Editor’s comment: Earlier this week I was very kindly treated to an “elevation” party by Grosvenor and my co-chair at REWIRE, the ridiculously well-connected Sue Brown of London First.
It was an honour and hugely flattering (and amazing for my ego) to see so many of you from the industry there: leaders, change-makers, the future leaders of real estate.
It was also somewhat of a turning of the tables. Instead of me asking the questions, Grosvenor chief executive Craig McWilliam became a journalist for the night and I became the interviewee. He was pretty good.
If things don’t work out at Grosvenor, Craig, there will always be a job for you here at EG…
It was also a great opportunity for me to be able to feedback to the industry my passions and my thoughts about property. About how I want to be an editor who champions diversity but doesn’t just champion diversity. About my unfaltering belief that it is an industry that has untold power and an unrivalled ability to make change in the way real people work, live and play. How it has a real opportunity to make the world a better, safer and, dare I say it, happier place.
The best bit of the evening – gossip and wine aside – was how eager and ready the people in the room were to be that change. How willing they were to accept that people and their lives were just as important to the success of any real estate business as the other P&L.
And it wasn’t just talk. We all pledged to do something about it.
I’ve pledged to question, illuminate and celebrate the process and they’ve pledged to take either personal or corporate action. And they all wrote it down and gave it to me. On the back of their name badges.
I won’t share names here but I do want to share some of the pledges so that even more of us can pick up the mantle, be the change and make real estate great again.
- “I will look at how the broader range of skills needed in our industry could open up opportunities for a more diverse workforce.”
- “I will call out bad behaviour, even when it is a client.”
- “I will campaign for better socioeconomic diversity within property – starting with recruitment lists.”
- “I will seek to bring in a 1+1 on all work experience and shadowing. For every person given work experience through contacts, I will give someone else the same opportunity from the Social Mobility Foundation.”
- “I will question and challenge stereotyping/role labelling.”
- “I will find a way to get real estate to be a profession of choice at school level and tackle diversity at the core.”
- “I will work to get at least 50% of the CEOs within the sector (starting at home) to be from a diverse background.”
- “I will help my young, white, male colleagues understand why diversity is good for them too as some of them start to feel a little disenfranchised.”
Reading through the pledges gives me great hope for this industry and pride in it. I’m excited to sit at the helm at EG to help the industry deliver on them, to keep reminding you all of your promises – I know who you are remember, I have your name badges – and to help give this industry the reputation it really deserves.
If you want to join in, tweet meor e-mail me with your own commitment about how you are going to bring about change, change that goes beyond diversity, in your area of work.
To send feedback, e-mail samantha.mcclary@egi.co.uk or tweet @samanthamcclary or @estatesgazette
