Silviana Petre-Badea, Managing Director JLL Romania (2017), JLL Romania (Strategic Real Estate Consultancy), 70, we support BPOs to identify, design and optimise their office space for maximum employee satisfaction and productivity.
How did you start your career? Which were your first steps? How did you envision your career?
I stared very young – I was working at 18 full time during my university years doing anything seemed interesting to me: from media to industrial garment production, from finance to sales. I envisioned a career in banking but opportunities lured me towards real estate.
What were your key career moments (those that had an impact on your professional journey)?
The moment I decided to leave a comfortable job in finance to go into commissioned only sales in Real Estate was definitely one of them. The other one was when I decided to join JLL as Head of Capital markets at the time. There was also a moment when I realised that the one thing that makes me happy in business is seeing success in others, in teams I am part of.
What is the best three most valuable career lessons you have learned?
Always be humble – success if fickle
Teams work best in an environment of mutual respect and understanding of each other’s differences
Healthy competition is competition against yourself, each day thriving to be and do better than you did before
Why did you choose this business sector? What were top 3 reasons for choosing JLL?
– Real Estate fit my profile: the fast pace, the lucrative opportunities as well as access to some of the brightest minds in business is an attractive proposition
– JLL is a leader among the Real Estate consultants in terms of vision and values and I felt aligned with the brand in that respect – it is a privilege to like your employer 😊
– last but not least, I love our team here at JLL Romania. I feel extremely fortunate to be able to work alongside some of the best professionals in our field, great human beings, thriving for excellence as a team and doing it all while enjoying the journey
What are your/your company’s plans for 2020?
We are enlarging our scope of services in the Living (Residential) sector in order to offer our corporate clients more complete solutions.
We also are moving towards more consultancy and more complex services becoming less of a Real Estate agent and more a Real Estate Strategic Partner to help with any and all Real Estate related issues our clients might have.
Some other services in the planning stages.
What do you think would be the keywords of the year for managers in the Business Services industry? Automation? Cutting costs?
Smart automation leads to cost optimisation (not cutting). We live in an amazing innovation era – there is very little that we can think of that cannot be solved through automation.
Tell us a little bit about your private life. Tell us about your passions, family. What do you do to relax?
I like this question because balance between work and life is the only way you can do either of them right. I am a proud mother of a wonderful 12 year old boy who challenges me every day to be better at this parenting thing, I am happily married with a man a respect and love and who deserves the effort that goes into keeping a relationship happy, my extended family is quirky and fun and a handful.
For me cooking is relaxing and it is the one thing that allows me to unwind. Also, I am a passionate reader and I read anything that seems interesting from business to philosophy – I am not a very disciplined reader though.
If you were starting now your career, knowing the present and near future opportunities, what would you do? What career would you pursue?
I would go into cyber security – hands down. For my generation, business (real estate or otherwise) was the place to be. For future generations, with data more valuable than oil, keeping data safe will be the focus plus it is an exciting field that matched my curious nature.
What are the top 3 skills that you would develop?
→ Patience
→ Patience
→ Patience
What would you do and what would you avoid doing? – practical advice to young professionals.
→ Be patient, things do not happen over night
→ Invest in yourself professionally – take courses, follow smart people, get a mentor, be curious, read, constantly learn and improve
→ Aim high – set your sights on the type of person you want to become and work towards it.
→ Do not let life lead you, lead your life with purpose – know where you are going.
→ Risk – sometimes you need to take the plunge to see if it is the right fir for you; do it when you are young…do not wait.
→ When you are scared, when in doubt ask yourself: “what is the worse that can happen?” if the answer does not involve loss of life or health, go for it!