In our continuing series about how to become a CRE executive, the conversation would be incomplete without a brief review of the IT basics relating to CRE management.
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The Visual Lease blog
Entering a career in Corporate Real Estate can take many paths. During my career I met countless CRE executives with myriad backgrounds. Some moved from real estate services such as brokerage or consulting. Others came into the profession as architects or engineers. A popular avenue is facility management, since the disciplines of property and maintenance management are a natural stepping stone to real estate management.
In this blog entry I would like to introduce the topic of CRE leadership and management. I hope to explore the topic over the next several weeks with the hope that these personal observations will be useful to those readers who aspire to make corporate real estate management a long term career.
Back in November of last year I cited a study by CBRE that seemed to debunk several myths about the Millennial generation and the office environment. The essence of the study was that while Millenials had certain preferences and attitudes about the workplace, in general there was little difference between the generations about their desire for workplace flexibility, preferences for urban settings, more collaboration, and more autonomy. However, in a recent article about Millenials in the March 15 issue of Fortune magazine, the theme of the article is about how to attract and retain the Millennial generation.
It was early summer of 1995, and I was aboard a French SST Concord traveling at roughly Mach3 from New York to Paris..
In my last Blog posting I covered the subject of co-working; an office concept which entails using office space on a shared basis. Unlike executive suite operations such as Regus serviced offices; co-working is less formal, collaborative and aimed at the millennial generation. Co-working is growing rapidly in most major urban areas, particularly in central business districts. The outlook for growth is stunning, with nearly 2000 locations anticipated within five years. One of the most successful operators, Wework, now has a market cap of over $5 billion, with no slowing in growth expected.
But co-working is not without its drawbacks.
The primary driver of this growth is the rise of the contingent worker, which represents about one third of the US workforce according to government estimates. With the advent of mobile technology and cloud computing, millennials, those between the ages of 20-35, seek non-traditional work environments as well as a sense of community. Co-working meets these needs by offering informal and edgy workplaces, and a spectrum of services that might include WiFi, marketing training, social events, and even conferences aimed at the young, independent entrepreneurs.
For some large companies, the charter of CRE has expanded to include physical security, sustainability, and now even the charter may include company wellness programs. In an open online survey conducted by CoreNet Global, a strong majority of respondents – 80 percent — said that corporate wellness initiatives represent a “significant trend,” while only 20 percent said that they were a “passing fad.”
Earlier last week I attended a dinner in San Francisco of a group of corporate real estate executives. During the evening I had a chance to speak with several of the attendees, and queried what were the major issues being discussed by the group at their 2 day meeting. A number of topics came up including the subject of Corporate Wellness, Sustainability, and Strategy.
A major question I am asked on occasion is what is the best way to organize the corporatereal estate function. There are several fundamental principles that should be considered to answer this question.
