Improves Among CRE Execs, Despite Uncertainties"The U.S. CRE market is looking at a rising level of confidence, stiffer competition from single-family residential for the nation’s housing dollar, and concerns over rising prices and falling cap rates, according to the eighth annual Akerman U.S. Real Estate Sector Report, released last week." www.cpexecutives.com

Photos: Atlanta’s Bank of America tower redo aims to lure ‘top tech talent’"Standing 55 stories and 1,023 feet, the tower is still the 11th tallest building in America (with no equal in the Southeast), but it’s been traditionally considered the domain of mahogany-paneled law firms. With refreshed amenities and potentially more techie tenants, new owners and management hope to change that.” www.curbed.com

Why Being Early to Meetings Is Hurting Your Reputation, According to a Green Beret"there is one thing you can do that screams, “This is a person I want to work with” to any of the hundreds of people you come in contact with on a daily or weekly basis. It is a tactic many great leaders employ. It’s simple, it’s free and it is effective: Be on time.

"Don’t show up five minutes late. Don’t show up 15 minutes early. Show up on time." www.entrepreneur.com

The Worst Way To Open A Meeting Is One You Probably Use"Do you want to start or should I? This is the worst possible way to open a meeting. And, yet, it is also among the most common. Epidemic, actually. I think it must be contagious.

Why is it bad?Because it opens the door wide. It's an invitation to talk. It lets the horses out of the barn. Anyone with a topic that seems relevant to the group, whether a beef or a great idea, can take advantage of the vacuum to make a suggestion. Even if you address the question to a specific person, it doesn't prevent others from chiming in while they have the chance."  www.forbes.comYour success blesses others. I wish you a great a hugely impactful week!Ken 

Bookmarks: 5 Interesting Articles to Help You This Week

April 24th, 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!How Online Shopping Makes Suckers of Us All"Will you pay more for those shoes before 7 p.m.? Would the price tag be different if you lived in the suburbs? Standard prices and simple discounts are giving way to far more exotic strategies, designed to extract every last dollar from the consumer." www.theatlantic.com

[tweet_box design="box_09" float="none"]Be warned! Online selling is designed to extract every last dollar from the consumer #cre[/tweet_box]

How Airline Workers Learn to Deal With You"To many travelers, these and other onboard incidents from just the past couple of weeks represent an airline industry out of control, with power-hungry personnel who bring down the hammer if they sense even a whiff of wrongdoing.

People who work on the industry’s front lines, however, consider themselves first responders of the airport and the skies, awkwardly embracing the newfound expectation that they’re as responsible for passenger safety as those who pilot the jets. They do so, many say, without proper staffing or resources, and amid managerial suspicion and passenger disrespect." www.nytimes.com

Can "Returnships" Help Women Restart Careers?"Outside of work, I started to notice something as I entered my 40s – female friends and colleagues were leaving their careers for a period of time to focus on their children and finding it difficult to restart their careers. Their attempts were thwarted by bias from recruiters and hiring managers who were reluctant to consider a candidate with a career gap or someone who wanted something less than a full-time role.” www.forbes.com

Here's What I Learned at 52 about Age, Wisdom, and the Tech Industry"Wisdom is about pattern recognition. And the older you are, the more patterns you’ve seen. There’s an old saying I love: “When an elder dies, it’s like a library has burned down.” In the digital era, libraries — and elders — aren’t quite as popular as they used to be. But wisdom never grows old." www.hbr.org

What in the World Is Causing the Retail Meltdown of 2017?"So, what the heck is going on? The reality is that overall retail spending continues to grow steadily, if a little meagerly. But several trends—including the rise of e-commerce, the over-supply of malls, and the surprising effects of a restaurant renaissance—have conspired to change the face of American shopping.Here are three explanations for the recent demise of America’s storefronts."  www.theatlantic.comYour success blesses others. I wish you a great a hugely impactful week!Ken 

Bookmarks: 5 Interesting Articles to Help You This Week

April 17th, 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!Solving The Mystery of Government Owned Real Estate"Governments own and lease more commercial real estate assets than any other entity around the world. The trouble is no one knows exactly how much. Two new tech companies are working to make it easier for real estate professionals to discover and work with government assets." www.forbes.com

[tweet_box design="box_09" float="none"]Two new #tech cos are making it easier for #CRE professionals to work with government assets[/tweet_box]

Don't Get Dragged Away: Learn These Three Basic Facts About Airline Overbooking"If your flight is overbooked and not enough passengers volunteer to take a later one, you could end up being denied boarding. So if you're not in a rush to get somewhere you might be tempted take the $200 minimum voucher, without realizing that you enter into a contract of carriage every time you purchase a flight, and this contract outlines the legal expectations on you and on the airline. You could be owed more compensation than the minimum $200.Specifically, if your domestic flight arrives one-two hours late, you’re entitled to 200% of your one-way fare, with a cap of $650. On international flights, you’re entitled to that if your flight arrives four hours late. If your domestic flight arrives more than two hours late, you’re entitled to 400% of your one-way fare, with a cap of $1,300. If international, you’re entitled to that if your flight arrives more than four hours late. So before taking a travel voucher and giving up your seat, stop and consider that it may be preventing you from receiving the greater compensation you would be due if you ended up being denied boarding." www.forbes.com

LinkedIn's Recruiting Head On Why The First Think He Does In Every Job Interview Is Hand Over A Marker"When LinkedIn's head of recruiting, Brendan Browne, interviews someone for a job, one of the first things he does is hand over an erasable marker and direct the candidate to a whiteboard on the wall.

He'll ask the candidate, regardless of position, "What are you most passionate about? Using the whiteboard, explain to me the process of how it works."If that seems open to interpretation to you, it's because it's supposed to.” www.businessinsider.com

Amazon's Free Shipping Pushes Small Retailers to Compete"There is no universe where you can beat Amazon’s shipping prices,” said Stefan Weitz, chief product and strategy officer at Radial, which handles online orders from about two-dozen warehouses and clients’ stores. “I don’t have to beat Amazon. I have to get close enough to provide a service level to my customers." www.wsj.com

Richard Branson's 5 a.m. Workout and 5 Other Morning Habits of Successful Billionaires"Get your head in the game If you think you have a lot on your plate, just imagine what it’s like to wake up every morning and face running one of the world’s biggest businesses. The secret is to have a thoughtful morning routine." www.inc.com

[tweet_box design="box_09" float="none"]The secret to success is to have a thoughtful morning routine #cre[/tweet_box]

Your success blesses others. I wish you a great a hugely impactful week!Ken 

Bookmarks: 5 Interesting Articles to Help You This Week

April 11th, 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!Downtown Brooklyn’s Dearth of Office Space Beckons Tishman Speyer"Twenty-first-century real estate is defined by a ‘live-work-play’ dynamic,” said Rob Speyer, the president of Tishman Speyer. “Brooklyn has mastered ‘live-play,’ but now it needs world-class office space for ‘work." www.nytimes.comShould CEOs Respond When Employees Complain About Them Online?"If the decision is to reply to employee criticism, CEOs should remember that a response over social media is not just a response to the critical employee — it’s a message to everyone who comes across it, including potential shareholders, customers, and employeeI mas. As a general rule, simplicity and humility go a long way." www.hbr.com[tweet_box design="box_09" float="none"]Good advice all the way around: "As a general rule, simplicity and humility go a long way." @harvardbiz[/tweet_box]Your Accountant Knows You Better Than You Know YourselfI married mine - tell me about it. www.wsj.com

10 Podcasts That Will Make You Smarter"Hate your commute? Struggle to motivate yourself to hit the treadmill? Perhaps both these problems (and many more) have the same solution. Why not turn these odds and ends of unpleasant time into opportunities to learn by popping on a podcast? That's how many luminaries like Bill Gates manage to find time to feed their brains despite their insane schedules, after all.

All you need is a few good suggestions of where to start. A fabulously useful Quora thread responding to a questioner who wanted to know "What podcast has made you smarter?" offers tons of great ideas covering topics from design and spirituality to health and entrepreneurship. Happy listening!” www.inc.com

Why Delta Air Lines Paid Me $11,000 Not To Fly To Florida This Weekend10 things to know about getting bumped off a plane and how to get compensated handsomely.  www.forbes.com

[tweet_box design="box_09" float="none"]Screaming doesn’t work. Crying doesn’t work. Being nice? Now, that works[/tweet_box]

Your success blesses others. I wish you a great a hugely impactful week!

Ken 

Bookmarks: 5 Interesting Articles to Help You This Week

March 27th, 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!The Dirty Secret That's Making Major Construction More Expensive "With all of these different factors involved in removing dirt from sites, it is no wonder contractors have been devoting greater resources to trying to make the process more efficient. As major projects break ground every year, it keeps becoming harder to find new places to dump the dirt, compounding the logistical challenges contractors face." www.bisnow.com

[tweet_box design="box_09" float="none"]As major #CRE projects break ground every year, it keeps becoming harder to find new places to dump the #dirt [/tweet_box]

“The revelation of how sales people actually spend their time paves the way for management based on facts, not myths. It makes clearer what combination of coverage, alignment, and behaviors generates the best outcomes. And it gives frontline managers a specific agenda for coaching and training, all in the service of inspiring greater productivity for the entire sales team.." www.hbr.com

Research: Stale Office Air Is Making You Less Productive"....research adds empirical evidence to a long-recognized phenomenon. Ben Franklin once professed, “I am persuaded that no common air from without is so unwholesome as the air within a close room that has been often breathed and not changed.” We’ve all struggled to concentrate in a conference room that is stuffy and warm. When a window or door is opened and fresh air comes in, it breathes life into the room. Businesses would benefit from recognizing this and taking action to optimize their air quality for employees’ health and productivity." www.hbr.com

How Big Data Improves the Real Estate Industry"The vast big data ocean contains billions of pieces of information and the ultimate goal is to find meaning and patterns. It decreases the risk traditionally associated with real estate business, empowering us to make informed decisions based on facts and figures. We have a chance to obtain greater insight into markets and trends that shape them.” www.inman.com

How the 'Airbnb for Pets' Became a $70 Million Business"The company's success has been good news for Rocky the fearful goldendoodle, who no longer has to spend her time in kennels. Hirschhorn, speaking while on vacation in the Dominican Republic, says that she's currently boarding with a DogVacay sitter. "From the pictures I've gotten of Rocky at the beach, on a hike, and passed out in her bed," he adds, "I'm pretty sure she's having as much fun on vacay as we are." www.inc.com

Richard Branson's 5 a.m. Workout and 5 Other Morning Habits of Successful Billionaires"Get your head in the game If you think you have a lot on your plate, just imagine what it’s like to wake up every morning and face running one of the world’s biggest businesses. The secret is to have a thoughtful morning routine." www.inc.com

[tweet_box design="box_09" float="none"]The secret to success is to have a thoughtful morning routine #cre[/tweet_box]

Your success blesses others. I wish you a great a hugely impactful week!Ken 

Bookmarks: 5 Interesting Articles to Help You This Week

March 20th, 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!Millennials are Forcing America's Largest Corporations to Kill Traditional Suburban Office Parks"...developers still have to decide if their buildings align with what employees are asking for, and doubly so as the desire for certain elements of the 'urban experience' have bled into the suburbs. If businesses choose not to adapt to those changing preferences, as...research suggests they should, it shouldn't come as a surprise if tenants begin to jump ship. The cities that have strong downtowns and are successful in attracting corporate relocations and millennials to live nearby will have an unquestionable edge. "In those metropolitan areas, the suburban campus will be less successful." www.businessinsider.com

[tweet_box design="box_09" float="none"]The cities that have strong downtowns and are successful in attracting corporate relocations and millennials to live nearby will have an unquestionable edge #cre[/tweet_box]

It’s 10 AM. Do You Know What Your Sales Reps Are Doing?“The revelation of how sales people actually spend their time paves the way for management based on facts, not myths. It makes clearer what combination of coverage, alignment, and behaviors generates the best outcomes. And it gives frontline managers a specific agenda for coaching and training, all in the service of inspiring greater productivity for the entire sales team.." www.hbr.com

High Above, Drones Keep Watchful Eyes on Wildlife in Africa"Popices launched with a new offering: indoor spaces. Their portfolio includes restaurants, cafes, a hotel, and even a converted house-boat. Baker tells us that each space offers different perks, but that “if you compare it to Airbnb, we basically guarantee members a bed (desk + chair) and all the other extras depend on the location they choose." www.https://allwork.space.com

How The Top Real Estate Tycoon In LA Overcame MS To Achieve Success"Pardee took a year off from working to focus on her values and what was most important to her. She attended the LifeForward program through the Hudson Institute of Coaching in Santa Barbara, which gave her the tools to get her life under control. “I was able to hone in on what was important to me in each area of my life – personal, family, friends, business and community. I had to make a commitment to live within my values and be true to myself. I had to learn to give up things I could not change. I made visions boards for my life that incorporated creative ways to live in the moment and truly appreciate every day. Rather than letting the MS diagnosis set me back, I took control of my life and made an actionable plan.”www.forbes.com

How the 'Airbnb for Pets' Became a $70 Million Business"The company's success has been good news for Rocky the fearful goldendoodle, who no longer has to spend her time in kennels. Hirschhorn, speaking while on vacation in the Dominican Republic, says that she's currently boarding with a DogVacay sitter. "From the pictures I've gotten of Rocky at the beach, on a hike, and passed out in her bed," he adds, "I'm pretty sure she's having as much fun on vacay as we are." www.inc.com

Your success blesses others. I wish you a great a hugely impactful week!Ken 

Bookmarks: 5 Interesting Articles to Help You This Week

March 13th, 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!Why Do Employees Stay? A Clear Career Path and Good Pay, for Starters"At Glassdoor, we have ample data on workers’ job trajectories from millions of résumés that people have shared on our site. Looking at those résumés, we can gain insight into the reasons for employee turnover by comparing job transitions where workers stayed with their original employer with those where people left for another company." www.hbr.com

[tweet_box design="box_09" float="none"]escalating workers through new job titles over time isn’t enough; making sure pay is competitive is also essential to retaining talent[/tweet_box]

Why We Don’t Value Flextime Enough“Even when flextime is available, its attractiveness depends on how it is perceived by others, particularly by higher-ups. Employees may wonder, for example, whether they will be at a disadvantage for promotion if they don’t put in enough face time at the office during business hours. If we really are going to change the way that people think about the benefits of flextime, managers need to make it clear that there is no stigma attached to it." www.wsj.org

Pop-Up Workspaces: The New Hype in Amsterdam"Popices launched with a new offering: indoor spaces. Their portfolio includes restaurants, cafes, a hotel, and even a converted house-boat. Baker tells us that each space offers different perks, but that “if you compare it to Airbnb, we basically guarantee members a bed (desk + chair) and all the other extras depend on the location they choose." www.https://allwork.space.com

How The Top Real Estate Tycoon In LA Overcame MS To Achieve Success"Pardee took a year off from working to focus on her values and what was most important to her. She attended the LifeForward program through the Hudson Institute of Coaching in Santa Barbara, which gave her the tools to get her life under control. “I was able to hone in on what was important to me in each area of my life – personal, family, friends, business and community. I had to make a commitment to live within my values and be true to myself. I had to learn to give up things I could not change. I made visions boards for my life that incorporated creative ways to live in the moment and truly appreciate every day. Rather than letting the MS diagnosis set me back, I took control of my life and made an actionable plan.”www.forbes.com

The American Suburbs as we Know Them Are Dying"People in US suburbs are changing the way they shop, where they eat, and what they want in their homes.Malls are shutting down as e-commerce continues to take over, and the casual-dining chains that fed shoppers after a day of hoofing it through the mall are struggling to cope." www.businessinsider.com

Your success blesses others. I wish you a great a hugely impactful week!Ken 

Bookmarks: 5 Interesting Articles to Help You This Week

March 6th, 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!‘Ugh, I’m So Busy’: A Status Symbol for Our Time"The gleam of being both well-off and time-poor, the authors write, is “driven by the perceptions that a busy person possesses desired human capital characteristics (competence, ambition) and is scarce and in demand on the job market.” In a curious reversal, the aspirational objects here are not some luxury goods—a nice watch or car, which are now mass-produced and more widely available than they used to be—but workers themselves, who by bragging about how busy they are can signal just how much the labor market values them and their skills." www.theatlantic.com

[tweet_box design="box_09" float="none"]The aspirational objects here aren't luxury goods, but how busy you are #cre[/tweet_box]

The Right Way to Start a Meeting“If you want to have a more productive meeting, focus on a strong opening. A good start to a meeting is like an overture: It sets the tone, introduces the major themes, and provides a preview of what you can expect. Here are some best practices for starting your next meeting." www.hbr.org

NAR: 2017 Will Be Strong Year for Commercial"Strengthening demand from smaller markets will help the commercial sector see stable growth and offer “decent” returns for investors in 2017, according to the National Association of REALTORS®’ quarterly commercial real estate forecast NAR predicts that the national office vacancy rate will drop 1.1 percentage points to 12.1 percent this year. Job growth in the business and professional services sector is expected to increase the need for office space in 2017." www.realtormag.com

Why We Don’t Value Flextime Enough"Workplace flexibility has obvious appeal as an alternative to the traditional 9-to-5 day. It allows employees to get to the doctor, stop for a haircut or attend a school assembly during the day and to wrap up work after the kids go to bed. And if employees value this flexibility, companies may benefit as well—by attracting better employees or making existing ones more productive, because they are happier on the job." www.wsj.com

Cities Embrace ‘Transit Hubs’ to Boost Business, Jobs"Are transit hubs the new malls? Several major nerve centers of U.S. transportation—like Union Station in Washington, D.C., and Penn Station in New York City—are planning major overhauls that would transform them from pass-through structures into glittering corridors of restaurants, retail, and event spaces. Meanwhile, expanding local rail systems around the country are also sparking the development of new transit hubs, trying to take advantage of built-in foot traffic to boost business and job markets." www.curbed.com

[tweet_box design="box_09" float="none"]Are transit hubs the new #malls? #cre[/tweet_box]

Your success blesses others. I wish you a great a hugely impactful week!Ken 

Bookmarks: 5 Interesting Articles to Help You This Week

February 27th, 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!Apple Will Open Its New 'Spaceship' Campus In April"Apple’s new campus has a name and a move-in date.On Wednesday, Apple announced that its 175-acre ring-shaped futuristic campus will be called “Apple Park” and employees will being occupying it in April, although construction will continue through the summer. By the end of this year, Apple expects to move more than 12,000 employees into the new Cupertino campus.To honor Steve Jobs’ memory, the 1,000-seat auditorium on campus will be named after Apple’s iconic founder. Apple announced the news days before what would have been Jobs’ 62nd birthday." www.forbes.com

[tweet_box design="box_09" float="none"]#Apple expects to move more than 12,000 employees into the new Cupertino campus #cre[/tweet_box]

How to Handle Interrupting Colleagues“You’re giving a presentation on the company’s strategic direction when one of your colleagues interrupts you. You pause, address his question, and continue with your point — until he interrupts again. Sound familiar?

All of us have known colleagues, friends, or romantic partners who seem unable to let us finish a sentence. How do you handle them effectively? There are a number of tactics." www.hbr.orgWhat CEOs Should Know About Speaking Up on Political Issues"The unpredictability of our current political environment, in the U.S. and around the globe, has drawn company leaders into a maelstrom. CEOs don’t know whether a presidential tweet will bring their company into the limelight, or whether a controversial policy will pressure them to speak out. For example, there was anxiety among CEOs about how to respond to President Trump’s recent executive order restricting immigration. There’s even an app that notifies users when the president tweets about a particular company.Should executives respond when a tweet or unexpected event touches their business or rouses their employees and customers? There are risks and rewards to CEO activism. Weber Shandwick, where I serve as chief reputation officer, and KRC Research surveyed 1,050 senior executives and 2,100 consumers across 21 markets worldwide to find out what people expect from corporate brands.." www.hbr.com

Investors Are Targeting Smaller, Last Mile Warehouses"Investors are taking aim at smaller industrial properties that cover the critical last mile that e-commerce firms need to make same-day delivery a reality. These warehouses tend to be smaller, less efficient and older than bulk facilities, and until now they’ve  largely sat idle on the market," www.bisnow.org

The B-52s Played its First Gig 40 Years Ago Today, so Here are 52 Fun Facts About the Band"In honor of one of Athens’ most legendary bands celebrating the anniversary of its first gig 40 years ago, here are 52 fun, freaky and factual things to know about the B-52s." www.redandblack.com

Your success blesses others. I wish you a great a hugely impactful week!Ken 

Bookmarks: 5 Interesting Articles to Help You This Week

February 20th, 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!It Only Takes 7 Words to Create the Last Work-From-Home Policy You'll Ever Need"Recently, a friend asked me to review his work-from-home policy. He's tired of being reactive and wants to be proactive. "What am I missing?" he asked. "What should I add?"I didn't even look at his policy."Here are all the guidelines you need," I said.* Get your work done.* Be available.* Overcommunicate.Sound too simple? It's not. Those seven words cover most of the issues you'll face--and if they don't, you can deal with those situations one-off rather than as systemic issues that require a blanket policy." www.inc.com

Want to Be More Productive? Sit Next to Someone Who Is“We saw that neighbors have a significant impact on an employee’s performance, and it can be either positive or negative. In terms of magnitude, we found that approximately 10% of a worker’s performance spills over to her neighbors. Replacing an average performer with one who is twice as productive results in his or her neighboring workers increasing their own productivity by about 10%, on average." www.hbr.0rg

[tweet_box design="box_09" float="none"]10% of a worker’s performance spills over to her neighbors[/tweet_box]

Business travel. It's a killer. Literally."Now I don't wish to sound like some harbinger of doom and put a downer on what some believe is one of the few pleasures they have in their working lives but several recent studies suggest that extensive air travel is incredibly detrimental to your health.." www.linkedin.com

Energy Strategy for the C-Suite"To understand how firms are approaching energy strategy, we surveyed executives from 145 companies with $1 billion or more in revenue from across sectors and geographies. The research looked at the firms’ performance on 15 measures of energy practice, including developing a formal strategy, deploying cutting-edge technologies, and leveraging advanced financing mechanisms. We sorted the firms into leaders, middle tier, and laggards and gauged how well their “energy maturity” drove business value. Drawing on this research and on our decades of experience in energy consulting and management, we have developed a new framework for using energy strategy to drive business value." www.hbr.org

10 Journalism Brands Where You Find Real Facts Rather Than Alternative Facts"One key question for any publication is this: If a reporter gets facts in a story wrong, will the news outlet investigate a complaint and publish a correction? Does the publication have its own code of ethics? Or does it subscribe to and endorse the Society of Professional Journalist's code of ethics? And if a reporter or editor seriously violates ethical codes - such as being a blatant or serial plagiarizer, fabulist or exaggerator - will they be fired at a given news outlet? While some may criticize mainstream media outlets for a variety of sins, top outlets such as the Washington Post, the New York Times, NBC News and the New Republic have fired journalists for such ethics violations. That is remarkable in a world where some celebrities, politicians and other realms of media (other than news... such as Hollywood films "based on a true story") can spread falsehood with impunity." www.forbes.com

Your success blesses others. I wish you a great a hugely impactful week!Ken 

Bookmarks: 5 Interesting Articles to Help You This Week

February 13th, 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!Big Investors Cut Back on Commercial Property as Bull Market Loses SteamIs the pendulum swinging back the tenant's way? "Some prominent real-estate investors are reducing their holdings and getting more selective about new deals, in a sign that the eight-year bull market for U.S. commercial property is coming to a close.Asset managers at pension funds and endowments, as well as private-equity firms and other big investors, are throttling back on new acquisitions, selling more assets and shifting to less risky strategies as a way to protect against potential losses in a downturn." www.wsj.com[tweet_box design="box_09" float="none"]Is the pendulum finally swinging back the #tenant's way? #cre[/tweet_box]

Finally, Proof That Managing for the Long Term Pays Off“Companies deliver superior results when executives manage for long-term value creation and resist pressure from analysts and investors to focus excessively on meeting Wall Street’s quarterly earnings expectations. This has long seemed intuitively true to us. We’ve seen companies such as Unilever, AT&T, and Amazon succeed by sticking resolutely to a long-term view. And yet we have not had the comprehensive data needed to quantify the payoff from managing for the long term — until now.

New research, led by a team from McKinsey Global Institute in cooperation with FCLT Global, found that companies that operate with a true long-term mindset have consistently outperformed their industry peers since 2001 across almost every financial measure that matters." www.hbr.0rgSorry, Working From Home Isn't the Future of Job Flexibility"Workers say in survey after survey that flexibility is a very important aspect of job satisfaction. But what they really want is to work from home, according to a recently published study by the Washington Center for Equitable Growth.That's not realistic for many of the fields of work that are growing fastest, and it's not something most employers are offering.The average worker would take an 8 percent pay cut to work from home, the study found. Other possible work arrangements, such as compressing five days' worth of work into four or picking different start and end times, don't seem to justify a lower salary." www.bloomberg.com

How to Make Sure Your Emails Give the Right Impression"Given the avalanche of email we receive each year — 121 messages per day, on average — it’s no wonder that we have become somewhat desensitized to its impact on our professional brand. We’ll spend hours polishing our LinkedIn profiles and revising our résumés, but hastily hit send on an unintelligible missive simply because we’re in a rush. “Sent from my device, please overlook typos” is not a get-out-of-jail-free card for shoddy communications.

Have you ever thought about the brand you’re conveying through your emails? You should. Every email you send affects your professional reputation, or brand. Don’t make these all-too-common mistakes in your communication:" www.hbr.org

10 Journalism Brands Where You Find Real Facts Rather Than Alternative Facts"One key question for any publication is this: If a reporter gets facts in a story wrong, will the news outlet investigate a complaint and publish a correction? Does the publication have its own code of ethics? Or does it subscribe to and endorse the Society of Professional Journalist's code of ethics? And if a reporter or editor seriously violates ethical codes - such as being a blatant or serial plagiarizer, fabulist or exaggerator - will they be fired at a given news outlet? While some may criticize mainstream media outlets for a variety of sins, top outlets such as the Washington Post, the New York Times, NBC News and the New Republic have fired journalists for such ethics violations. That is remarkable in a world where some celebrities, politicians and other realms of media (other than news... such as Hollywood films "based on a true story") can spread falsehood with impunity." www.forbes.com

Your success blesses others. I wish you a great a hugely impactful week!Ken 

Bookmarks: 5 Interesting Articles to Help You This Week

February 6th, 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!Office Landlords Leverage Co-Working Style Designs to Retain Tenants"Inspired by Millennials, the collaborative office design is now popular across most industries and age groups. Office building landlords are now outfitting lobbies with amenities and creating indoor and outdoor spaces where building occupants can work, socialize and meet with each other or clients. Office landlords are capitalizing on a concept originally conceived by co-working operators like WeWork." www.nreionline.com[tweet_box design="box_09" float="none"]Office landlords are capitalizing on a concept originally conceived by co-working operators like WeWork[/tweet_box]

Cat's new HQ goal: Change culture“With all due respect to Peoria, it's going to be easier to lure corporate talent to the Chicago area. Yes, the area has its problems but it is also home to many world-class cultural amenities and social attractions that help make people want to work and play here."

"Many of Caterpillar's senior leaders have spent many years at the firm and have been rotated throughout the business," Keith Schoonmaker, Morningstar analyst, wrote in a recent report. "Increasingly, however, the company has sought to hire people from outside of the heavy equipment industry." www.chicagotribune.comSorry, Working From Home Isn't the Future of Job Flexibility"Workers say in survey after survey that flexibility is a very important aspect of job satisfaction. But what they really want is to work from home, according to a recently published study by the Washington Center for Equitable Growth.That's not realistic for many of the fields of work that are growing fastest, and it's not something most employers are offering.The average worker would take an 8 percent pay cut to work from home, the study found. Other possible work arrangements, such as compressing five days' worth of work into four or picking different start and end times, don't seem to justify a lower salary." www.bloomberg.com

Unusual employee benefits at Basecamp - the complete list"I’m often asked about the benefits we offer at Basecamp. Potential employees are obviously curious, but most of the questions I get are from fellow business owners and entrepreneurs. Everyone’s looking to know what everyone else is doing — as are we — so I figured I might as well post our current benefit list publicly.

Note: Since the majority of our staff works remotely, and some outside the US, some of these benefits are provided in different ways. For example, the 401k is only available in the US. We’re currently working on making sure everyone, no matter where they work, have commensurate benefits (or at least as similar as possible). We’re still working on this, so hopefully I can write more about how we’ve addressed this down the road." www.linkedin.com[tweet_box design="box_09" float="none"]Everyone’s looking to know what everyone else is doing — as are we — so I figured I might as well post our current benefit list publicly.[/tweet_box]

How Well Are #CRE Leaders Balancing Need To Attract Talent & The Need To Reduce Company Costs?"Corporate real estate (CRE) leaders around the world are focused on strategies to attract and retain superior employees and help enhance their productivity. At the same time, they must continually find ways to reduce occupancy costs. The overriding challenge is to balance these two goals, which are often in opposition to one another.

This is the picture that emerged from a new global CRE survey conducted by Cushman & Wakefield in conjunction with CoreNet Global in 2016 as a follow-up to the 2015 study of industry trends, which reinforces the criteria that is really driving occupier decisions. This year, our survey examined not only location and workplace strategy as corporate value drivers, but also CRE’s alignment with business strategy alignment." www.cushwake.comYour success blesses others. I wish you a great a hugely impactful week!Ken 

Bookmarks: 5 Interesting Articles to Help You This Week

January 30th, 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!Chick-fil-A is beating every competitor by training workers to say 'please' and 'thank you'"According to Chick-fil-A, the chain has the upper hand when it comes to customer service because it invests more than other companies in training its employees. The chicken chain's unique business structure, in which each franchisee is only allowed to open one Chick-fil-A location, further allows for more hands-on supervision and training." www.businessinsider.com[tweet_box design="box_09" float="none"]Please, Thank You, and LOTS of Chicken[/tweet_box]

Top 10 Hot Artificial Intelligence (AI) Technologies“Coined in 1955 to describe a new computer science sub-discipline, “Artificial Intelligence” today includes a variety of technologies and tools, some time-tested, others relatively new. To help make sense of what’s hot and what’s not, Forrester just published a TechRadar report on Artificial Intelligence (for application development professionals), a detailed analysis of 13 technologies enterprises should consider adopting to support human decision-making." www.forbes.com

A New Age Industrial Product Emerging To Meet Modern Needs

"Inspired by the creative office movement, a new generation of industrial flex space is emerging that combines creative office and industrial uses under one roof. Most of these projects recycle large old industrial buildings by dividing them up for multiple tenants.

This is a relatively new product type that appears most popular in mature urban locations with a large, educated young workforce, such as San Diego, Minneapolis, Seattle, Minneapolis, Los Angeles and New York..." www.nrei.com

Unusual employee benefits at Basecamp - the complete list"I’m often asked about the benefits we offer at Basecamp. Potential employees are obviously curious, but most of the questions I get are from fellow business owners and entrepreneurs. Everyone’s looking to know what everyone else is doing — as are we — so I figured I might as well post our current benefit list publicly.

Note: Since the majority of our staff works remotely, and some outside the US, some of these benefits are provided in different ways. For example, the 401k is only available in the US. We’re currently working on making sure everyone, no matter where they work, have commensurate benefits (or at least as similar as possible). We’re still working on this, so hopefully I can write more about how we’ve addressed this down the road." www.linkedin.com[tweet_box design="box_09" float="none"]Everyone’s looking to know what everyone else is doing — as are we — so I figured I might as well post our current benefit list publicly.[/tweet_box]

How Well Are #CRE Leaders Balancing Need To Attract Talent & The Need To Reduce Company Costs?"Corporate real estate (CRE) leaders around the world are focused on strategies to attract and retain superior employees and help enhance their productivity. At the same time, they must continually find ways to reduce occupancy costs. The overriding challenge is to balance these two goals, which are often in opposition to one another.

This is the picture that emerged from a new global CRE survey conducted by Cushman & Wakefield in conjunction with CoreNet Global in 2016 as a follow-up to the 2015 study of industry trends, which reinforces the criteria that is really driving occupier decisions. This year, our survey examined not only location and workplace strategy as corporate value drivers, but also CRE’s alignment with business strategy alignment." www.cushwake.comYour success blesses others. I wish you a great a hugely impactful week!Ken 

Bookmarks: 5 Interesting Articles to Help You This Week

January 23rd, 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!

The Surprising Truth About Choice“Technology gives us the power to check emails from home in the middle of the night and to collaborate in real time with colleagues all around world. And because choice empowers a person to work in whatever style they find most conducive to success, we expected our 2016 survey to show that more organizations are offering choice to their employees. So you can imagine the shock we felt when we learned that choice is actually decreasing! According to the results of our 2016 U.S. Workplace Survey, which surveyed 4,000 U.S. workers across 11 industries, only one in four people now reports having choice in where they work. That’s a 24 percent decrease in a span of just three years." www.gensleron.com

[tweet_box design="box_09" float="none"]#CRE #workplace choice is actually decreasing! @Gensleronwork[/tweet_box]

How to Write Email with Military Precision"In the military, a poorly formatted email may be the difference between mission accomplished and mission failure. During my active duty service, I learned how to structure emails to maximize a mission’s chances for success. Since returning from duty, I have applied these lessons to emails that I write for my corporate job, and my missives have consequently become crisper and cleaner, eliciting quicker and higher-quality responses from colleagues and clients. Here are three of the main tips I learned on how to format your emails with military precision..." www.hbr.org

[tweet_box design="box_09" float="none"]I have applied (military) lessons to emails that I write for my corporate job, and my missives have consequently become crisper..#cre[/tweet_box]

What Matters More to Your Workforce than Money"Economists have long argued that money doesn’t buy happiness. But compensation is still a major factor for us when we’re considering where to work. What do we know about how more pay influences employees’ motivations?

That slice of information can be the difference between a workforce that is satisfied and productive and one that isn’t — costing the business money in the long run.

As the chief economist at Glassdoor, my role is to help unearth some of the driving forces behind job seekers’ decisions: why they choose the jobs they do, what matters to them at work, and what causes them to love — or despise — their company or manager." www.hbr.org

Tech That Will Change Your Life in 2017"Ok, teleportation is still a ways off. But we’re still in awe of what’s in store for the next 12 months. The list below has become an annual tradition, where we talk to industry insiders, track the trends and otherwise gaze into our crystal ball to identify the tech that’s going to make an impact in the near term—for better and worse." www.wsj.com

A New Age Industrial Product Emerging to Meet Modern Needs"Inspired by the creative office movement, a new generation of industrial flex space is emerging that combines creative office and industrial uses under one roof. Most of these projects recycle large old industrial buildings by dividing them up for multiple tenants.

This is a relatively new product type that appears most popular in mature urban locations with a large, educated young workforce.." www.nreionline.com

5 Trends That Will Change The Way Your Customers Will Shop In 2017"At first glance, the queues for 2016’s hot-ticket holiday item, Snapchat Spectacles, might not have looked all that different from the round-the-block lines that formed for the Tickle Me Elmo craze of 20 years ago. But a closer inspection reveals how the simple act of shopping has been quietly transformed during that time.

Rather than waiting at the mall to make their purchase, Snapchat’s hopeful customers were lining up to buy specs at Snapbot vending machines in exotic locales such as the Grand Canyon, the Rose Bowl and Big Sur..." www.forbes.com

Your success blesses others. I wish you a great a hugely impactful week!Ken 

Bookmarks: 5 Interesting Articles to Help You This Week

January 9th, 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!

100,000-square-foot startup hub 'TechRise' planned for Buckhead“We are seeing increasing demand for short-term leases among emerging growth companies, and specifically in the tech sector,” noted Ken Ashley, executive director at Cushman & Wakefield. “Those companies are changing so rapidly, it’s hard to see even six months into the future, much less five years.”

While there is demand for short-term office space created by co-working spaces and incubators, it is unlikely the real estate industry will adopt the model at scale. “It’s one shelf, but it’s not the whole store,” Ashley said. “It would be unlikely that you would see many landlords take entire buildings and commit them to short-term (leases).” www.bizjournals.com

[tweet_box design="box_09" float="none"]“We are seeing increasing demand for short-term leases among emerging growth companies, and specifically in the tech sector.”[/tweet_box]

Why Millennials Don't Like to Make Phone Calls"The biggest reason has to do with time. We might not like to admit this, but as we get older, we stop forming as many new brain cells. (The myth is that we lose a lot of brain cells each day.) Millennials think faster than anyone older than 34. Millennials process information faster than most of us. They don't have time for outdated technology.

In my informal survey, Millennials said they want to communicate faster and get better answers. To me, it's the difference between asking a question on Twitter or trying to find an expert on a topic. Maybe the quality of the answer is different, but you can post on Twitter in about five second. (Believe me, I've tested this.) When I asked a question about parking in Las Vegas recently, about three people answered within seconds." www.inc.com

[tweet_box design="box_09" float="none"]Millennials process information faster than most of us. They don't have time for outdated technology.[/tweet_box]

Stop Setting Goals You Don’t Actually Care About"At the start of 2016, I asked myself one question: “How can I make achieving my professional growth goals effortless?” I found the answer was elegantly simple — by focusing on alignment goals.

Many people fail on their professional development goals for the year because they take on a lot of goals — goals that they feel they “should” do but ultimately don’t energize them. For example, maybe they tell themselves that they need to read a pile of books in order to learn more, keep up with their colleagues, or just stay up-to-date with their industry. But if sitting down to read feels more like a chore, it’s unlikely they’ll make any progress — and they may feel badly for not achieving their goal when the year comes to a close. While the goal itself felt like it was something that fit the needs of their professional role, it didn’t match the individual’s preferences or ambitions." www.hbr.com

Tech That Will Change Your Life in 2017"Ok, teleportation is still a ways off. But we’re still in awe of what’s in store for the next 12 months. The list below has become an annual tradition, where we talk to industry insiders, track the trends and otherwise gaze into our crystal ball to identify the tech that’s going to make an impact in the near term—for better and worse." www.wsj.com

How To Earn Your Manager's Respect"A 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.com

Meet The 28-Year-Old CEO Plowing Travel Guidebooks Into The FutureThree years after graduating from Western Kentucky University, Daniel Houghton, 28, took the helm of the now 44-year-old travel brand, Lonely Planet, in 2013. One of his first tasks? Laying off 75 people, one-fifth of the company’s employees, many of whom worked on Lonely Planet's free-spirited print guidebooks (though layoffs touched every team).  Guidebook sales, industry-wide, had plummeted 40% from 2007 through 2012, so Houghton decided Lonely Planet had go digital to survive. One year after he took over, digital accounted for 30% of Lonely Planet’s revenue, and print sales also rebounded, up 27% since 2013. In his first month as CEO, Houghton circumnavigated the globe three times in two weeks, meeting Lonely Planet’s partners and staff in offices spanning five continents. www.forbes.com

Your success blesses others. I wish you a great a hugely impactful week!Ken