It’s been a couple of weeks since we updated you on “business as unusual” at Cushman & Wakefield | PICOR. With daily changes in guidance from every level of government and deeper understanding of our responsibilities to support health at the human, property, and community levels, we have continued to flex, too.
We remain strong as a company and in full operation to serve our clients. A small but mighty core holds down the fort in the office, on-site teams keep high-rise and healthcare facilities operating, and we can now boast about 35 “branch offices” in homes across the metro area, where our dedicated crew is committed to doing what it takes for our clients and tenants.
We weathered the Great Recession without any reductions in force and believe our systems will see us through this storm. We have enacted measures that ensure continuity so that our critical vendors and suppliers receive timely payment at a time when small businesses and sole proprietors need it the most.
I had a chance to share my perspective with ULI Arizona this week and wanted to share those notes with you.
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Observations:
As always in times of crisis, the blessings are mixed, but plenty. I am stricken by generosity and resilience once we get over the phases of adapting to change like bewilderment, anger, grief, or guilt. I’m a member of the Glass Half Full Club and consider empathetic and agile leadership a hot commodity these days. I remain optimistic that we will navigate and gain strength on the other side, but do have a twinge of guilt at my own lack of suffering (today). Regardless, we pray for wellness beyond the circles of our home and work families.
At this writing, our team of 50 in a boutique firm remains an “essential’ service. Despite this, 90% of our brokerage and management teams are now working remotely to protect health. We are grateful for the many leadership networks, communities and forums that have afforded us wisdom and best practices.
Our multifamily/capital markets sales team is as busy as ever. New commercial lease and sale activity has slowed but not stopped; the pause allowing the parties to navigate uncertainty. Asset services teams are addressing rent relief and deferment requests. As we know from past crises, in good times and bad, we can be a resource, and CRE is a relationship business.
We have clients on both the investor and user side across the property spectrum, from healthcare to retail, office, industrial and multifamily. The degrees of impact vary. We have upped communications and serve as resource connectors and advisors throughout our client base and the greater Tucson business community as a whole. Everyone has their own “here and now” to address, from homeschooling, WFH, job loss, war at the virus’ front. The best advice I have heard this week is to “work with one eye on the present and one eye on the future.”
Opportunities:
The end will come, and normal will have changed in different ways across the sectors. We can use this time with one eye on the future to think ahead, strategically, and creatively. Where will the needs be, and how are we uniquely positioned to serve them? The way organizations and leaders treat employees and stakeholders in difficult times becomes part of our brand, creating opportunities to build value for the long term. |
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We remain in it together with one eye on the present and one eye on the future. Reach out if we can be a resource in any way.
Barbi Reuter, RPA
Chief Executive Officer/Principal
