The Leader - November/December 2007 - (Page 8)

messaGe fr om the ceo by prentice knight, iii corporate real estate leadership competencies: executIve hIrING treNDs Three examples of companies that recently filled an opening for the head of corporate real estate (CRE): n A global financial company selected an executive from the HR group within the company as head of CRE n A global manufacturing company selected an executive from the IT group within the company as head of CRE n A global conglomerate selected an executive from the Finance group within the company as head of CRE All three cases have the following in common: n The companies wanted greater value from CRE n The companies wanted CRE to play a more strategic role in enabling the business of the business n The companies wanted the change in CRE to occur quickly n The executives have extensive experience within the company and its industry n The executives have strong general management skills n The executives have no background in CRE management I have a long list of similar examples from the last few years. The good news is that more and more corporations expect CRE to be a strategic and important corporate player. Our concern is that many such corporations are turning to executives outside of CRE to transform the function. In such cases it appears that the key criteria for selecting a person to fill the positions are: n Understand the core business of the firm, including the industry context n Know how to get things done inside the firm and have extensive contacts in the firm n Have strong change management skills and experience In these cases CRE knowledge and experience were not important factors in selecting the head of CRE. Technical and industry knowledge of real estate are available in the CRE supply chain (internal and external to the firm) but that knowledge need not reside with the head of CRE. The sky is not falling. Many openings for CRE heads are still filled by people with a CRE background. Also, we are beginning to see some heads of CRE move into executive positions in other parts of the company. But the trend is moving the other way. Here are some lessons from this trend: n Firm, industry and general management knowledge often trump CRE knowledge in the hiring of CRE executives in major end user corporations n The CRE head and senior reports should work aggressively to acquire company knowledge, experience and contacts for both career and performance reasons The CRE organization must develop structures, processes and talent that provide true understanding of the business and how to get things done in the firm CoreNet Global must develop more educational resources to help our members learn about the firm and its business and to advance integration of general management knowledge with CRE knowledge A metric of success for the CRE profession is how many of our professionals are moving into significant corporate positions outside the CRE department The CRE supply chain should have deep CRE knowledge and capabilities that can be easily accessed and managed by executives with limited CRE knowledge n n n n 2 0 0 7 the le aDe r 8 November / December

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of The Leader - November/December 2007

The Leader - November/December 2007 Leadership Contents Message from the CEO Real Estate in the News Investing in India 110 to One Smaller Workspaces, Better Workspaces Innovating the Workplace Through Design Sustainability and Energy Efficiency Getting It Right Using Location Intelligence to Reinvent Franchises Philips International’s Ron Blanken CB Richard Ellis’ Karen Ellzey The State of Louisiana’s Mike Olivier Industry Tracker Economic Developer Directory Discovery Forum Findings Career Development Emerging Leader Economic Development in the News A Look Ahead Executive Development Spotlight

The Leader - November/December 2007

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