Office politics is just influence by another name
Or maybe you take a slightly less offensive view of office politics and see it as controlling agendas, building covert alliances, protecting access to key leaders, and holding “meetings before the meeting.” No matter...
Trends 2015: What’s hot and what’s not
“The top trend in multifamily design in 2015 is high rise,” Mark Humphreys, CEO and founder of Dallas-based Humphreys & Partners Architects, L.P., said in mid-December. Over the past two years, Humphreys & Partners Architects...
The incredible disappearing tradesmen
Construction costs rose eight percent from 2011 to 2013, with another four percent boost expected by 2015. While commodity prices have gone up, the cost increases having the most affect on multifamily are largely...
Trust the fabric
As my darling grandmother, a seamstress by trade would say, a good seamstress trusts the fabric. And I do. Our best days are ahead, most assuredly, and I am excited by morning’s first light. Multifamily continues...
Sudden impact
According to the Migration Policy Institute, 3.7 million unauthorized immigrations that are parents of U.S. citizens or legal permanent residents could receive temporary relief from deportation as well as work authorization. Additionally, expansions to...
Back to the future: loss of power
At a time when the nation was facing a severe energy crisis, this 323,000 sq. ft. structure was a beacon of light illuminating the future. Using an air-type collector system, it had a total...
LinkedIn mistakes you need to stop making now
But LinkedIn is a different beast. It’s social, but it’s professional. You’re connecting for business purposes, but you shouldn’t try to sell too much. At first glance, it looks like an online resume, but...
Parsing big data
It used that determination in its marketing—”Hampton Inn” people were targeted one way, while those who fit the profile of the Waldorf Astoria were approached in another. Then the company had an “a-ha” moment. “That wasn’t...
The hard data on benevolence
The traditional paradigm just seems safer: be firm and a little distant from your employees. The people who work for you should respect you, but not feel so familiar with you that they might...
Student housing earns high marks
Resort-style swimming pools, tanning salons, fitness centers, sand volleyball courts, fire pits, cafes with wood-burning fireplaces, and bedrooms with walk-in closets and private baths may sound like features in an upscale apartment complex, but...
Legacy builder
Rick Graf believes in good, old fashioned hard work. “If you work hard, you will get ahead and, if you are smart and stay out of trouble and do the right thing, you will...
The soul of success
From the tales of his tirades, it sounds like he missed his yoga class. Go figure. Even the laid-back, button-down Californians are stressed these days. That, and it may continue to be open season on...
The lost decade
Twenty-five years later, Americans are older, more diverse and more educated. We are less likely to be married and more likely to live alone. Work is divided more evenly between the sexes. One thing...
Crowd-funding real estate
Oculus raised money on Kickstarter in September 2012 and was purchased this year by Facebook for $2 billion. The prize for the 9,522 Kickstarter investors who ponied up $2.4 million for Oculus in 2012?...
The sinister side of big data
But there is also a growing awareness that important concerns have to be addressed if these hopes are to be realized. If the four V’s —volume, velocity, variety and verification —define what big data...
