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14C — April 29 - May 12, 2016 — Spring Preview — M id A tlantic
Real Estate Journal
C orporate R eal E state
By David Grove, NAI Mertz Corporate real estate (CRE) – let’s get tactical
S
o after I cleaned up the coffee I unceremoniously sprayed on my desk dur-
have so voraciously embraced this term that its near im- possible to discuss corporate real estate needs without it surfacing as a central topic, and perceived issue. Now there are a myriad of rea- sons I can (and likely will at some point) opine on as to why this is so, but for now suffice it to say that it has morphed into an effective sales pitch to the CRE de- partments, executives and their corporate constituents, internal customers/respec- tive lines of business. Today we see Strategy departments, Regional Strategy experts,
Strategic? For a lease ad- min position? Are you kid- ding me? I had long suspected (and am now quite positive) we’ve beaten this term to death in the corporate real estate services business… with little understanding of what it meant or what was actually needed. The term is so pervasive, to me it’s roughly analogous to the tip- ping point reached when taxi drivers are providing stock tips… it’s time to get out of the market. My CRE services sisters and brethren (both in-house and outsource providers)
VPs and EVPs of Strategy, Directors of Strategy and now, apparently, strategic lease administrators! The rub comes when they are pressed to define what they mean by ‘strategic.’ All too often what comes back would fall under the heading of what I would define as ‘basic blocking and tackling.’ Towards this end, one of the leading global service providers recently published a one-pager of evolving trends in corporate real estate, and to paraphrase one bullet, it suggested that going forward corporate real estate execu-
tives will find in increasing- ly important to collaborate closely with their Finance, IT and HR departments. Duh! I love that fact that this is considered strategic thinking (btw, they incorrectly omitted business lines and contracts/ procurement counterparts as well, amongst others). I hate to date myself, but ‘in my day’ we called this ‘doing a good job’ or ‘being thorough.’ This level of communication, which gets set forth as so profound (as the above refer- enced publication suggests), has been around and been executed for a long, long time, ladies and gentlemen. What I think this suggests, however, is this basic execu- tion, basic ‘blocking and tack- ling’, is not achieved as rou- tinely as one would expect. So I say, again, let’s get tactical and execute well on the very nuts and bolts of service provision. Communicating, listening, experience, ex- ecution, industry knowledge, closing …It’s not glamorous and it’s not rocket science… but it is a noble profession with its own particular set of intricacies, cadence and ver- nacular. Given the significant financial commitments tied to CRE decisions, this, in and of itself, should be enough. No matter how badly a Cor- porate Real Estate Executive (and/or his service provider) yearns to be included at the pointy end of the spear of a company’s strategic deci- sion making process, this quite simply will not be the case in many instances. Nor should it be (unless that seat is earned). He or she can add the most value by competently executing on the deals, the moves, the builds, the changes and the last minute requirements and opining/advising when asked. By the way, such execution, when deftly, consistently and competently handled, often builds the internal trust that leads to solicitation of input and a ‘seat at the [strategic] table’ for CRE. Ironic? Not really. David D. Grove is the COO of NAI Mertz and has 28 years of commer- cial real estate leadership experience; he has exten- sive experience both as in-house CRE executive and as third-party service provider for international Fortune 500 companies. n
ing a conver- sation with a long-time colleague of mine, I de- cided finally to put pen to paper (so to speak) . He had been
David Grove
telling me of an interview he had for a lease administra- tion position where he was informed that they were looking for someone more ‘strategic.’
Captains of Industrial. NAI Mertz has been an industry leader in industrial and commercial real estate on both sides of the Delaware River and beyond for over 35 years. Contact our team of specialists today to find out how we can help you achieve your strategic commercial real estate goals.
naimertz.com Mount Laurel, NJ +1 856 234 9600 Philadelphia, PA +1 215 221 1100 Southampton, PA +1 215 396 2900 Wilkes-Barre, PA +1 570 820 7700
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