There is a common belief that in business it is who you know, not what you know that helps you build a successful career. There are elements of truth in that, of course, and at EG’s Real Estate Futures event, we sought to share tips and advice on how to grow your network and ensure that you have those connections in place. But the team at EG also wanted to showcase that often what we perceive to be a traditional route into real estate isn’t always that common.
Take Landsec chief financial officer Vanessa Simms as an example. It would be easy to assume that Simms took the “traditional” route to board director: degree at a good university, a little sprinkle of nepotism with an introduction here and there and “hey presto”, board role.
Not so, said Simms. For her it was all about hard graft and forging her own way forward.
“I probably had a slightly different start to life,” she told the audience. “I came from a family that wasn’t going to open any doors for me career-wise and had to leave home at 17. I was in a position where I couldn’t go to university. It just wasn’t an option for me. I needed to crack on and find some way of being employed.”
And she did. With a love of maths and a talent with numbers, Simms found a job processing invoices. From there she encouraged her employer to sponsor her in accountancy, she studied while working and eventually went on to do an MBA. And through finance she finally found her way into real estate.
She said that resilience learnt through her journey into working life has been a key factor in her success.
“There are probably two things that have really helped me in my own career,” said Simms. “One is the fact that I’m pretty resilient and I’ll make difficult decisions and knuckle down and make things happen, but there’s probably one that I think we can all contribute to as well, which is the fact that if you’ve got good mentors and good sponsorship, that sets you apart.
“The difference I had in real estate to other industries was that there was a lot more support and sponsorship and the mentoring was really strong. If I look at how I’ve moved through my career, I think since I’ve been in real estate, that’s always been through recommendations, people who know me, people who put my name forward for things and have pushed me forward to go for it.”
But Simms wasn’t the only successful leader up on stage who had a less-than-traditional route into real estate.
Kathryn Jump, partner and living sector co-head at Shoosmiths, has successfully job-shared her career to an elevated position. She has been job sharing for 17 years, a route she chose after realising the difficulties of managing parenthood with a demanding career. Rather than give up on either being a mum or having a high-profile job, Jump looked into other options. She and her work partner have now navigated a career together, moving businesses and jobs, but always together.
“It’s been a bit like a superpower for us, because when we’ve had a dip in confidence or found ourselves in a bad work situation, we’ve worked together to get ourselves out,” said Jump. “We’ve been so much braver to move firms or ask for promotions because we’re doing it together.”
Jump’s story shows how there are always options in real estate if you find the right person and have the confidence to ask.
For Phyllis Agbo, senior development manager at Stories, confidence isn’t an issue. She began her career as a professional sportswoman, competing in heptathlon for the country. But while an athletics career gifted her all sorts of experiences and skills, it was never going to last forever.
She was drawn into real estate via a specialist recruitment company called Add-Victor, which helps athletes and military veterans find new careers.
“There are so many things that are beneficial that I’ve learnt in my athletic career that could be taken into business,” said Agbo. “Things like tenacity, determination, team spirit.”
Injury ultimately brought Agbo’s athletic career to an end but she credits her ability to deal with the setbacks she had in her sporting life with her success in real estate today.
“All those things help to develop you as a person and really understand how you work, how to get the best out of yourself, and even though I didn’t have an affiliated degree to real estate, I knew I had something to offer that those who come through that route wouldn’t. I’ve had life experience and all these strings to my bow,” she said.
JLL chief operating officer Andrew O’Donnell may well have had a more traditional route into real estate but he showcased to the audience that once you are in the sector, you don’t have to follow the norm. He leads London-based JLL’s operations from Bristol, for example.
He credits his success in real estate with always being ready to ask, “how can I help?”
“There are so many moments in your career where you don’t realise by offering help, you’re actually learning and advancing things for yourself and the company as well,” said O’Donnell. “What I learnt, and it took me a while, was to be authentic. Be yourself, don’t try and be something you are not and help other people who are willing to learn.”
All four industry leaders were keen to show that real estate offered a route to success for all people passionate about the built environment and delivering meaningful change.
Networking like a pro: it’s all in the approach
Learning how to network, be that in person or digitally through social media networks such as LinkedIn, is one of the most valuable tools to have in a people-focused industry like real estate. But making new connections can be daunting.
EG gathered some of the best in the business – experienced pros and new entrants to the sector – to find out what tricks they use to build their networks.
Susan Freeman, partner at Mishcon de Reya, is one of the industry’s best-known networkers and is driven by a sense of curiosity. For her, a driver to make a connection comes from the simple thought that “they might be interesting”.
And having something interesting yourself to say is one of the best tricks all our experts shared.
“If you can find some common ground, something they are interested in, there’s a reason to keep that relationship going,” said Freeman. “There’s no point going straight in saying ‘can I sell you some legal services?’”
Laurence Kemball-Cook, founder of Pavegen and former EG Rising Star, couldn’t agree more. He’s managed to build up a little black book that features the likes of Will.i.am, David Cameron and Barack Obama by making sure he stands out from the rest.
He got his first major investment in his business by complimenting someone on their jacket – an icebreaker that opened up a conversation – and he managed to bypass a hoard of networkers to get in front of a conference speaker by offering him a much-needed glass of water.
“You have to make a conversation memorable,” said Kemball-Cook. “If I can not talk about business and talk about something else, that always builds a better relationship.”
BPF Futures chair Gafar Fashola recommends new starters in the industry utilise the confidence that often comes with youth.
“It’s about having courage to be in those rooms with your senior leaders,” he told the audience. “They can seem quite daunting if they have a title of CEO and you’re just a graduate or apprentice, but having confidence is something that is beneficial when you’re young, you can take those risks, throw yourself into the situation.”
For Richard Golding, chair of RICS Matrics UK board, the best advice when it comes to networking is to make sure you follow up and develop your own CRM to stay on top of connections. Having the confidence to walk into a room – or reach out across the socials – and having something interesting to say, will be wasted if you don’t work the connection you’ve just made.
Images © www.tellingphotography.com
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