Leading Change in Real Estate
The real estate industry is growing increasingly complex, and January Urroz is committed to staying a step ahead. As the financial manager for Panama-based Inversiones Bahia, she is focused on broadening her leadership perspective and acumen. She recently attended the Real Estate Management Program at Harvard Business School Executive Education in order to sharpen her strategic decision-making skills. In this interview, she describes her experience in the program.
Why did you choose to attend this program?
In the real estate industry, competition now exists far beyond land, prices, internal rate of return, and net present value. Other aspects of the business–among them services, design, and amenities–have become important factors influencing the decision to develop and invest in real estate assets. With this in mind, I wanted to improve my understanding of critical finance and leadership issues that are shaping the industry's future.
How did this program change or influence your approach to real estate?
The Real Estate Management program provided a framework for making design and market-oriented decisions effectively. As a lawyer who also has experience in finance, I gained valuable insight into how the preparation of documents and numbers can affect decision-making.
Is there one takeaway from the program that was particularly important?
It was extraordinary to be around people from different cultures and countries who manage so many diversified products and face their own unique challenges. What I experienced and learned in this atmosphere helped me understand the enormous opportunity we have to make a difference by creating innovative products that build a more sophisticated real estate industry in my country.
How would you describe the program's value to someone who's considering it?
For me, this program was the beginning of a lot of friendships. The people I met and the knowledge I gained opened the doors to a wide spectrum of opportunities around the world.