On March 14th, the CARW NextGen class welcomed a dynamic group of Commercial Real Estate Architects. A huge thank you to Glenn Roby (Kahler Slater), Jason Korb (Korb + Associates), and Eric Romano (EUA). The panel was moderated by Bridget Hackbart (EUA). They shared with the NextGen group their career trajectory, successes, and challenges they faced throughout their career. A few memorable takeaways from our NextGen Class included –
- Listen More, Talk Less
- Lumber costs caused business to slow.
- Most valuable skills in the industry: good communication whether verbal or visual, responsiveness, flexibility, resiliency – fight for what you feel is best for all parties involved.
- Mentors can come from different places and it may not always be a formal relationship.
- Be ready to have tough conversations with clients, everything may not always go to plan.
- Never put YOUR value in a tool – like CAD – that tool may become obsolete.
- Sometimes you solve not only architecture problems but financial, real estate, and other problems.
- Networking is one of the most important skills; utilize resources like CARW to build.
- Referrals go far; helps create reliability and a pipeline of clients.
Each month, the NextGen group will gather to hear from a panel representing a variety of disciplines. In April, the group will be joined by Engineers.