Bookmarks: 5 Interesting Articles That May Help You This Week

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.

1. Tips for Becoming the Best Video Version of Yourself

Want to look professional in the age of coronavirus? Tops and bottoms are required.

With millions of Americans now working from home, the formalities of the office have slipped a little. Pat Brown, the CEO of $4 billion startup Impossible Foods, recently conducted a video call from his son’s bedroom while wearing a hoodie and T-shirt.

Participants on video meetings report getting distracted by what’s behind the person speaking. “Is that a bottle of nose spray on the shelf?” Adam Meshberg, the founder and principal of Brooklyn-based architecture and design firm Meshberg Group, asked himself recently while peering to see what was behind a caller on a virtual meeting. He advises clients to remember they are inviting people into their homes they never would otherwise and should thus curate by eliminating anything too personal. While a completely blank white wall would look strange, so would family photos or a painting of a nude, he says.

2. How to manage a business without a headquarters

Weirdly, things haven’t changed much,” says Kyle Mathews as he sprays disinfectant on his hands. At least at work. His startup, Gatsby, helps websites manage content in the cloud. It has no headquarters and its 50-odd employees straddle the world, from Mr Mathews’s home in Berkeley, California, to Siberia.

Such “fully distributed” firms were on the rise before covid-19. As national lockdowns spread, conventional ones are forced into similar arrangements. Those that have grown up this way offer lessons.

Distributed organisations are as old as the internet. Its first users 50 years ago realised how much can be done by swapping emails and digital files. These exchanges led to the development of “open source” software, jointly written by groups of strangers often geographically distant.

3. Some CEOs are giving up their salaries to help stop coronavirus layoffs

As the country responds to the coronavirus pandemic with citywide lockdowns and en masse social distancing, numerous businesses have closed, and millions of Americans are out of work. We’re in the midst of an economic crisis as well as a health crisis. One response, as companies work to figure out what path to take, is CEOs cutting their own pay to help protect companies from layoffs or closure.

From the airline industry to hotels to gyms, CEOs have announced that they are taking partial or full pay cuts. Delta CEO Ed Bastain said in a company-wide memo that he has cut his own salary “by 100% through the next six months,” and that the members of the board of directors have elected to forgo compensation over that time period as well. Others in the airline industry have announced similar declarations, including Alaska Air, United, and Allegiant.

Marriott CEO Arne Sorenson said in a message to associates that he is giving up his salary for the remainder of the year, and cutting the pay of senior management in half. Also suffering from lost hotel revenue, Hyatt announced that its CEO, Mark Hoplamazian, and board chairman Tom Pritzker are forgoing their salaries through May. Lyft cofounders John Zimmer and Logan Green said they would donate their salaries to their company’s efforts to support drivers during this crisis, and Bahram Akradi, CEO of Life Time, which has 152 health clubs across North America, along with the company’s leadership team, have taken an indefinite pay freeze.

4. Coca-Cola CEO: No layoff plans, but expect 'profound economic shock' in Q2

The stock market has been pummeled and the second-quarter balance sheets will be ugly. But Coca-Cola CEO and Chairman James Quincey says he's nowhere near ready to panic. "We’ve got crisis adjustment in our DNA," said Quincey on Tuesday during CNBC's Squawk on the Street program.

Quincey said he remains optimistic about The Coca-Cola Co.'s long-term health and its increasingly diversified beverage portfolio, while acknowledging the company has not been immune to the widespread economic pain created by the COVID-19 coronavirus.

Quincey called the supply chain around the world "creaky" and said there are "flash points when it’s getting a little harder to get ingredients through, whether it’s delays at the borders, the big changes in channel mix." However, Quincey added the Atlanta-based beverage giant started the pandemic in a "robust position" and has a clear approach to getting through the "darkest hour" of fighting the virus.

5. The Joy—and Exhaustion—of Nonstop Video Chatting: a Guide

For those fortunate enough to work from home, it’s now a moral responsibility to not leave the house, so we can slow the spread of the new coronavirus. We’ve become our own IT pros, trying to troubleshoot the same problem: figuring out how the heck to video chat.

While social distancing, we can’t walk up to a colleague’s desk, go out with friends, attend an exercise class, or take the kids to school. Instead, we log on to Zoom, FaceTime, Skype, WhatsApp or Hangouts—and turn in-person events into pixels on a screen.

Like many of you, I’ve also been socializing virtually. Since San Francisco ordered its residents to shelter in place last week, I’ve participated in a virtual lunch, coffee, dinner or drink nearly every day. My inbox is full of Doodle polls and Calendly requests to schedule meeting times.

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

Ken Ashley