It’s Thanksgiving week and no one wants to read about office space metrics or service firm operations. Instead, I am going to share my biggest lesson learned in 2016: Go and Do.
As any of you who read this blog on a regular basis know, this year has taken me to Washington, DC, New York, Nashville and San Francisco. I have attended conferences, visited with clients, landlords and developers and toured many office spaces. And I have learned so much that I wouldn’t have sitting in my office.
I learned that people are usually very willing to help other people when asked. I reached out to the alumni networks at my various alma maters, friends, architects, colleagues, former colleagues and clients to get access to tour spaces at companies where I knew no one. I received tours from complete strangers who were kind enough to show me every inch of their spaces and answer all of my questions.
I learned what draws people to work at different companies and in different spaces. I learned novel approaches to solving real estate and facilities problems. I learned how different industries see the future and what it might mean for office space. I also learned how to process all of this information and turn it into knowledge I can use. Clearly, I synthesize information by writing and thus, this blog.
I hope you are enjoying it half as much as I enjoy writing it. So much more to come!