Power Reads: 5 Interesting Articles That Will Help You This Week

Each week, I select a few articles that rise above the fray and hopefully help you on your journey in leadership and the CRE world. They pull from one of four "corners": corporate real estate, technology, management science and anything positive. Each day we can become a better version of ourselves.

1. What CEOs Are Saying: The Fed ‘Should Look Out the Front Windshield’

Here is what some of the world’s corporate leaders said this week about the economy, consumer spending and advertising trends, among other topics. 

“Bank of America Corp. Chief Executive Brian Moynihan: “A perspicacious analyst might wonder whether talk of inflation, recession and other factors would fructify in a slower spending growth. We just don’t see it here at Bank of America.” (Oct. 17)”

“In the Americas, I find a very robust business environment. I find that most enterprises want to invest.…If I go to Asia, it’s very similar.…In Europe, I think we shouldn’t put our head in the sand. I think that with the mixture of energy and inflation, you can sense that there is some caution creeping into the conversations, albeit not in the data and not yet in what we are doing as business there. But we’d be foolish not to prepare that there could be a bit of a downturn in Europe only.” (Oct. 19)

2. Mulling Office Amenities That Make Employees Want To Return

One of the commercial real estate maxims of the last year holds smart employers are now or soon will be trading in more office space for less but higher-quality office space.

“With some hybrid work likely to hang around permanently, employers will need less square footage than they did pre-pandemic. What will they do with the money saved? They’ll put it into Class A office space, the better to induce employees back, natch.”

It makes sense that with the office space sector bringing up the rear in the post-COVID CRE recovery, it is Class A office space increasingly seen as the sector’s bright spot.

3. The War to Define What Work Looks Like

Employees at General Motors Co. balked at a request to return to the office. At Meta Platforms Inc., META 1.39%▲ bosses are asking workers to get more done with fewer resources. Some CEOs say things are so tense that handing out modest raises can spark a backlash in an era of rising inflation.

“The workplace is in the middle of an unusual collision between what bosses and workers want. Employees feel empowered after two years of changing their work habits and leverage gained in a tight labor market. Employers are under increasing pressure to cut costs and boost performance as inflation soars, markets plunge and a possible U.S. recession looms. The result is a battleground at many companies.”

Some have already backed down on their September return-to-work policies, facing pushback from employees. Others are leaving jobs unfilled because they can’t afford what employees think they should be paid. Middle managers are increasingly caught between these conflicting priorities as they try to keep bosses and workers happy.

4. Southern California’s Notorious Container Ship Backup Ends

The backup of container ships off Southern California’s coast that was at the heart of U.S. supply chain congestion during the Covid-19 pandemic has effectively disappeared.

“The queue of ships waiting to unload at the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach fell from a peak of 109 ships in January to four vessels this week, according to the Marine Exchange of Southern California. Shipping specialists say fewer ships than normal are heading to the main U.S. gateway complex for imports from Asia in coming days and that cargo volumes that had long swamped the ports now are receding.”

Bottlenecks continue to delay cargo at other major U.S. seaports and at inland freight hubs, but the end of the backup at the big ports in California signals broader supply-chain tangles that have been troubling retailers and manufacturers are unwinding.

5. Warehouses Get a Makeover as Companies Seek to Appeal to Workers

Retailers and distributors are looking for their newest warehouses to do more than store goods these days.

“Companies including outdoor goods retailer Recreational Equipment Inc. and drug distributor McKesson Corp. are adding features such as natural light, automation aimed at easing work burdens and fitness centers and outdoor work areas to make the industrial sites more inviting as they compete to recruit and retain workers in a tight job market.”

The upgrades are a departure from the often-grim industrial facilities at the heart of a warehouse business that has been booming in recent years even as getting workers has grown more difficult. Developers say the working environment in a warehouse, long considered simply utilitarian, is a growing consideration as firms talk about new sites.

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