The Future of Work with CBRE Global Workplace Solutions CEO Chandra Dhandapani | Technovation 702

Great to be with you, Peter. Excellent.

Right. So first of all, it's one of three business segments at CBRE that's externally reported. And our 2021 revenue was about $17 billion. We essentially provide commercial real estate services to Fortune 500-plus companies in over 100 countries. And what that means is operating our clients' buildings reliably and efficiently, and increasingly with sustainability in mind. That includes specialist HVAC, mechanical and electrical services. Hopefully that's a very quick overview.

We have engineers who work at our client sites, so those are our frontline colleagues. I'm going to focus, in responding to your question, on those of us who work at designated offices, like CBRE offices. And fundamentally, we have learned and we continue to believe that being in the office together definitely fosters collaboration, idea sharing, productivity, and importantly, social well-being, mental health. As human beings, we need to socialize with others, and the workplace has offered a lot of that. And we also, at the same time, recognize the need for flexibility. After more than two years of remote work, SGA actually published a research white paper in March of 2020, some of you may have seen this, that suggested we want to feel connected. When we were in the office every day, we could do that; it was easier to make those connections. But as we continue to discover, every company is trying to discover what the new normal means for them. What we see many of our clients and ourselves focus on is working to reclaim the benefits of that in-person collaboration in the workplace while maintaining the benefits of being more flexible in terms of work arrangements. We are not being prescriptive at CBRE. Some of our clients are providing that flexibility so that teams can choose when they're going to be in the office, who else is going to be in the office, etc.

Sure. So first of all, we are encouraging all our managers and our clients to be intentional about the why. You know, why and when do they want their teams to come into the office? For example, if you have a long commute into the office—commute is a huge factor for many of our colleagues around the world—how will you make it worth the time? Fortunately, as you mentioned, Peter, I don't live too far from my office, so I've been coming into the office pretty much every day since the mandatory don't come in order lifted, which was in June 2020 here in Texas. But there are colleagues who have long commutes. So if you have a long commute, is it worth it to come in to spend time with your colleagues and not just spend the entire day on Zoom or doing heads-down work? We're starting to think more about workplace experience, and this—when I say we, it includes many of our clients—and the word hospitality has become such a part of how you think about offices. How do you make sure people feel they belong, and how do they interact with their colleagues? Ultimately, we want our people not just to be productive—that certainly is of interest in the commercial world—but also healthy and engaged when they are at the office. So we are definitely focused on a data-driven approach, understanding how our employees are using the workplace. We help our clients with that. Ultimately, though, the important thing is we want to stay flexible and fluid. As anybody knows, companies that have experimented with 'Thou shalt come into the office five days a week' have unfortunately had to either walk that back, or they have experienced significant attrition or a drop in engagement survey scores. And that's not healthy for any company.

I think it depends on who is on this call, but it also varies very much by country. In the US, this seems very similar to what we are seeing: it's two to three days. And of course, in some parts of the world it varies, where offices are pretty much back to normal. But this definitely rings true.

Thank you. In leadership roles and business leadership roles, in both cases, I would say I've benefited from having that different perspective, a multi-dimensional perspective based on the background I came in with. I got my first divisional CIO role at Capital One actually right after two business rotations: one where I led a business for three years, and the second where I ran operations. I felt that those two experiences helped me focus, once I got into the CIO role, on staying closely aligned with other business leaders, making sure the way I think about investing in technology is very closely aligned with business strategy, moving fast in building and deploying software, and caring a lot about customer experience. Now that I'm in a CEO role, I feel it gives me opportunities to see things from that broad perspective. Being in the CIO role, I think we've all learned that you can't do it by yourself. Companies are always looking to figure out what their peers are doing. As a CIO, you've learned to figure out how to build—my mantra is 'build by your partner.' And you have a great bird's-eye view of the whole company. You know how various functions interoperate, and you also understand the data strengths a company has. So I actually think CIOs are so well positioned to get into business leadership roles because of that broad perspective they bring, the ability to collaborate within and outside the ecosystem. And I will tell you, ultimately, CIOs—good CIOs—are really good at getting things done. As you know, every business not only needs great strategy but also execution.

Some of these may seem obvious. I would say, first, adopt an outside-in perspective and not just an inside-out. When you are in technology, you are on 24/7—you can get so sucked into what you need to do within technology. Always work back from what your customers' needs are, what are your business priorities and challenges, and what role can you play in helping solve those. The next thing is, I think this is important: when people talk about technology, engage in the conversation because you can add so much more and help the organization benefit from things you can contribute to. And the last thing I would say is, if you are interested in pursuing a leadership role outside of technology, make that interest known to your direct manager, because they typically know your strengths and opportunities well. Every time I've had a role change, it's always been my direct manager who understands my strengths and opportunities and knows my interest, and they will help you—your direct manager can help you find that next role.