Sharing how we work and what we’ve learned as a real estate community are two of the best ways to uncover and encourage hidden or quiet talent – for ourselves, our businesses and the people we work with.
When we were first approached to partner with EG on the Future Leaders programme, we thought a lot about our values and traits as a sector group, what our clients think about us, and what our colleagues thought marked us out. The impression you leave others with, and the lessons learnt and gained from the experience of others are two of the most important things in achieving success.
Real estate influencers
I’ve been asked to name people who have influenced my career and, among other things, encouraged me to think differently. I’m fortunate to have worked with great people and there are two that come straight to mind.
Vivienne King is one of the great and the good of the real estate sector. Vivienne was the deputy legal adviser when I went on secondment to The Crown Estate as a newly qualified planning lawyer back in the late 1990s. Vivienne was my direct line manager, and very quickly became a mentoring and leadership figure. She is someone who I have worked with, admired, and learned a lot from over the years. She moved from deputy legal adviser to the main board and became GC in 2012. When she completed the delivery of her vision for legal services at The Crown Estate she moved onto Soho Housing in 2016.
You don’t take on these kind of leadership positions without knowing how to lead – and leading is about listening. As someone who can talk an awful lot, the single biggest and resounding skill that Vivienne instilled in me over the years has been the importance of listening.
It seems obvious I know, but there are not enough of us who focus on listening beyond what someone is saying. Taking the time to find out why they are telling you something should help determine what it is they really care about, what they’re good at, and ultimately what will assist them in revealing their strengths.
Entrepreneurial inspiration
Listening to and learning from someone younger than you is also an important factor. The spirit that’s required to become an entrepreneur is inspiring, and enables you to see and respond to the world differently.
Niiashie Adjaye is someone with whom I work and from whom I have learnt a great deal. When we first interviewed him at the firm, he joked that he turned up in the UK from Ghana as “some skinny kid”. Nash was a pretty good lawyer in his day, though he used to joke that he didn’t want to become something like me – a Reginald Perrin-type character who aimed to start and end at the day ensuring he got the same time Tubes – yes, on the Metropolitan Line.
Truth be told, Nash was one of the first to see the potential for technology in real estate. He has spent the last four years building a proptech company that has its commercial HQ in London, with the tech and science base in Accra. He now runs a very successful business with a team of employees who are just as much a joy to work with as he is. Undoubtedly, he has built that company around his own ethos with the people who think like him. And as a result of learning from him and his key strengths, I now think more like Nash.
The underlying strength of his talent and leadership skills? Acknowledge the past and look to the future. Look to the future intently, with intensity, then when you do that – as Vivienne King does – really listen.
What underpins both these attributes? I think it is taking the time to support each other and take pride in the part you can play in working with people who succeed, and on their own terms. Future leaders need to prioritise this as it’s absolutely key to untapping hidden talents and potential. I’ve learnt that much – while listening – from my own experience.
Al Watson is partner and head of planning at Taylor Wessing
