Crown Estate chief on real estate’s struggle to improve diversity

Crown Estate chief executive Dan Labbad has described how he “woke up” to the importance of fostering diversity & inclusion as a corporate leader and warned peers that by avoiding honest conversations they could risk losing talent. In an interview with former British Property Federation chief executive Liz Peace at Real Estate Balance’s annual conference last week, Labbad spoke of how his own background shaped his approach to identity; the toolkit that companies such as the Crown Estate have to work with as they build more diverse workforces; and his hope for what real estate’s next generation will do to further the cause as they rise to positions of leadership. “As a leader you’ve got to lead outright,” Labbad said. “You’ve got to nail your colours to the mast and really put yourself out there and I think it’s incredibly important to role-model the passion, not just talk about it, but role-model it.” Tools for change Labbad said it “would be disingenuous” to claim the Crown Estate has achieved all it can in its D&I strategy as the landscape in the UK, particularly in commercial real estate, has a lot to improve. “Like all organisations in this sector, we have a long way to go,” he said. “The Crown Estate has been on a journey sparked by global events that have had a very local impact and woke me up to my role as a leader and the need to constantly search myself for what I need to do in order to create an organisation where this can prosper.” The events surrounding George Floyd’s murder acted as a catalyst for change, Labbad said, and moved these fundamentals to the forefront of the collective C-suite mind. “I wanted to make sure that whatever we did was real,” said Labbad. “One of the things that woke me up was the events around George Floyd’s murder and the engagement that I had with my own people, who have helped me enormously in understanding the fact that different lived experiences are very different in the way they manifest in systemic violence and things that hold people back from an equity perspective.” His first tip was to understand the data, while making sure “it’s not just about gender, it’s about all forms of diversity and looking at diversity, inclusion and equity as a holistic, interrelated piece”. Labbad added that one of the ways boards and chief executives can do this is through the use of a data drive such as an anonymous, company-wide lived experience survey which looks at what “people in our business feel about this agenda, what their lived experiences are and what’s holding them back”. It is vital, he said, that business leaders don’t just look at data that gives an insight into the “overt culture” but instead try to get under the skin of what the hidden culture is around us, “which is what chief executives and boards tend to not see”. People have to be held accountable because if it was a financial issue it would be held accountable He said another way of redressing the imbalance was to “look at recruitment data to see who is coming through and who is being selected” and consider promoting people from lower parts of the organisation where there’s more diversity, to the top part of the organisation where there’s less. Equally important is the need for leaders to hold each other accountable, rather than getting “caught up in celebrating initiatives”. He added: “You’ve got to ultimately come back to the exam question: are all of these initiatives moving the invisible wall and is that wall moving fast enough? “And if it’s not, people have to be held accountable because if it was a financial issue it would be held accountable. So why aren’t we being held accountable on this subject?” Labbad said this question is one that extends to all levels of leaders within an organisation and is not likely to be answered overnight, adding that all those in leadership positions “have a responsibility to create environments where this agenda can foster” no matter how difficult to implement. He said: “I’ve been involved in some of the biggest crises you can think of where a lot of people’s lives were at risk and diversity has more often than not saved the day. Diverse teams are harder to manage because you’re trying to facilitate a broader, different set of perspectives but, boy, when you get them to work do they outperform,” he said. Family ties Having been raised in a mixed Arabic and Australian household, Labbad spoke of how his relationship with his parents spurred his passion for promoting D&I. “I watched my father, who speaks English with a very thick accent informed by his Arabic, be discriminated against as he grew up in Australia and it went into his thirties and his forties,” said Labbad. “I actually resented my father for a long time because I thought that he should fight more for himself. And I think one of the reasons why, when I feel imposter syndrome, I fight through it, because of what I saw him go through.” He said that recognising differences in perspectives is vital for success when it comes to these conversations and effecting change in the industry because “everyone’s lived experience is very different”. “Just because you’ve had an element of diversity in your background or a lack of equity in your background doesn’t make you an expert on all of it. You need to always be appreciative, especially as a leader, of what other people have been through in their lives,” he added. Future leaders Labbad stressed the importance of young talent flagging and addressing systemic issues within organisations that are tightly structured around seniority. “That’s why hierarchy is really good for organising purposes but beyond that,” he said. “It’s kryptonite when it comes to this agenda.” None of us are perfect, but you should be authentically striving to do the right thing He said a fear of being called out on matters of D&I, shouldn’t scare leaders who are willing to have open and honest conversations to help further the conversation. “I’ve been called out in the past,” said Labbad. “None of us are perfect, but you should be authentically striving to do the right thing. “The way I look at it is these roles are privileges, they’re not rights. So if you want to be the leader, if you get the chance to sit up in front of audiences like this, you’ve got to be willing to hold that responsibility. That’s just part of the deal.” Also found in the terms and conditions of modern leadership, according to Labbad, is “to live up to the expectation that the next gen in my organisation have of me”. “I feel like I’m working for them,” said Labbad. “I’m sitting up here and saying some very honest things and I’m doing it because that’s why they work for the Crown Estate.” To send feedback, e-mail chante.bohitige@eg.co.uk or tweet @bohitige or @EGPropertyNews