Bookmarks: 5 Interesting Articles That May Help You This Week

 November 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!

Are You Suited for a Start-Up?"Start-ups have no clear hierarchies or paths to advancement. But from their embryonic stages through more-mature ones, they need good managers to create and effectively run departments such as marketing, product development, and sales. And one can accrue numerous personal and professional rewards working for these young organizations. In nearly every interview I’ve conducted with start-up joiners, they have emphasized how much they value the autonomy, creativity, and growth they experience in their jobs—all elements critical to fulfillment." www.hbr.org

[tweet_box design="box_09" float="none"]Start-ups have no clear hierarchies or paths to advancement. But they need good managers...[/tweet_box]

The Top Reasons Startups FailOh Snap! | "More often than not, however, startups tend to fail brutally. According to CB Insights, 70 percent of upstart tech companies fail, usually about 20 months after first raising financing. The failure rate is even worse for consumer hardware startups with 97 percent of seed crowdfunded companies failing or turning into "zombies." www.forbes.com

Six Myths About Choosing a College Major"Students get plenty of advice about picking a major. It turns out, though, that most of it is from family and friends, according to a September Gallup survey. Only 11 percent had sought guidance from a high school counselor, and 28 percent from a college adviser. And most didn’t think that the advice was especially helpful. Maybe it’s because much of the conventional thinking about majors is wrong." www.nytimes.com

We're in the Worst Talent Shortage Since 2007. Employers Are Using This Strategy to Stand Out"Organizations are facing one of the largest talent shortages since 2007. In fact, a ManpowerGroup report indicated that 40 percent of the more than 42,000 employers surveyed indicated they were having a difficult time filling positions.

When Manpower dug a little deeper, it found the top reasons driving the frustration included:

• A lack of available applicants
• A lack of experience
• A lack of hard skills
• Seeking more pay than is offered
• A lack of soft skills  www.inc.com

Ten Things Never, Ever To Wear To Work"There is no dress code policy — or any other policy, for that matter — that will eliminate the need for conversation.One of the signs of a healthy workplace is that people are always discussing and debating questions like "What's okay to wear to work around here?"It is pointless to try and write HR policies in such a way that no conversation is needed. That's an impossible standard to reach and in any case, conversation is essential! It's through conversation that relationships are built. It's how trust is established." www.forbes.comYour success blesses others. I wish you a great a hugely impactful week!Ken 

Bookmarks: 5 Interesting Articles That May Help You This Week

October 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!

As Amazon Moves In, Demand for Warehouse Space Climbs"For the modest warehouse, this is a golden age.

Boxy, unadorned and often overlooked, these properties are suddenly in hot demand in many parts of the country, thanks in part to a rise in e-commerce as consumer shopping habits move online. Retailers like Amazon and Walmart are snapping up space once reserved for makers of office furniture and home flooring.

For years now, consumers have been purchasing more products online. In the second quarter, e-commerce sales topped more than $111 billion on a seasonally adjusted basis, or 8.9 percent of all retail sales, according to the Census Bureau. Industry forecasters expect e-commerce sales to continue growing.

Warehouses often reveal little about what goes on within their walls, but the buildings make possible the rapid delivery that consumers now expect from online retailers. They serve as storage and distribution points for products ranging from auto parts to pharmaceuticals. And warehouse jobs have grown rapidly since 2010, forming a critical part of the employment base in communities across the country.

As developers try to catch up, they are considering some unusual solutions, like constructing multistory warehouses and demolishing struggling malls to make way for sprawling industrial properties.." www.nytimes.com

[tweet_box design="box_09" float="none"]For the modest warehouse, this is a golden age.[/tweet_box]

All Management Is Change Management"Leaders should view change not as an occasional disruptor but as the very essence of the management job. Setting tough goals, establishing processes to reach them, carrying out those processes and carefully learning from them — these steps should characterize the unending daily life of the organization at every level. More companies need to describe their work in terms of where they are trying to go in the next month or next quarter or next year." www.hbr.org

[tweet_box design="box_09" float="none"]#Leaders should view change not as an occasional disruptor but as the very essence of the management job[/tweet_box]

Retail Apocalypse? The Sky Isn't Falling -- The Sector Is Just Evolving"The reality is that stores close – it’s a part of this business. Consumer's tastes have always fluctuated, but with the rise of the internet and social media, the rate of change has been expedited. As a result, brands and categories fall-out of favor much faster, which initiates the open/closure cycle more rapidly. There is no doubt that e-commerce penetration, especially in certain categories, has also contributed to this exacerbated pace of change – it’s just not the great "disruptor" that many would have you believe." www.forbes.com

How Retailers Use Personalized Prices to Test What You’re Willing to Pay"Whether personalized pricing catches on with web retailers is now up to consumers. Will shoppers be comfortable knowing that the prices they are offered may be higher than those presented to others? Will buyers relish “electronically bargaining” to outwit sellers? Retailers first “negotiate” with each customer by personalizing prices based on their profile. In response, savvy shoppers will “bargain” by checking prices on different devices, clearing caches, using the app, conducting multiple searches, asking friends in different cities to see what price they’re quoted, and so on. Or will they become fed up and steer clear of web retailers that price profile? Amazon is on the record as stating that all of its customers see the same prices — will other retailers be so clear-cut?

As the fate of electronic price profiling shakes out, one issue is clear: It is truly a caveat emptor environment for shoppers who use the web." www.hbr.org

Why You Can Focus in a Coffee Shop but Not in Your Open Office"So why do so many of us hate our open offices? The quiet chatter of colleagues and the gentle thrum of the HVAC should help us focus. The problem may be that, in our offices, we can’t stop ourselves from getting drawn into others’ conversations or from being interrupted while we’re trying to focus. Indeed, the EEG researchers found that face-to-face interactions, conversations, and other disruptions negatively affect the creative process. By contrast, a coworking space or a coffee shop provides a certain level of ambient noise while also providing freedom from interruptions.

Taken together, the lesson here is that the ideal space for focused work is not about freedom from noise, but about freedom from interruption. Finding a space you can hide away in, regardless of how noisy it is, may be the best strategy for making sure you get the important work done." www.hbr.org[tweet_box design="box_09" float="none"]..the ideal space for focused work is not about freedom from noise, but about freedom from interruption[/tweet_box]Your success blesses others. I wish you a great a hugely impactful week!Ken 

8 Days Without Email

"Is email still a thing?"That's what a friendly and oh so innocent Millennial asked me recently. "Dude, you have no idea how much a thing it still is," I said. "It's the lifeblood of corporate America." You can Tweet, Snap and Post your heart out, but until your boss retires and you take over the world, you'll need to send her an email for most communication needs. "Bummer," he muttered as he ambled off.In 1971, Ray Tomlinson sent the first email as a test in his Cambridge, Mass lab. My, how things have changed in the 46 years since. According to a Radicati Group study, executives can expect an average of 126 messages sent and received per business user per day by the end of 2019, with a total of over 2.9 billion people on planet earth using the email tool to communicate and set meetings.I conducted an informal poll over lunch the past 6 months or so and found that most executives report receiving over 200 messages per day. So if we ditch the weekends, which no one does, then my friends are getting 50,000 messages a year over 50 working weeks. If it takes us an average of 1 minute per message, then we are spending 833 hours a year, or almost 40% of our working hours managing this beast.It's getting a little ridiculous out there. Despite barrels of digital ink being spilled on how to manage, keep up with and prune email, the stuff just keeps growing like electronic Kudzu.Just Make It Stop!So, I did make it stop, for a brief respite anyway.You see, Karen and I planned a 25th wedding anniversary trip to Italy, so I began to dream about unplugging from email. The last time I stopped the digital river of information was in 2012 when I took a backpacking trip in New Mexico with my son. I wrote about it in one of my most popular blogs called West Bound and Down | 12 Days without an iPhone. Given the clicks, I wasn't the only person thinking about this issue.But here's the thing: if you know you are coming back to a huge backlog of messages, how do you relax? And maybe you will be tempted to peek early in the morning. I've heard stories of people getting up in the middle of the night on vacation or slipping off to the bathroom to have an illicit session of checking email. Ugh.So I made a tough call. I was not going to ever read a single email sent to me while I was traveling on my vacation. All of them were going to hit the trash can with a punch of a few keys in a mass delete action. Bam!I'm Really Out of the Office And On Vacation. For Real.I penned my out of office with a guilty grin. Here it is:"Thanks for your email. I am currently out of the country on vacation. Karen and I are in Italy celebrating 25 years of marriage, 4 kids and 1 very lazy dog. The kids and the dog are at home. We wish them luck.I return to the office and real life on <date>. My plan is to mass delete all emails while I'm away, so kindly email me again after my return and I will return your message with a big smile on my face. I appreciate your  understanding and patience during this much needed downtime. So does Karen.If you need help now, then contact my teammate <name> who can get you taken care of."That's it. And you know what, it worked!We spent 8 glorious days refreshing our relationship and exploring the big world out there. I got around 1,800 messages during my time away and I gleefully hit delete. There were about 4 issues that needed my immediate attention when I got back, but I missed all the emails on all the meetings, issues and problems that I couldn't attend or attend to.I clearly remember the relief of allowing myself to be present on our vacation AND not having to worry about digging out when I returned.Do I have a great team to back stop me and allow for this break to occur? Absolutely! Do I have understanding and cool clients? You bet! Am I so important that I need to be continuously connected and available at all times? Nope, not at all.And unless you are in charge of national security for the United States or some other ridiculously high stress gig, you aren't either. Heck, even firefighters and cops have days off from emergencies.I Dare YouToday I attended the  funeral of a good friend, Scott Selig. Scott passed away at age 47 from an aggressive form of cancer. The loss of my friend has given me needed perspective and even more resolve on the email issue. As Scott himself said in a moving speech before he died, "put down the phone and enjoy life".I dare you to put up appropriate boundaries around your personal time.I dare you to talk to your clients, colleagues and friends and explain that you need downtime too.I dare you to confront your own addiction to this world of hyper responsiveness and over communication in which we live.Be bold on this issue and your spouse, your family and ultimately your circle of friends and business colleagues will thank you. They will notice your new found focus and crisp response to issues because you have allowed yourself permission to rest.Ray Tomlinson passed away a few years ago, but if he were still with us today, I bet you he'd give 2 thumbs up to email breaks. As Steven Covey said, even the best lumberjack has to sharpen his saw to be effective.Time away is what intelligent executives use to freshen up, relax and reflect. In the times when you are getting away, email is toxic and will defeat the purpose. Be courageous and self confident in stopping the digital intrusion.Do it. You won't regret the digital break, I promise.

Bookmarks: 5 Interesting Articles to Help You This Week

October 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! 

College Advice I Wish I’d Taken"A’S ARE COOL AND COME WITH PERKS As a student, I saw myself as anti-establishment, and I hated tests; I barely maintained a B average. I thought only nerds spent weekends in the library studying. Recently I learned that my niece Dara, a sophomore at New York University with a 3.7 G.P.A. (and a boyfriend), was offered a week of travel in Buenos Aires as part of her honors seminar. I was retroactively envious to learn that a 3.5 G.P.A. or higher at many schools qualifies you for free trips, scholarships, grants, awards, private parties and top internships. At 20, I was too busy freaking out when said boyfriend disappeared (after sleeping with one of said friends). Students certainly don’t need to strive obsessively for perfection, but I should have prioritized grades, not guys." www.nytimes.com

[tweet_box design="box_09" float="none"]I was retroactively envious to learn that a 3.5 G.P.A. or higher at many schools qualifies you for free trips, scholarships, grants, awards, private parties and top internships.[/tweet_box]

How Office Politics Corrupt the Search for High-Potential Employees"Few topics have captivated talent management discussions more intensely than potential. The obsession with predicting who may be a future star or the next top leader has influenced academic research and human resources practices alike. But how good are we at evaluating human potential? The answer is, it’s mixed. On the one hand, science has given us robust tools and powerful theories to quantify the key indicators of future career success, job performance, and leadership effectiveness. On the other hand, in the real world of work, organizational practices lag behind, with 40% of designated “HiPos” — high-potential employees — not doing well in the future and at least one in two leaders disappointing, derailing, or failing to drive high levels of engagement and team performance.

The main reason underlying this bleak state of affairs is that HiPo nominations are contaminated by organizational politics. To be more precise, there are six dynamics that prevent organizations from identifying, promoting, and developing the right people for leadership roles..." www.hbr.org

For Electric Car Owners, ‘Range Anxiety’ Gives Way to ‘Charging Time Trauma’"...there is another obstacle: charging time trauma. Compared with a five-minute pit stop at your local gas station, charging an electric vehicle is a glacially slow experience. Modern electric cars still often need an entire night to recharge at home, and even at a commercial fast charging station, a fill-up can take an hour or more." www.nytimes.com

The Surprising Power of Online Experiments"At a time when the web is vital to almost all businesses, rigorous online experiments should be standard operating procedure. If a company develops the software infrastructure and organizational skills to conduct them, it will be able to assess not only ideas for websites but also potential business models, strategies, products, services, and marketing campaigns—all relatively inexpensively. Controlled experiments can transform decision making into a scientific, evidence-driven process—rather than an intuitive reaction. Without them, many breakthroughs might never happen, and many bad ideas would be implemented, only to fail, wasting resources." www.hbr.org

5 Mall Redevelopments Adapting To The Changing Retail Climate"Between one-fifth and one-fourth of American shopping malls will close in the next five years, according to Credit Suisse. As more and more mall-based retailers struggle to stay relevant, many developers are thinking outside of big-box retailers to reinvent centers. Here are a few shopping malls that will be completely redeveloped." 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

October 16th, 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 Survey of How 1,000 CEOs Spend Their Day Reveals What Makes Leaders Successful"On average, about one-quarter of CEOs’ days are spent alone, including sending emails. Another 10% is spent on personal matters, and 8% is spent traveling. The remainder (56%) is spent with at least one other person, which mostly involves meetings, most of which are planned ahead of time. About one-third of the time CEOs spend with others is one-on-one; two-thirds is with more than one other person. (This data includes a CEO’s entire workday, not just time in the office.)

The most common departments for CEOs to meet with are production (35% of time spent with others), marketing (22%), and finance (17%). The most common meetings with outside functions are clients (10%) and suppliers (7%)." www.hbr.org[tweet_box design="box_09" float="none"]On average, about one-quarter of CEOs’ days are spent alone, including sending emails. Another 10% is spent on personal matters, and 8% is spent traveling.[/tweet_box]

The Coming Software Apocalypse"It’s been said that software is “eating the world.” More and more, critical systems that were once controlled mechanically, or by people, are coming to depend on code. This was perhaps never clearer than in the summer of 2015, when on a single day, United Airlines grounded its fleet because of a problem with its departure-management system; trading was suspended on the New York Stock Exchange after an upgrade; the front page of The Wall Street Journal’s website crashed; and Seattle’s 911 system went down again, this time because a different router failed. The simultaneous failure of so many software systems smelled at first of a coordinated cyberattack. Almost more frightening was the realization, late in the day, that it was just a coincidence." www.theatlantic.com

Ken Burns Talks About Leadership, Productivity and Achieving Immortality Through Storytelling"Award-winning filmmaker Ken Burns is responsible for such genre-defining and genre- defying documentary series as The Civil War, Baseball, and Jazz, to name a few. As he and collaborator Lynn Novick prepare to debut their new 10-part documentary film series The Vietnam War on September 17 on PBS stations nationwide, we spoke with the tireless documentarian about leadership, productivity, managing gigantic projects and how to achieve immortality through storytelling." www.entrepreneur.com

The Surprising Power of Online Experiments"At a time when the web is vital to almost all businesses, rigorous online experiments should be standard operating procedure. If a company develops the software infrastructure and organizational skills to conduct them, it will be able to assess not only ideas for websites but also potential business models, strategies, products, services, and marketing campaigns—all relatively inexpensively. Controlled experiments can transform decision making into a scientific, evidence-driven process—rather than an intuitive reaction. Without them, many breakthroughs might never happen, and many bad ideas would be implemented, only to fail, wasting resources." www.hbr.org

This Is What Happens When You Reply to Spam EmailSuspicious emails: unclaimed insurance bonds, diamond-encrusted safe deposit boxes, close friends marooned in a foreign country. They pop up in our inboxes, and standard procedure is to delete on sight. But what happens when you reply? Follow along as writer and comedian James Veitch narrates a hilarious, weeks-long exchange with a spammer who offered to cut him in on a hot deal. www.ted.com

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

Bookmarks: 5 Interesting Articles to Help You This Week

October 2nd, 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 Cozy, Overcrowded, Keg-Filled Future of Work"The United Nations projects that, by the year 2030, roughly 1 billion more people will be living in cities than do now. As of last year there were 31 cities with more than 10 million residents, and in about a decade, there will be 41.

These demographic trends are a source of fascination for urban planners and theorists around the world. Those who study what these shifts will mean view the coming era of urban mega-density with both excitement and fear. Others, however, see a clear business opportunity. Adam Neumann, the CEO of WeWork, a firm that rents out office space and apartments, puts it this way: “We don’t have enough room.”" www.theatlantic.com

Here's How WeWork Pinpoints the Perfect Locations for Its Co-Working Spaces in Neighborhoods"Workspace provider WeWork has skyrocketed to become the leader of its industry in a matter of just seven years. The company, which rents office and desk space to teams and individuals, has 218 office locations in 53 cities worldwide, and it’s not planning to slow down anytime soon. After a $4.4 billion investment from SoftBank’s Vision Fund earlier this year, WeWork reportedly is one of the top five most valuable startups, worth $20 billion.

To keep up with demand and ensure it continues along its growth trajectory, the company is quietly building a trove of data about how its members work in order to better serve them. But to attract those members, it first has to be strategic about where its offices are. Decisions come down to more than lease length and building aesthetic, because what lies directly outside a WeWork’s motivational-poster-adorned walls is just as important as the walls themselves. WeWork members inherently value flexibility and options -- after all, they choose to rent space tailored to their needs rather than commit to a lease of their own. They want certain types of amenities in close proximity -- from coffee shops where they can take clients for meetings to fitness studios where they can blow off steam during their lunch break." www.entrepreneur.com

Work and the Loneliness Epidemic"There is good reason to be concerned about social connection in our current world. Loneliness is a growing health epidemic. We live in the most technologically connected age in the history of civilization, yet rates of loneliness have doubled since the 1980s. Today, over 40% of adults in America report feeling lonely, and research suggests that the real number may well be higher. Additionally, the number of people who report having a close confidante in their lives has been declining over the past few decades. In the workplace, many employees — and half of CEOs — report feeling lonely in their roles." www.hbr.org

How Grunt Work Can Benefit Millennials In The Long Run"If you have aspirations to lead a team, be responsible for other employees or grow into a C suite position, then it pays to develop the ability to relate to people in order to effectively manage them. One of the best ways to relate to people is to have empathy. And that comes from knowing the context of the hurdles they face and having first hand knowledge of what they are working on. This provides insight into their pain points and the techniques needed to solve them.

In fact, some of the most innovative leaders and best technical managers are the ones that still carve time out of their day to tinker. And while is it true that they may not have the time to engage in in a full coding set or build something complex from scratch, they still understand the language enough to know what they are looking for when they critique others’ work." www.forbes.com

What You’re Truly Saying With Your Out-of-Office Reply"Even better: If you want to truly unplug, own it and don’t apologize. And you should unplug! Studies have shown unplugging can improve your job performance and overall life satisfaction.

Mallory Ortberg, former editor of the beloved but now defunct website The Toast and current Dear Prudence columnist, went this route:

“I am currently on vacation and not accepting any emails about anything,” Ms. Ortberg wrote in one out-of-office autoreply, as Ms. Gould reported in her story. “I’m not planning on reading any old emails when I get back, either, because that feels antithetical to the vacation experience.”

What do you usually write in your out-of-office messages? Tell me at tim@nytimes.com or on Twitter at @timherrera.

Have a great week (or vacation)!"  www.nytimes.com

[tweet_box design="box_09" float="none"]I am currently on vacation and not accepting any emails about anything. I’m not planning on reading any old emails when I get back, either, because that feels antithetical to the vacation experience.[/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

September 5th, 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!

On the Day I DieJust read this. It will keep everything in perspective, I promise. Love those around you.  www.johnpavlovitz.com

Robocalls Flooding Your Cellphone? Here’s How to Stop ThemOn a lighter note: "And then there is the Jolly Roger Telephone Company, which turns the tables on telemarketers. This program allows a customer to put the phone on mute and patch telemarketing calls to a robot, which understands speech patterns and inflections and works to keep the caller engaged.

Subscribers can choose robot personalities, such as Whiskey Jack, who is frequently distracted by a game he is watching on television, or Salty Sally, a frazzled mother.

The robots string the callers along with vocal fillers like “Uh-huh” and “O.K., O.K.” After several minutes, some will ask the callers to repeat their sales pitch from the beginning, prompting the telemarketers to have angry meltdowns, according to sample recordings posted on the company’s website." www.nytimes.com

The Amazing Life of Uber's New CEO Dara Khosrowshahi — From Refugee to Tech Superstar"Uber's board offered the top job at the company to Dara Khosrowshahi, the CEO of Expedia.The job, should he accept it, represents just another milestone for the 48-year old Khosrowshahi, who has lived an extraordinary life of both hardship and influence." www.businessinsider.com

What You’re Truly Saying With Your Out-of-Office Reply"Even better: If you want to truly unplug, own it and don’t apologize. And you should unplug! Studies have shown unplugging can improve your job performance and overall life satisfaction.

Mallory Ortberg, former editor of the beloved but now defunct website The Toast and current Dear Prudence columnist, went this route:

“I am currently on vacation and not accepting any emails about anything,” Ms. Ortberg wrote in one out-of-office autoreply, as Ms. Gould reported in her story. “I’m not planning on reading any old emails when I get back, either, because that feels antithetical to the vacation experience.”

What do you usually write in your out-of-office messages? Tell me at tim@nytimes.com or on Twitter at @timherrera.

Have a great week (or vacation)!"  www.nytimes.com

[tweet_box design="box_09" float="none"]I am currently on vacation and not accepting any emails about anything. I’m not planning on reading any old emails when I get back, either, because that feels antithetical to the vacation experience.[/tweet_box]

Workers Are Already Pushing Back Against The Office Of The Future|"We are constantly told that real estate and technology will interact and fundamentally change the way people work. Big data, smart technology and artificial intelligence are all regularly predicted to have a huge impact on the way offices operate. Co-working and shared workspace are increasingly being touted as the next evolution in the way companies take space. But the path to the office of the future will not run smoothly, as companies are starting to find out. People are pushing back against innovation as quickly as they are embracing it. Last week Bloomberg reported that management at U.K. banking giant Barclays had faced a flurry of questions when staff discovered tracking devices had been put on their desks to measure occupancy levels."www.bisnow.com

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

Bookmarks: 5 Interesting Articles to Help You This Week

August 28th, 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!

Aging Parents With Lots of Stuff, and Children Who Don’t Want It“As baby boomers grow older, the volume of unwanted keepsakes and family heirlooms is poised to grow — along with the number of delicate conversations about what to do with them. According to a 2014 United States census report, more than 20 percent of America’s population will be 65 or older by 2030. As these waves of older adults start moving to smaller dwellings, assisted living facilities or retirement homes, they and their kin will have to part with household possessions that the heirs simply don’t want.” www.nytimes.com

Applebee's is Ditching Millennials After They Forced Hundreds of Restaurant Closures"Over the past few years, the brand's set out to reposition or reinvent Applebee's as a modern bar and grill in overt pursuit of a more youthful and affluent demographic with a more independent or even sophisticated dining mindset, including a clear pendulum swing towards millennials," John Cywinski, Applebee's brand president, said in a recent call with investors.He continued: "In my perspective, this pursuit led to decisions that created confusion among core guests, as Applebee's intentionally drifted from what I'll call its 'Middle America' roots and its abundant value position. While we certainly hope to extend our reach, we can't alienate Boomers or Gen-Xers in the process." www.businessinsider.comHow Big Can Google Get? Its Aggressive Push For Office Space in the Bay Area"For the past six years Google has been expanding bit by bit beyond its Mountain View headquarters. But this year, the tech titan’s plan for a massive new push into San Jose coupled with big land buys in Sunnyvale show just how big Google’s footprint may get.If everything the tech titan has in the works comes to pass, Google could double its footprint in Silicon Valley, potentially making room for roughly another 31,000 or more employees. www.commercialrealestate.com

Inside GE's Transformation"A CEO has different tasks in different cycles. Some CEOs are founders and builders. Others have the luxury of managing momentum through a stable economy or a period when business models aren’t being disrupted. My task was different: remaking a historic and iconic company during an extremely volatile time.

I led a team of 300,000 people for 6,000 days. I led through recessions, bubbles, and geopolitical risk. I saw at least three “black swan” events. New competitors emerged, business models changed, and we ushered in an entirely new way to invest. But we didn’t just persevere; we transformed the company. GE is well positioned to win in the future.The changes that took in the world from 2001, when I assumed the company’s leadership, to 2017 are too numerous to mention. The task of the CEO has never been as difficult as it is today. In that vein, my story is one of progress versus perfection. The outcomes of my decisions will play out over decades, but we never feared taking big steps to create long-term value."  www.harvardbiz.com[tweet_box design="box_09" float="none"]The task of the CEO has never been as difficult as it is today.[/tweet_box]

Why Millennials Have A Complicated Relationship With Travel"Millennials seem to have found themselves in a tricky spot. The more they follow the axiomatic advice to “stop and smell the roses,” the more frequently they’re accused of malaise. The more they discuss practical solutions to enduring problems, the more they’re labeled as “entitled.”

So it’s not going to help their predicament any to learn that millennials seem to value travel more than previous generations. Cue the accusations of being “discontent” with their work and home lives.The truth is, both science and common sense drive home the importance of broadening our horizons, which sure makes it seem like millennials know something their elders may not. So let’s dive into the surprisingly nuanced conversation emerging about millennials’ relationship with travel." 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

August 21st, 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 New Managers Can Send the Right Leadership Signals“One of the most exciting and — sometimes anxiety-producing transitions in a career — comes when you move from being an individual contributor to becoming a manager. At this juncture, what you think, what you say, and how you show up —in effect, your leadership presence — can have a direct impact on those you are now leading and managing for the first time. So, as a new manager, how do you build an authentic and connected leadership presence that has a positive impact on your team and colleagues?” www.hbr.org

[tweet_box design="box_09" float="none"]One of the most exciting and — sometimes anxiety-producing transitions in a career — comes when you move from being an individual contributor to becoming a manager[/tweet_box]

The 40% Rule; Navy Seals Guide to Mental Toughness“..When your mind is telling you that you are done..you are only 40% done. We had a motto: If it doesn't suck, we don't do it." www.lifehunt.org

[tweet_box design="box_09" float="none"]You can build a business strategy around the things that are stable in time. Jeff Bezos[/tweet_box]

How to Manage Someone Who Thinks Everything Is Urgent"We’ve all been in situations in which we couldn’t wait for a slow-moving or overly cautious employee to take action. But at the other extreme, some employees have such a deep need to get things resolved that they move too quickly, or too intensely, and make a mess. They may make a bad deal just to say they’ve made it, or issue a directive without thinking through the ramifications just to say they’ve handled a problem decisively. www.gensleron.com

Americans More Gung-ho About Economy in August, Consumer Sentiment Survey Shows"Republicans, and to a lesser extent independents, have been the most optimistic in 2017, though Democrats aren’t as gloomy as they had been. The economy continues to pump out thousands of new jobs each month, the unemployment rate is at a 16-year low and Americans are better off financially than they’ve been in years."  www.marketwatch.com

Why Millennials Have A Complicated Relationship With Travel"Millennials seem to have found themselves in a tricky spot. The more they follow the axiomatic advice to “stop and smell the roses,” the more frequently they’re accused of malaise. The more they discuss practical solutions to enduring problems, the more they’re labeled as “entitled.”

So it’s not going to help their predicament any to learn that millennials seem to value travel more than previous generations. Cue the accusations of being “discontent” with their work and home lives.The truth is, both science and common sense drive home the importance of broadening our horizons, which sure makes it seem like millennials know something their elders may not. So let’s dive into the surprisingly nuanced conversation emerging about millennials’ relationship with travel." 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

August 7th, 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!

Inside Uber’s New Approach to Employee Performance Reviews“In the past, it was like, ‘this is what you’re good at, this is what you’re bad at, here’s a score,’ ” Uber Operations and Logistics Manager Nicole Cuellar told me.

Cuellar, one of the 600 employees who participated in Uber’s focus groups on reimagining the performance-review process, described Uber’s T3 B3 process. T3 B3s, which Cuellar referred to as “Travis’s brainchild,” detailed an employee’s top three qualities/strengths and the bottom three things one could improve on.“It was this very exhaustive process of putting on paper what you’re good at and what you’re not good at and, in particular, in context of our cultural values,” Cuellar said.Some of Uber’s cultural values entail “Always Be Hustlin,’ ” “Toe-Stepping” and “Let Builders Build.”“Hustling meant being dependable and working hard,” Cuellar said. “Being an owner, not a renter, meant you took your work seriously and didn’t ask a million questions when executing.” www.techcrunch.com

[tweet_box design="box_09" float="none"] It’s an irresponsible act for me to give feedback to someone if I’m not trying to have them improve. [/tweet_box]

What You Can Learn From Jeff Bezos About Building For The Future“I very frequently get the question: ‘What’s going to change in the next 10 years?’ And that is a very interesting question; it’s a very common one. I almost never get the question: ‘What’s not going to change in the next 10 years?’ And I submit to you that that second question is actually the more important of the two — because you can build a business strategy around the things that are stable in time.” - Jeff Bezos, Amazon CEOy." www.forbes.com

[tweet_box design="box_09" float="none"]You can build a business strategy around the things that are stable in time. Jeff Bezos[/tweet_box]

You Are Considered a Consumer, Even at Work"Design is facilitating the acceleration of an experience-driven world by creating places that bring new people and ideas together. In an era where technology is propelling—and sometimes hurling—us forward, convention is unimpressive. Connecting with people on every level—their values, priorities, emotions and intellect—is necessary as their journeys unfold. www.gensleron.com

The Fabulous Life of Google Cofounder and Alphabet CEO Larry Page“Larry Page is one of the most powerful people in the world.The quirky, soft-spoken computer scientist cofounded Google with Sergey Brin in 1998 and now, almost 20 years later, still runs its parent company, Alphabet. So who's the man behind Google and how did he get to where he is today?Here's his story.” www.businessinsider.comCould A Bus With Sleep Pods Replace Airplanes?"If you ever have to travel a long distance — say, Washington, D.C., to Atlanta, Detroit to Chicago, San Francisco to Los Angeles — you might be stuck with only bad options: a flight from an airport with chronic delays that's hard to get to, or an Amtrak train ride that costs three times as much as a flight.Well, now there's a new option on the horizon: a double-decker bus with pods for sleeping. It's called, simply, Cabin. It's an overnight service — like a red-eye — designed for people who love going places, but hate being in transit." www.npr.orgYour success blesses others. I wish you a great a hugely impactful week!Ken 

Bookmarks: 5 Interesting Articles to Help You This Week

July 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!Architecture Firms End Second Quarter On a Strong Note"For the fifth consecutive month, architecture firms recorded increasing demand for design services as reflected in the June Architecture Billings Index (ABI). As a leading economic indicator of construction activity, the ABI reflects the approximate nine to twelve month lead time between architecture billings and construction spending. The American Institute of Architects (AIA) reported the June ABI score was 54.2, up from a score of 53.0 in the previous month. This score reflects an increase in design services (any score above 50 indicates an increase in billings). The new projects inquiry index was 58.6, down from a reading of 62.4 the previous month, while the new design contracts index decreased from 54.8 to 53.7.“So far this year, new activity coming into architecture firms has generally exceeded their ability to complete ongoing projects,” said AIA Chief Economist, Kermit Baker, Hon. AIA, PhD. “Now, firms seem to be ramping up enough to manage these growing workloads." www.aia.org[tweet_box design="box_09" float="none"]For the 5th consecutive month, architecture firms recorded increasing demand for #CRE design services[/tweet_box]

Promising Cities for Commercial Real EstateAtlanta Number 1! | "Commercial real estate in the U.S. is at a turning point, with primary markets like New York, Los Angeles, and San Francisco showing signs of overheating—that’s according to online marketplace for real-estate investments RealtyMogul.com. As is common in this phase of a real-estate cycle, secondary and tertiary markets across the country are where the new action is, the firm claims. So Barron’s Penta asked its real-estate team to identify the top commercial real-estate markets that high-net-worth investors should be looking at. Here they are, in order of preference." www.barrons.com

5 Unusual Facts About Google's Odd (and Wildly Successful) Management Practices"One of the things I truly admire about Google's management approach is that, like the rest of Google, its HR leaders look at real-world data to engineer the company's people practices and guide their decisions.

Is it any wonder, as odd and counterintuitive as some of Google's practices may be to the outside world, it's been ranked the No. 1 place to work for the eighth time in 11 years?Laszlo Bock, Google's former HR boss, has shared extensively in book form and various media outlets about Google's leadership and people practices. Here are my favorites that stand out..." www.inc.com

Disruptors Target Real Estate"Real estate is an enticing market for tech companies, but not without challenges to adoption. The industry is replete with complex and antiquated ways of doing things that could be simplified and streamlined by tech. Much of the information in real estate is locked down and unstructured." www.bizjournals.com

This Email From Elon Musk to Tesla Employees Is a Master Class in Emotional Intelligence"Tesla, the electric-automobile manufacturer led by famed CEO Elon Musk, has struggled mightily with safety over the past few years. California nonprofit Worksafe, a worker safety advocacy group, recently made headlines when it reported that the injury rate at Tesla's Fremont, California, plant was more than 30 percent higher than the industry average in 2014 and 2015.

Musk insists, however, that safety is the number one priority at Tesla. He claims that recent actions, like the company's hiring thousands of employees to create a third shift and reduce excess overtime, have made a major impact in lowering the injury rate.A recent email Musk sent to employees indicates just how seriously he's taking the issue:" www.inc.comYour success blesses others. I wish you a great a hugely impactful week!Ken 

Bookmarks: 5 Interesting Articles to Help You This Week

July 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!

The Coolest, Most Fun And On-Brand Office I've Seen Yet: Desigual's Headquarters In Barcelona"The nature of my work has enabled me to visit many offices of creative companies around the world.  I’ve never seen one I’d want to work in more than the Desigual fashion brand’s 4-year old beachfront headquarters on the Mediterranean in Barcelona’s Barceloneta neighborhood.  Many aspects of the building are great for motivating teams to want to do their best work. Employees say they feel privileged to work there.  I would too!  Desigual means “unequal” in Spanish: a good descriptor for the asymmetric design that’s the brand’s hallmark.  The brand, through its design sensibility, makes customers feel unique and a little quirky in a good, colorful way that enables them/us (I’m one) to express our own identities.  Wearers of Desigual clothes feel a little more special in them.  I do.  The headquarters captures that unique spirit.  It’s a happy place.." www.forbes.com

This Will Help You Decide If You Should Delete LinkedIn Connections You Don't Know"Maybe you ended up in this situation because it was a strategic move, you wanted to be more closely connected to recruiters or people at your dream company. Or maybe you think the whole point is to build out your network with new people. Maybe someone had a ton of mutual contacts, wrote you a personalized note or just had a really cool job title.

The list goes on, but the point is: You’re probably connected to quite a few strangers on LinkedIn. And more often than not, you probably wonder: Does it make more sense to stay connected or delete them?" www.forbes.com11 Places you Should Never Use a Debit Card"A lot of people stick with a debit card as a way to control their spending and avoid racking up big credit card debt — since with debit, you can’t spend what you don’t have. And in the aftermath of the Great Recession, that strategy became a very popular one as many people had to rethink their spending routine.

When you only use a debit card, it forces you to limit your spending to however much is sitting in your checking account.

But debit cards are full of hidden dangers — and these dangers are often the same aspects that make them an appealing alternative to credit cards — like only being able to spend what’s in your account." www.ajc.com

Thomas Jefferson And Three Keys To Persuasion“Thomas Jefferson would have been comfortable on Twitter. He would have been really good at writing short, provocative tweets that make people think differently.

Thomas Jefferson’s Declaration of Independence is the most persuasive document in American history. Its creation contains valuable lessons for any leader who wants to sell ideas more effectively.” www.forbes.com[tweet_box design="box_09" float="none"] Thomas Jefferson would have been comfortable on Twitter. He would have been really good at writing short, provocative tweets that make people think differently.[/tweet_box] 

This Email From Elon Musk to Tesla Employees Is a Master Class in Emotional Intelligence"Tesla, the electric-automobile manufacturer led by famed CEO Elon Musk, has struggled mightily with safety over the past few years. California nonprofit Worksafe, a worker safety advocacy group, recently made headlines when it reported that the injury rate at Tesla's Fremont, California, plant was more than 30 percent higher than the industry average in 2014 and 2015.

Musk insists, however, that safety is the number one priority at Tesla. He claims that recent actions, like the company's hiring thousands of employees to create a third shift and reduce excess overtime, have made a major impact in lowering the injury rate.A recent email Musk sent to employees indicates just how seriously he's taking the issue:" www.inc.comYour success blesses others. I wish you a great a hugely impactful week!Ken 

Bookmarks: 5 Interesting Articles to Help You This Week

July 10th, 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!Duke Long's 2017 List of 150 Commercial Real Estate People You Must Connect With On LinkedInHonored to be on Duke's list! www.dukelong.com

Why Company Leaders Need To Distribute Their Own Content"Imagine receiving a birthday card from your mom. It’s written in third person — and not as a joke. “Mary wishes you a wonderful day. She wants you to celebrate the day of your birth.” It’s signed in one of those faux handwriting fonts that don't fool anyone into believing you actually signed it yourself. With resignation, you tell yourself that at least it isn’t Comic Sans.

It feels weird, impersonal, and cold.Now, transfer your reaction to this imaginary touchpoint between you and your mom to the actual touchpoints between your brand and your audience. Your audience hears tons about your organization from top to bottom, all thanks to the hard work your marketing team puts into your content distribution strategy.But if your audience never hears from you as a leader; you’re just a nameless, faceless founder barricaded behind a frosted glass door. That impersonal image won't help you build better relationships, knock down trust barriers, or become a leader in your industry." www.forbes.com[tweet_box design="box_09" float="none"]"if your audience never hears from you as a leader; you’re just a nameless, faceless founder barricaded behind a frosted glass door"[/tweet_box]

Motivating Employees Is Not About Carrots or Sticks"The bottom line is: Don’t rely on outdated methods and tricks to motivate employees. Talk with your team about the relevance of the work they do every day. Be proactive in identifying and solving problems for your employees. Recognize employee contributions in specific, meaningful ways on a regular basis. Connect with your own motivation, and share it freely with your team. Put away the carrots and sticks and have meaningful conversations instead. You’ll be well on your way to leading a highly motivated team.." www.hbr.org

[tweet_box design="box_09" float="none"]Put away the carrots and sticks and have meaningful conversations instead.[/tweet_box]

Apple’s Architect Says the Future of Offices Must Be Flexible“Ultimately, the most enduring workplaces will take into account the deep-rooted desires of the people who spend time there. They’ll prioritize smart paths of circulation to help people connect with one another. Instead of sequestering employees into glass boxes, they’ll encourage them to connect with nature. To be truly competitive, architects and companies have to think beyond productivity. “From the very beginning, I’ve protested the idea that an office headquarters, whether it’s mega or micro, is only about work,” Foster said. “It’s about lifestyle.” www.wired.com

[tweet_box design="box_09" float="none"]"an #office #headquarters, whether it’s mega or micro, is only about work, it’s about lifestyle." #cre[/tweet_box]

The Beauty of Amazon's 6-Pager"How great would it be not to be constantly interrupted by clarifying questions?  How great would it be not to have the decisions in the meeting based on the social networking advocacy that happened before the meeting?  How great would it be if executives deeply understood your organization from your perspective before asserting they know better how to do it?  How great would it be to be able to review the core data going into a decision rather than have someone summarize it and assert that correlation is causality without revealing their work?

This is what meetings are like at Amazon and it is magical. " www.linkedin.comYour success blesses others. I wish you a great a hugely impactful week!Ken 

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