Voice of the Occupier: Mike Petrusky

Hosted by Adam Hoy, Past President of the CoreNet UK Chapter, Adam turns the mic on Director of Podcasts at Eptura and host of the 'Workplace Innovator Podcast' and 'Asset Champion Podcast'.

Together, they explore the key challenges occupiers face in today’s evolving corporate real estate landscape — and what it takes to stay ahead.

Listen now for expert insights that can help you navigate the future of CRE with confidence.

#VoiceoftheOccupier #CREInsights #CoreNetGlobalUK

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Transcript

 Welcome to the Voice of the Occupier, the podcast from the UK chapter of CoreNet that dives deep into the world of commercial real estate from the perspective of those who truly inhabited. I'm your host, Adam Hoy, and I'll bring you insightful conversations with industry leaders, innovators and visionaries.

Shedding light on the challenges and opportunities facing occupiers today. Let's get started.

Hi everybody, and welcome to another episode of The Voice of the Occupier, brought to you by the UK Chapter of CoreNet. I'm Adam Hoy. Coming back again this month, and really happy to be with you. I've got a special guest on the podcast today, somebody that's sat in my side of the chair doing podcasts for a number of years.

A guy that's been around for a long time and I think has a, a pretty unique insight into the world of corporate corporate real estate. So really happy to be talking to him today. Mike Petroski is our guest today. Mike p he's done a podcast for a number of years, many podcasts. And he's gonna talk a little bit about kind of some of his background.

Mike, thank you for being with us today. Really excited to have you, Adam. The roles are reversed, but I love it. Thank you for having me on your show. Yeah. I'm really excited to, to, to have you here. As I said, I think you've got a pretty unique. View into, into the industry. As we've discussed, we, we do podcasts for corporate occupiers.

We hope that other people listen, right? And we hope to bring them you know, info things they can use in, in their daily work. And we like to bring people that have those broad views across the industry into talk to, and to, to learn from. Really is, is what we try to do. So can you talk a little bit about your role and kind of the background, how you got into doing what you're doing?

Yeah. It's amazing. To sit here and have you ask me that question, Adam, because I don't think about it much. But when I stop and think about it, it's quite a journey and it's a blessing to be able to do what I do and to. Host a show where I get to talk to people like you to share these stories and to hopefully inspire our community of workplace leaders, facility management professionals, corporate real estate executives.

It's all a great community through Cornet and ifma. That's how I think we met one of those organizations, and I just love to have this platform, the Workplace Innovator Podcast, where I get to. Share these stories and we're on episode 370 something after all these years, which is quite surreal and wild to think about.

But my journey started almost 10 years ago. I stumbled into the world of fm. I was an independent marketing guy at the time, and I just found the world of ifma and the community of FM practitioners that were so gracious and so. Service oriented, and I just love these people. And I said, how can I spend more time in the world of FM and real estate?

And I discovered that I could do that as a marketer by starting a podcast. So my first role, going way back was the host of the FM Innovator podcast. And then the long story short is that show. Put me on the radar of the co-founder of iOffice, Elizabeth Dukes, and back in 2018, she hired me to be part of her marketing team.

So I was part of this great company promoting industry software, but through content creation, content marketing. And fast forward over these last, now almost eight years, I've been on this journey. To what is now Tura, and it's all the same company. For those that don't know, iOffice merged with Space IQ and then later merged with Condeco and BU and many other.

Workplace and real estate software work tech brands. We are now a global work tech provider and it's been so fun to watch the evolution of the organization here. And also my team. I'm now called the director of podcasts because although I had many other marketing roles along the way, you know. Events and growth marketing and all these different titles.

We hired people or we had people join the team, I should say, when we merged with the company and they said, Mike, this person's much better at that than you are. We could have them handle the events. You're now just the dj, Mike P. Podcast guy. So at this point I'm very fortunate to be paid to do what I would do for free and what I used to do for free.

But it's really a role that allows me, again, to elevate other people's stories and voices and to be a to be a brand ambassador for Tura and share their story of enterprise, you know, worktech solutions that help provide great. Employee experiences help us care for our built environment, leverage these tools that allow us to do what we do and what you talk about here on this podcast.

So as Director of Podcasts for Tura, I host two shows, the Workplace Innovator, which is really similar to what you focus on here, the occupier side of the equation, and also a show called The Asset Champion Podcast, which is more about. Caring for the physical built environment, maintenance, operations, asset life cycles, digital twins, all that fun stuff.

We get into more of the you know, technical side of things. So both obviously feature human beings telling their stories, and it's a great privilege to be a part of it. Yeah. That's great. So you, you mentioned the FM innovator into Workplace Innovator, and I remember when that change happened a number of years back, but I think it's, you know, kind of went in line with where the market was going and what people in our industry were doing and what we were focused on.

So can you talk a little bit about, you know. Why that jump was made from FM Innovator to Workplace Innovator? Yeah, that's a great question, Adam. It did happen right after I joined iOffice, and it was because in the beginning I was talking facility management broadly. And as you know, as a practitioner and someone who's been in this industry for many, many years, that role is one.

That requires many hats, many different areas of expertise, being a generalist who can do all the things I just described from maintenance and operations through to creating great spaces and design and employee experience, and using technology tools to create that wonderful workplace environment. So as I shifted to working with iOffice at their beginning, it was focused mostly on.

The office setting corporate real estate in the terms of businesses related to. Office spaces, not so much manufacturing facilities or other types of built environments. So we decided that workplace experience was the top topic of the day, you know, back in 2018, and everybody was starting to talk about it, employee experience, and delivering great employee experience and using technology to.

The employee experience. So we did make the shift from FM Innovator to Workplace Innovator, but with Asset Champion in the mix. And again, I always have this struggle, Adam, when I have somebody like you on the show who has such a great, broad expertise and experience and has seen it all, you know, which show do I put them on?

Because they could talk literally about all of these different things and they're all related, right? It comes down to the people occupying our places and spaces, the human side of things. That understanding of what. Our needs are as human beings and what we're looking for to feel safe, to feel comfortable, to be able to do our best work, be productive, and to deliver on the expectations of our employers.

And that's what the, the whole exercise is about, I think. So, regardless of which subcategory we're getting into, what is the. Outcome we're looking for. What are the, what are the results we're trying to find? How are we helping the people who occupy our places? Yeah. Yeah. That's great. I think it's interesting.

I had a, a colleague, a former colleague that I worked with a number of years ago who's just going from kind of a broader procurement role into corporate real estate. And he reached out this week and wanted some advice on where he could go to learn, and, and your podcasts were one of the resources I gave him.

Oh, thank you. I think. Yeah, I think, you know, you could even go back and listen to some of them. I think there's some really good stories. So I think, you know, from a, from a CoreNet perspective, one of the things that we really focus on is education networking. I think those are two of the big pillars of CoreNet and education for me is you need to look in different areas for education.

And I think, I think podcasts in general are an interest. Thing, place to go and get, you know, that snippet of hearing a story and, and taking a lot of value from the story. So I think if you go back through the back catalog, 300 plus, as you said, right, there's a lot of interesting stories that I think people in the occupier role can go and dig out and use day-to-day.

So I found it as a, as a really valuable resource over the years. So hopefully others are finding that as well. And it's interesting that you're doing the more focused. Asset innovator as well because I think you can get into a different subcategory, which I think people will find is inter interesting.

So I think that's great. So on that, I think, you know, if you look at what you're hearing, obviously you talked to a lot of different people in the industry. You know, we've come through CO we. Gone to return to the office, which some are still kind of grappling with, but I think more or less we're, we're, I don't wanna say past it, but I'd say that's kind of a, a table stakes thing.

Now we're, we're kind of past that now. So what are you, what are you hearing in terms of challenges that, that in occupiers that you're talking to? What kind of things are you hearing that they're, they're challenged with right now? Well, I think I hear a lot of the same things that you are talking about here on this podcast, and I do listen, and I appreciate hearing the occupier perspective so clearly represented on your show.

The the funny thing, Adam, and you mentioned it, I love the way you framed the question because. I am involved with both Cornet and ifma and just coming through the ifma world workplace experience and looking ahead to the Cornet North American Global Summit and some of the themes that Conti consistently rise during those conferences.

You know, innovation, being a leader I think CoreNet's title is something about innovate to thrive, right? You know, and creating a meaningful change leading in purpose. I just had it here on my phone and those. Themes really mirror what I'm talking about on my Workplace Innovator podcast because it's the same thing.

It's about how do we embrace, embrace this time of change and consistent change and be great leaders for our organization and. You mentioned some of them, the things that come up again and again on my show, like the New Ways of Working, navigating hybrid work policies and accommodating our people while trying to meet their needs and expectations, which have evolved over these last several years.

So it's not an easy world in which to operate today, but I think one of the things that I find is that. It is something that we could take kind of a rest in or, or hope in and, and find hope in is the fact that there's nothing new under the sun when it comes to human beings. I mean, I always joke about music, Adam.

You know, I always ask my guests to share a song or an artist that inspires them and, and I'm always brought back to my childhood in the eighties and the band Depeche Mode comes up all the time. That synth new wave sound, and when they sang people are people back in the mid eighties, I don't know. I don't know if you remember that tune.

It still resonates today here 40 years later, that people are people. We do have different perspectives, different experiences, but at the same time, we have more, I believe in common than not. So leaning into that understanding when it comes to workplace and. Understanding the changes taking place in our built environment, in our real estate and how things are evolving.

Remember that we're hu we're dealing with human beings, people who are just like you and me. And regardless of your role, you have a chance to leverage some of these insights from podcasts, from conferences, from getting your education and credentials, all the things you mentioned, and then you can.

Turn that into some powerful tools to really move the needle in this area and make a change for the better. Yeah. Yeah, I agree. I think you know, the themes that we're seeing at conferences this year, I think are around innovation and taking things forward, which is good. I think we wanna be, I think we've, we collected a lot of goodwill within, within corporations.

Through COVID on, on how we can quickly shift and create value and safety and, and you know, to keep things going during that time. And I think that created a lot of goodwill for corporate real estate groups within larger enterprises. And I think broadly, I think we've, as an industry, we've definitely.

Captured and, and are advancing on that. And I think the next thing around innovation is how are we taking that forward, right? So it's not so much about mandates, you know, driving people back to work, but you, and you've heard the term magnet versus mandate, you know, how are we drawing people into offices?

I think it's beyond that now, right? The expectation is that people are coming together in workplaces and we're making those workplaces as. Productive and healthy as possible. And I think that's where, really where we're at as an industry. So I think you know, like in innovation and, and hearing how companies are innovating, I think is fantastic.

You know, in that sense too. I'm, I'm interested in hearing. What you are hearing about opportunities in the industry. When I ask this question to different people and I talk to people, you know, AI always comes up and I, I think that's definitely an, an opportunity. I'm not sure anybody's really cracked AI in our space yet.

How are we using it? You know, what value is being created through the use of different tools, but are there any other opportunities you're hearing specifically from people that you're talking to right now coming up in your conversations? Yeah, there are, and I'm excited about it because I think the role that we as workplace leaders play, and again, it could be a facility management role, it could be a corporate real estate role.

It's now being really. I noticed more. I think there's this chance to really have an impact across an organization and if we step back and take that more holistic view of the built environment and all the different elements that we're discussing here, Adam, I think that's really what this innovation in the world of corporate real estate is about today.

And I always ask my guests, you know, what they think of when they hear they're gonna be a guest on the show. The Workplace Innovator Podcast and that's evolved over the years. It's, everybody's got a different story to tell, but it's, it's interesting to hear that in many ways, the leadership opportunities that people have to tell their story and whether that's sharing the opportunity for a new workplace strategy or a new technology or some new way of looking at their.

Or office space or their, their organization as a whole. Policies even come into play and talking with their colleagues across the aisle at HR or IT or even marketing and getting, make sure that, making sure that opportunity to share the communicate, to communicate the value of these shifts, whatever they might be.

These are the areas where I think our listeners that might be. Interested in having an impact in their organization can really move the needle because being a better communicator and being a better leader for your team, for your. Executive suite telling the story, being able to sell your ideas. These are the themes that come up again and again and what it's, what is it all about in today's world of the workplace, I think it's about creating those environments that have a purpose, that have meaning, and that have the ability to answer the question of why and who.

Who comes to the office? When do they come to the office and why are they coming? And then fostering communities in those environments and being better at that. One of the recent guests I had on the show talked a lot about hospitality, and this is nothing new. We've talked about this in the industry for many years, but really learning from other industries other.

Vertical markets and hospitality fields and saying, all right, how do we better apply some of those principles to the world of an office or a workplace experience is something that really is an opportunity for our industry right now. So yeah, AI is gonna be at, at ever present part of this. And I think that we are in, as you said, the early stages of understanding what it's gonna mean.

And I often. Ask my guests to bring quotes related to this industry and this changing world, and I've got several of them that come to mind when I'm talking about AI or some of the opportunities for our listeners. It's this idea that we're at the beginning of understanding what this innovation's gonna look like, and I think there's nothing new under the sun.

As I said earlier, there's a quote that comes to mind that says. The rate of change is not going to slow down anytime soon. If anything, competition in most industries will probably speed up even more in the next few decades. And you think, wow, that's really. Relevant to today, but that was a quote from the 1990s from a guy named John p Kotter who wrote a book called Leading Change.

And the other thing that comes to mind is the idea about technology and its impact on the world. I've been sharing this a lot on my show, Adam, is that I've been around a few decades now and I've seen new innovative technologies be introduced, and the human tendency is to either embrace it. Really quickly and be a early adopter and get really excited and that hype is really there and you're like, this is gonna change the world tomorrow.

Or be someone who's more conservative about it and say, oh, and more skeptical even and say, that's not gonna change my world. For example, I always mention the introduction of the iPhone back in 2007. I was an avid Blackberry user and I was like, there's no way that toy, the iPhone is gonna. Changed my life and it took several years.

But fast forward 10 years later and you look back and go, wow, smartphones, the iPhone, it changed the world, but it took a little time. That early skepticism needs to be checked, but also the hype needs to be brought into perspective as well. With ai, I think we're seeing both. We've got the skeptics. We've also got those that are really high on the hype cycle, thinking the whole world's gonna change.

The quote from Bill Gates that comes up again, and I'm gonna paraphrase it. It's like we always overestimate the impact of technology for the first couple of years, and then we underestimate the impact of that technology over the next 10. So that kind of idea where we think everything's going to happen overnight, we definitely see the seeds of that change with ai.

But the opportunity is to be the steady leaders who communicate and understand what the applications are gonna be, what the value of this is gonna be. And never forget that human beings will always be a part of the equation and will never be replaced as long as we keep our emotional intelligence finely tuned.

So these are the things that I like to inspire the audience to remember, and hopefully it has an impact. Yeah, some really good things in there, Mike. I think, I think we are seeing a lot that's, that, that's coming around that you know, that the iPhone isn't, it's a perfect example and I think we're probably at the beginning stages of that, where we're, we're seeing some things and, and you know, soon enough it'll explode and we will.

You know, we'll be looking back three or four years from now and there'll be something out there that we're, we don't have our hands around now that we look back and say, how are we doing this? Without whatever that tool was. So I think we're, we're really at that spot now, which is Indus. Interesting. You know, it's, you, you mentioned all the conversations that you've had you know, your time around the industry.

One of the things that, that I found interesting in my journey is the evolution of corporate real estate professionals. And one of the things that we've talked about in CoreNet. A bit is how are we attracting talent to the industry and how are we making sure people are coming into the industry? I think as you get, you know we see where the, the, the, the, you know, early professionals are coming, but then you look and you think about, okay, where are we drawing people in maybe mid-career or shortly after they be, begin their career.

One of the things that you mentioned, you know, in, in one of your answers was the way that. Corporate real estate teams are presenting things back to C-Suites committees and to, to boards, and I think what we've seen is a growth in kind of the, the characteristics needed from a, a, a good corporate real estate professional.

Right. I think, you know, if you go back 10, 15 years, you had kind of that. Technical route where you, you had brokers coming in and then they went into upper management and there, there was a strict fo focus on, you know, the blocking and tackling of corporate real estate. But then I think it broadened and you saw different types of professionals come into the organization from different parts.

You know, I started my career in procurement, kind of morphed together with corporate real estate. And then I've stayed on that track and I've seen people come from tech. I've seen people come from hr. I've seen other professionals come into the industry who have the skillset of, bringing strategy and business cases, cases to upper management, and then you kind of funneling it through a corporate real estate lens and then bringing in those technical professionals on the team.

So in that sense, you've talked to probably hundreds of professionals over the years many different types, I'm sure. Are there any key takeaways from those conversations that you've had along the way that really stand out to you? Yeah, what a great question, Adam. And it really gets to the heart of what I've learned.

Over these past many years, and that's that each of us has a different story to tell. Each of us has a different strength. I've done a little bit of work in the last couple of years with some friends like Rex Miller, who helped me understand what my core strengths are, the Clifton Strengths Index, or whatever that survey is he put me through and, and understanding that, understanding what we bring to the table, that self-awareness is key to then.

Focusing on what you're good at and making the biggest impact on your world based on that. 'cause we each bring something unique to the table. And I just saw this amplified again, and I'm sure you'll see it at, at the CoreNet Global Summit, or maybe that's in the past when this is published, but whatever, whatever conferences we go to, if you look around, we have this great gathering of members of the community and they all have different.

Areas of comfort and expertise, whether it's more on the technical side or more on the strategic leadership side, different personality types, different roles, responsibilities, and I'm always kind of taken aback because I think we do a good job giving different ways of. Learning and different educational opportunities, different networking opportunities, but I always see those folks on the outside who maybe don't feel comfortable, you know, just going across the room and starting a conversation with another professional.

And this is the type of thing that I hope your show and my show will do. It's like introducing people to their colleagues, their industry peers, and. Breaking the ice for them. And I try to do this deliberately. I just did this at Iffa World Workplace. We're at the big networking event and I saw a number of people sitting by themselves where, you know, literally thousands are gathering and having a fun time doing this.

We were on the football field at the Minnesota Viking stadium. It was wild. But I went over to a guy and I just started talking to him and he would just not be the kind of person that would, would engage and, and do that. So I'm, I'm going around the world here to say, each of us brings something.

Unique to the table and your colleague, your friend, your coworker, your partner in the industry, your vendors, each of us brings something different. And the idea of having a, a big perspective and open-mindedness to hearing from others who are not like ourselves and. Understanding where our strengths lie, yes, but also where those gaps are, those weaknesses.

I cannot do what I do on my show and I know you can't either, Adam, without the help of others putting together the pieces of the puzzle that are not our strength and not our expertise. And that applies to corporate real estate. It applies to facilities management and caring for the built environment.

So. Having that ability to recognize those areas and then move forward with that collaborative approach and finding that community that can help us get there is what it's all about. Yeah, really good answer. You know, I, I was reflecting on the different tools that I've participated in. So we've done, in different teams, I've been on, we've done a, a program called Insights.

And Insights will kind of map you by a color code and you can get your team kind of color coded and put everybody up on a wheel and look at kind of where everybody sits, and then what does it mean if a person is a certain type and others, you know, react to different things as well. So I think it, it really.

Brings home building those diverse teams, that people are bringing different perspectives to the table. And I think we've gotta be open to hearing those different perspectives. And I think in the corporate real estate world, you know, going back to to to, to some of my background, I think bringing in people from different parts of industry, different types of industries, really, really broadens and strengthens the, the, the viewpoints we have around our collective table.

So I think yeah, totally agree. So on that, you know, thinking about. The beginning, right? Professionals that are coming into the career, I think, into their career. I think one of the things I've really enjoyed about CoreNet over the years is the Young Leaders program and, and the strength of bringing young professionals into the industry.

I've been a, a member of multiple chapters. I think the uk selfishly has the best young leaders group in the world, but a lot of really strong ones across. The globe. And I think, you know, bringing in the right talent into the industry is, is key in maintaining the profession and growing the profession.

So my last question for you, if you, you know, we'll do the proverbial elevator pitch, if you are with, you know, a young professional either in college, coming out of college into, into, into the profession, what. Guidance would you give them with regard to coming into the corporate real estate industry?

Yeah. I love this, Adam, and it's the same philosophy really that I have in the world of podcasting because when I started back a decade ago, as I mentioned, I was one of the only ones I think kind of posting these. Conversations weekly in our little world, our little subculture of FM and corporate real estate.

And I was doing it consistently, but then I saw these new voices joining the party and I loved it. It wasn't like a threat to me. It wasn't, it wasn't, to me, it wasn't viewed as a, a threat or something happening with that I had to worry about. It was like, okay, now there are dozens of shows and each person has a different.

Perspective and experience and view of the world and the more the merrier. So I really believe this, that everyone has a unique story to tell. And if we can communicate this to the young people today, that there's this opportunity to bring their journey to this industry. And that would be my pitch. Jump in the world of CRA.

The water is warm. But it's not without some undercurrents, not without some challenges. We talked about a few of them here, but be confident in that this community can help you navigate and you can have a really big impact on the people who occupy our places and spaces. So you have this chance to bring your creativity.

Every day is different. You bring your unique personality. Everybody's got one. Everybody has a different strength, but you also have the chance to work with a team to. Care for the human beings that occupy our offices and our built environment. And there's no better feeling at the end of the day knowing that you've created a wonderful employee experience and cared for people.

So my last thing I would say would be, be a workplace innovator. And make it happen. That's great, Mike. Yeah, I, I fully agree. I think there's, you know, the, the, the industry allows us to touch so many things in different enterprises and it's, it's really a unique career. So I fully agree. I would encourage everybody go out and listen to Mike's podcast.

I think there's a lot everybody can learn from those, you know, as we continue to. Strengthen our skill sets and learn from others. I think there's a, a vast catalog that Mike's put together and I think everybody can learn a lot from those. So I really encourage that. Mike, I appreciate you being on our show today.

Like I said, a unique perspective. You've got a really cool view around the industry, so I want to thank you for joining us today. Thank you, Adam. And. What do you think? You gonna return the favor and come back on the Workplace Innovator Podcast anytime. I'd love to do that. Let's make it happen. Thank you.

Cool. Alright, Mike. Thank you. Listen everybody, thank you for joining another episode of The Voice of the Occupier and we'll see you next time.