Dreams shift over time, but every past milestone an opportunity to grow

Jaelle had dreamt of being an architect since she was twelve. Her drive led her all the way to university, but she then deviated to business school and later the Mergers and Acquisitions field to experience first-hand how industry heavyweights operate and execute strategies in different markets.

Throughout her education and career, she felt that she was always collecting the tools instead of honing a specialist role. As a young 20-year-old with “not raw talent but rather brute diligence”, she came across many talented architects, but it was only in her mid-20s that she discovered her gift for commercialising great design.

This was the result of her first foray into development and change of environment –when she worked on Four Seasons Private Residences for seven years in Bangkok, amalgamating land, raising funds and braving more than 70 rejections to eventually publicly list the company with a team of more than 180 people.

From this she learnt and gained three things:

1. The confidence to build a company brand
2. The stubbornness and gumption to share honest opinions, that allowed her to find a way to fit in and stand out
3. The long-term greediness to choose what was important – ideally a clear prize with a steep trajectory towards it, considering time horizons

Not everything is shiny, but enjoy and make the most out of it anyway

The students then got the chance to ask questions, and many were about her entrepreneurial venture.

The hardest thing about being an entrepreneur, Jaelle mused, was in dealing with the ups and downs. To take moon shots and yet protect her turf, conviction was needed to figure out if the prize was worth winning. While it was necessary to be ambitious, Jaelle always asked herself: 1) whether the opportunity was exciting and worthy; and 2) whether she was relatively backable.

Otherwise, walk away, of which having the humility to do so had paid off well so far. “Was there something that those who had rejected me know about that I was unaware of but believed in?”, she said. Rejection had also become a learning opportunity.

Ultimately, Jaelle enjoyed the entrepreneurial hustle and admitted that she was doing what she loved without feeling like it was work. To better focus their time and energy, she suggested the students categorise activities into four quadrants according to their level of value and enjoyment.

Say yes, be curious and aways look for the next bound

The students also wondered about employability. To futureproof themselves in a world of rapid change, Jaelle shared that The Great Room looked to hire people who embodied the spirit of 1) learning animals (i.e. those who were naturally curious, always learning) and 2) snake killers (i.e. those who dared to fail faster to succeed faster). Good problem solving and conflict management skills were positive qualities too, and would help The Great Room achieve its ambitions, one of which was to become a first mover in integrating sustainability into the co-working business model.

In closing, the dynamic go-getter was asked about her confidence building as an introvert. When Jaelle began receiving public speaking requests, she accepted them despite her nervousness, and promised herself that she would do panel discussions rather than keynote speeches first. To the students, she encouraged them to say yes to such experiences, start small, overprepare and panic later. These chances help to attract the right people, especially for women in real estate.

ULI Singapore thanks The Great Room for hosting this dialogue.

We encourage students to join ULI and gain access to knowledge and peers as we work as a community to shape the future of the built environment for transformative impact in communities worldwide. To find out more, email Singapore @uli.org