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. 'In The Room Where It Happened': How FOMO Could Disrupt The Death Of The Office

Let’s get one thing out of the way: We all look at the world through different lenses. A millennial might look at things from one perspective. A Gen-X CEO could have a very different opinion.

“Right now, many Gen-Zers and millennials believe work from anywhere is the future. It’s worked for two years, and they’ve Zoomed in from Des Moines or Denver. It’s also fun to see the social media posts of people who are working full time while on the road in extremely remote locations. What a way to make a living!”

As an office tenant representative broker, I think there is a stoplight on the remote highway, however: FOMO.

2. Most Federal Workers Coming Back To Their Desks This Month, A Turning Point For RTO Movement

The long-awaited return of federal government employees to their offices is now underway, a rollout that is expected to have major implications for Washington, D.C.’s economy, boosting downtown businesses and potentially spurring more private sector office use along with it.

“After President Joe Biden said during his March 1 State of the Union address that the “vast majority” of federal workers would be returning to offices “soon,” the government is now giving more clarity on just how soon that will occur. In fact, the vast majority of federal workers are expected to return to their offices at least part time by the end of this month, a spokesperson for the Office of Management and Budget told Bisnow.”

The administration has tasked agencies with implementing their own return-to-work timelines, and many of their plans have begun to come to light. According to various media reports compiled by JLL, 15 federal agencies have released return-to-office plans with return dates ranging from Feb. 28 to June. 

3. Do Yourself a Favor and Go Find a ‘Third Place’

On a Sunday last year, I was walking through a suburban neighborhood in Pennsylvania, heading home from an early-afternoon meditation class. One of the nondescript stucco houses had a curious sticker on its mailbox reading mac’s club. I checked Google Maps to see if I was standing next to a cleverly disguised business—what might pretentiously be referred to in a city as a speakeasy—but nothing popped up, so I peeked inside the house.

“That’s where I spotted a pool table and a middle-aged guy sitting at the end of a long, mahogany bar, drinking a Bloody Mary by himself. Apparently I’d stumbled upon a social club meant for residents of the neighborhood. Though at first the bartender was incredulous that I’d just walked in, he soon rewarded my sense of adventure with a Guinness on the house. The Eagles weren’t playing in the NFL that day, and he was grateful for the additional company. We talked about the upcoming deer season, and upon learning that I was a new hunter, the two guys showed me a rifle that was kept in another room.”

On the train back to Philadelphia, where I was living at the time, I felt much more euphoric about the unexpected hangout than I did about the supposedly spiritual experience that had preceded it. To me, the ideal hangout has a few components: spontaneity, purposelessness, and a willingness among all parties involved to go wherever the conversation leads them. This one met all the criteria. Two strangers took a chance on spending an hour with an outsider—a tiny woman of ambiguous age who is sometimes told she resembles the Disney character Spinelli—who was enticed by a simple sign

4. The Challenges of Returning to the Office (or Not)

Peter Cappelli has been studying the workplace and the forces that shape it for decades. The Wharton management professor and director of the Center for Human Resources thinks the choices we face as we consider the future of work after the COVID-19 pandemic could alter the white-collar working world as we know it.

“Cappelli explores these decisions in a new book published by Wharton School Press, The Future of the Office: Work from Home, Remote Work, and the Hard Choices We All Face.”

He examines the tradeoffs both employers and employees must make to get what they want while considering what’s best for their futures. Guiding readers with an evidence-based approach, Cappelli covers the history of remote work, the vastly different experiences workers had during the pandemic, and the adjustments both employees and employers have already made in preparation for the new work world. In a call to action for both groups, he urges that we make decisions soon.

5. ‘Do Not Bet Against The U.S. Economy’: Peter Linneman On Resilience, Growth And What Lies Ahead

Courtesy of Walker & Dunlop

Economist, professor and researcher Peter Linneman has one message for the American people: Do not bet against the U.S. economy. 

“On this week’s Walker Webcast, Linneman, who is the founding principal of real estate advisory firm Linneman Associates, the CEO of American Land Fund and KL Realty, and a retired professor of the Wharton School of Business, explained to Walker & Dunlop CEO Willy Walker why he believes the economy will stay strong and what lies ahead for commercial real estate. ”

Linneman started off by saying that throughout each year of his 71-year life, he has seen seven or eight things that have threatened the economy. But despite those threats, the economy moves forward — even during the last two years as the country faced a pandemic, an economic shutdown, a divisive election, civil unrest, closed schools and more. 

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