Some buildings capture your attention because of their architecture. Others do it because of their history. The Historic Collin County Prison in McKinney, Texas, is one of the rare properties that does both. Completed in 1880 and designed by acclaimed 19th-century architect F.E. Ruffini, this three-story limestone gem is listed on the National Register of Historic Places and recognized as a Recorded Texas Historic Landmark. Today, the building serves as a modern workspace while preserving the character, craftsmanship and stories that have defined it for generations, making it one of the Spaces We Love.

The property sits within the McKinney Historic District, surrounded by the energy that has made downtown McKinney one of North Texas’ most beloved destinations. Local restaurants, coffee shops and small businesses are woven into the surrounding streetscape, reinforcing the sense that this building remains an active part of the community it has served for generations. There’s something fitting about finding a building like this in downtown McKinney. While much of North Texas has changed dramatically over the last century, the historic district still offers a tangible connection to the region’s past. The Historic Collin County Prison feels right at home there, continuing to serve the community in a new way while preserving a piece of its history.

What makes this building remarkable is not simply its age or its accolades, but the way it makes people feel. The current owners originally purchased the property to create an extraordinary office environment for their own team, drawn to its authenticity, character and permanence. With thick stone walls that have stood since the 1880s, preserved ironwork from its years as a working jail and craftsmanship that tells a story in every corner, the building offered something that no new construction could ever replicate. What began as a restoration effort quickly became a commitment to preserving a piece of Collin County history. As visitors walked through the space, nearly everyone responded with a deeply personal connection that transcended generations and backgrounds. The building became more than a workplace. It became a place where people could experience history firsthand.

From the moment you step inside, the building’s history is impossible to miss. Original stone walls and a restored wooden staircase provide an immediate reminder that this is not a typical office building. Historic materials and architectural details have been preserved throughout the space, creating a balance between functionality and authenticity. Modern gathering spaces have been thoughtfully integrated into the building without competing with the elements that make it unique, including a covered outdoor terrace with a stone fireplace that offers a quiet retreat for everything from morning coffee to evening gatherings.

Upstairs, two corner offices occupy what once served as the warden’s family living quarters, offering a direct connection to the building’s past that few workplaces can match. The rest of the floor houses additional private offices behind industrial steel-and-glass partitions that echo the building’s original ironwork, along with a meeting room and a small kitchen. While inmates were housed just beyond 24-inch-thick limestone walls, the warden and his family lived only a few feet away, making the building both a jail and a home for much of its history.

The third floor is where the building’s history is most visceral. The workspace here is woven directly into the preserved cellblock, with desks and collaboration areas sitting alongside the original iron grid. The building served as an active jail until 1979, and the current owners recently had the opportunity to walk through with one of the last surviving individuals who worked there. Hearing firsthand stories while standing inside the original spaces brought an entirely new level of meaning to the restoration.

Throughout the renovation, the approach was always one of stewardship rather than reinvention. The historic bones of the building, from its weathered stone walls to the iron cellblock to the old locking hardware, were left intact and celebrated rather than concealed. Modern systems were thoughtfully integrated behind the scenes so the building’s history could remain front and center. The goal was never to over-modernize, but to allow the history to remain visible and tangible while ensuring the space functions beautifully today.

For nearly a century this building was at the center of life in Collin County, and legend has it that even Frank James, the infamous outlaw and brother of Jesse James, once spent time within its walls. Today, the building continues to spark curiosity and conversation among nearly everyone who visits. In a world where many buildings are defined by square footage, amenities and efficiency, places like this remind us that great real estate can do something more. It can tell a story. It can create a connection. And long after you leave, it can stay with you. That kind of emotional response is rare in commercial real estate, and it is exactly what makes this one of the Spaces We Love.

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According to David, commercial real estate in 2026 looks nothing like it did six years ago, and most of what you hear about it is being carefully managed. Vacancy figures are understated. Rents are propped up by concessions that don’t make the headline. And the industrial market, which generated far less media attention than office during the post-Covid unwind, is actually worse by several key measures.

Drawing on what his team is seeing on the ground across the country, in conversations with tenants, landlords and lenders, David argues that for tenants who understand the moment, this is one of the most powerful leverage windows in a generation. Watch the full conversation below, or keep reading for a recap of David’s perspective on what tenants need to know right now.

The Office Market Has Hit Bottom, But Not Recovering Anytime Soon

Six-plus years after Covid, the office market has fundamentally reset. Roughly 85%of U.S. companies have had their leases expire since 2020, and the vast majority have downsized. A company that once occupied 40,000 square feet may now be in 20,000. Hybrid and remote work patterns have calcified into permanent operating models, and corporate America has largely completed its rightsizing.

The result is a national office availability rate of 20%-30% across most major markets, a level that Marino describes not as a transitional dip, but as a durable floor.

The behavior is basically set now. Corporate America has really settled into a new normal around office space. The horses are out of the barn and they’re never coming back.

Marino points to the 1997–1998 period as a historical parallel: a market that hit bottom and simply stayed there for years before recovering. His current expectation is that most U.S. office markets will remain in this extended equilibrium for three to five years, or potentially longer.

For tenants, that timeline is a critical context. This is not a market in transition; it’s a market that has settled. The favorable conditions available to tenants today are not a closing window. They are the prevailing conditions, and they will be for the foreseeable future.

Availability vs. Vacancy: Why the Numbers You’re Seeing Are Misleading

One of the most consequential distinctions in today’s market is rarely explained to the people making lease decisions: the difference between vacancy and availability.

Vacancy measures space that is physically empty. Availability includes all space being actively marketed, vacant and otherwise, including sublease space where a tenant is still paying rent but has listed their space for others to take over. The commercial real estate brokerage industry predominantly reports vacancy. Availability is the honest number.

Today, there are 170 million square feet of office sublease space on the market across the United States. A building occupied by three employees but listed for sublease on 100,000 square feet registers as zero vacancy under standard reporting.

There’s a lot of lying with statistics going on in our industry. People sort of manipulate the data to create a favorable story and a favorable narrative as to why values should be higher than they might otherwise be.

For tenants making relocation or renewal decisions, this distinction matters significantly. The true supply competing for occupiers in the office tenant representation market is far larger than headline figures suggest, and that means tenant leverage is far stronger than it appears.

What Landlords Are Doing to Hide the Market’s True Weakness

Rather than cutting face rents, the headline rate that appears in leases and gets reported to the market. Landlords are loading transactions with concessions to maintain the appearance of stable pricing. This strategy protects reported asset values and lender covenants, but it obscures the true cost basis of lease deals.

Marino recently represented an engineering firm leasing 14,000 square feet. The landlord, who had just purchased the building and was closing escrow, offered an eight-year lease with a full year of free rent in 2027. The landlord also paid for all tenant improvements and provided a cash moving allowance. On paper, they captured their $3-per-square-foot asking rate. In practice, the economics of that deal look nothing like the face rate.

This is the defining dynamic of the current office market: free rent packages, outsized tenant improvement allowances and moving allowances are masking how far effective rents have actually declined. Tenants who don’t know how to ask for these concessions, or who negotiate without a tenant-only advocate, are leaving significant value on the table.

How Lenders Are Getting Creative to Avoid a Foreclosure Wave

Hundreds of office property foreclosures have already occurred across the country, concentrated in the last three years. Downtown San Diego alone has seen approximately 11 high-rise office buildings go through foreclosure or forced sale, including buildings from the Irvine Company’s downtown portfolio. Similar patterns have unfolded in downtown Los Angeles, San Francisco and New York.

But lenders, who have no desire to become landlords, have been quietly employing creative restructuring tools to keep properties out of formal default. One approach Marino describes is loan bifurcation: splitting a non-performing $100 million loan into a $70 million “A” loan that remains performing, and a $30 million “B” loan parked on the lender’s balance sheet at zero interest. The owner contributes fresh equity to bring the debt service to a manageable level, no foreclosure is filed and the lender avoids taking a loss that would force a write-down.

Nobody’s writing about this kind of stuff. But a lender can get creative today.

Marino does not believe this dynamic will produce a banking crisis comparable to the savings and loan collapse of the early 1990s. Commercial real estate loans are typically distributed across multiple asset classes and many years of maturities within any given bank’s portfolio, not concentrated enough to threaten solvency at scale. But the financial stress in the sector is real, ongoing and not fully visible in public reporting.

The Office-to-Residential Shift: Demolition, Not Conversion

The idea of converting empty office buildings into apartments has attracted significant attention as both a real estate solution and a response to the national housing shortage. The reality is far more constrained, and the trend that’s actually occurring at scale is something different.

Direct office-to-residential conversion faces serious structural obstacles. Most office buildings have floor plates 40 to 60 feet deep, but residential code typically requires that no bedroom be more than 28 feet from a window line. Office buildings were also not designed to accommodate the dense plumbing penetrations that come with dozens of kitchens and bathrooms per floor. And purpose-built residential typically sells for 10%–20% more than converted office space, creating an economic problem that undermines conversion feasibility in most markets.

Nationwide estimates put the number of residential units that will come online through office conversion at roughly 75,000, against a national housing shortage that ranges, depending on the source, from four million to ten million units. The conversion trend is not moving the needle.

What is happening at meaningful scale, particularly in infill locations with transit access and strong residential land values, is demolition. The Irvine Company is tearing down two three-story office buildings in San Diego’s UTC submarket, totaling roughly 90,000 square feet, to construct two 550-unit apartment high-rises. The land, adjacent to a trolley stop and surrounded by retail and employment, is simply worth more as a vertical residential development than as aging class-C office space.

It’s not about converting office to residential. It’s about tearing down some of these B and C-class office projects that haven’t exploited their full entitlement density.

For tenants in markets with significant class-B and class-C office inventory, particularly older suburban campuses, the implication is real: some of the buildings you might consider leasing today will not exist in five years.

Industrial Real Estate Is Actually Worse Than Office

If the office market feels bad, the industrial market is objectively worse by several measures, and it has received far less public attention.

The sequence of events: when Covid hit and e-commerce demand surged, companies like Amazon, Walmart and Target couldn’t restock fast enough. Developers raced to build large-format warehouse buildings, 100,000 to one million square feet, knowing it would take two to three years to bring them online. Between 2020 and 2025, approximately 1.2 billion square feet of new industrial space was built across the United States. In a typical pre-Covid year, the industry delivered somewhere between 20 and 50 million square feet. The scale of overbuilding was historic.

By 2023 and 2024, e-commerce demand had normalized, government stimulus money had been spent and companies that had over-leased during the boom began putting space back on the market. Today, there are 250 million square feet of industrial sublease space available nationally, exceeding the 170 million square feet of office sublease space that has driven most of the coverage of the commercial real estate downturn.

While people instinctively feel the office space market is sick, industrial is worse. Every industrial market today in 2026 is two to three times higher availability rate than pre-Covid.

For businesses with warehouse, distribution or manufacturing footprints, this market represents a significant opportunity, one that Hughes Marino’s industrial tenant representation team is actively navigating on behalf of occupiers nationwide.

The Inland Empire: Ground Zero for Industrial Oversupply

Nowhere is the industrial correction more acute than the Inland Empire, the logistics hub east of Los Angeles that became the epicenter of the warehouse construction boom.

The numbers are stark. Pre-COVID, the Inland Empire industrial availability rate sat around 7 percent. By 2022, at the height of e-commerce-driven demand, it compressed to approximately 2%, one of the tightest industrial markets in recent history. During that period, Marino recalls representing a client seeking 300,000 square feet when only three buildings were available and ten companies were competing for each of them. In his 35 years of practice, he had never seen a landlord raise asking rent in the middle of active lease negotiations, until that moment.

Today, Inland Empire industrial availability stands at approximately 14%, double the pre-Covid rate and climbing. And conditions are worsening. Supply chains are under significant friction, and demand for large-format warehouse space is absorbing that shock.

I do think it’ll continue to get worse. I don’t think the bottom is here yet.

Why Industrial Rents Haven’t Fallen as Far as They Should

Given that the Inland Empire’s availability rate has doubled from pre-Covid levels, basic supply-and-demand logic would suggest rents should have returned to pre-Covid levels or lower. They have not. Rates that were roughly $0.75 per square foot pre-Covid, peaked near $1.75 per square foot in 2022, and sit today around $1.00 to $1.10 per square foot, still materially above where supply conditions would imply they should be.

The explanation is structural. Landlords who financed acquisitions and construction at peak valuations cannot cut rents without breaching loan covenants or forcing write-downs. And the brokerage community, which predominantly represents landlords, not tenants, has an economic incentive to maintain higher face rates, since broker commissions are tied to deal value.

There’s no transparency in my industry. Business owners and CEOs making real estate decisions are a little ignorant. That’s why I get on these shows, to try to educate business owners.”

For industrial tenants, this dynamic creates a significant opportunity, but only with the right representation. The gap between what landlords are asking and what the market should bear is large. Capturing it requires an advocate whose interests are aligned entirely with the tenant, not the landlord. That is precisely what Hughes Marino’s industrial tenant representation team provides.

What This Means for Commercial Tenants Right Now

The picture David Marino describes is, on balance, the worst commercial real estate market in more than 30 years, worse than the post-dot-com correction, worse than the period following the 2008 financial crisis. But for tenants, that is not bad news. It’s leverage.

For office tenants, particularly those with leases expiring in the next 12 to 24 months, the current market offers a negotiating position that rarely appears in a business owner’s career. Free rent packages of 6 to 12 months, fully funded tenant improvement allowances, below-market effective rents with maintained face rates: all of it is available for tenants who approach the market with the right information.

For industrial tenants, the market presents a similar opportunity with an added dimension: rents are still artificially elevated relative to true supply conditions, meaning the gap between what landlords are asking and what the market actually supports is wider than in the office sector. As more sublease inventory comes online and tariff-driven demand disruptions persist, that gap will only grow. In both asset classes, the critical variable is who represents you. Hughes Marino specializes in representing tenants and buyers, not landlords, which means every lease analysis, every market assessment and every negotiation is structured entirely around maximizing value for the occupier. In a market where landlords and their brokers are actively managing narratives and propping up pricing floors, that distinction has never mattered more.

Frequently Asked Questions: Commercial Real Estate Market 2026

The post The Worst Commercial Real Estate Market in 30 Years: What Office & Industrial Tenants Must Know in 2026 appeared first on Hughes Marino.

For many business leaders, renewing a lease feels like the path of least resistance. The team is settled, the location is familiar and operations continue uninterrupted. Compared to relocating, renewing can seem simpler, faster and less disruptive. But in today’s historically soft commercial real estate markets, a new landlord will often fight harder to win your business than the current one will to retain it. Before even thinking about renewing your lease, here are the key conditions that a business owner, management team member or corporate real estate executive needs to consider:

1. Shift the Perspective—Don’t Talk About the Project as a “Lease Renewal”

Too often a tenant will talk about approaching the process as a lease renewal, or interviewing potential brokers/advisors and sharing with them that you want to engage someone to renew your lease. Not only have you anchored your own team with a bias toward renewal, but you have also telegraphed your intentions to the entire market, as the agents you did not hire have no duty to you, and you biased the mindset of whomever you engage that they don’t have to work that hard looking elsewhere, as you just want to stay and renew.

Done correctly, a lease renewal should simply be one choice that a company might make among other choices, which could involve buying a building or leasing elsewhere among a myriad of options. Ensuring that your own management team—and certainly the person you engage to represent you—has an open mind to fully negotiate your relocation options is critical. This ensures that you select the best-fitting option for your team operationally, locationally, culturally and environmentally, while also achieving the best economic and business terms possible.

2. Think Critically About the Current Space

So often tenants become complacent in their space, as if it’s like an old shoe: it might be comfortable and worn in, but it’s falling apart, poorly supportive, ill-fitting and won’t last another three to five years. A thoughtful renewal process starts a candid discussion about culture, operational requirements and talent strategy. Are you carrying excess space? Does your current location still support recruiting and employee engagement goals?

The year or two before the lease expires is the right time to be objective about your space. Since you last signed your lease, your organization and workplace policies have likely changed. Hybrid work may have altered daily occupancy patterns and future growth plans may look different than they did five or more years ago. The location may no longer fit your team to optimize their commutes; you might not have the right number of video conference rooms; the space could be optimized by reducing the number of offices, workstations or floors; the space could be dated cosmetically and not code-compliant; the building might not have competitive amenities, maintenance, reliability of building operating systems, property management…the list goes on. The space you commit to for the next term should reflect where your business is headed in the next three to seven years, rather than simply where it has been.

3. Go to Market at Renewal Time

Savvy business owners would not consider anything less than a fully vetted transaction for any other multi-year contract they sign, so why act passive at lease renewal? With proper preparation, many tenants can move over a three-day weekend and get their moving costs paid by the new landlord, yet many companies are renewing their leases in suboptimal space simply because they fear the cost and disruption of moving. Tenants who do not evaluate their alternatives generally pay a lease renewal premium of 15% to 25% compared to a new tenant coming into the building off the street.

Even if remaining in place feels likely, the broader market move options define your negotiating power and bracket your economics. Landlords negotiate renewal proposals based largely on what they believe your alternatives are, and not “comps” of other deals they have done, and how diligently you are pursuing those options, and who your agent/advisor is. Without a robust review of comparable buildings and real-time concession packages, renewal discussions lack context, information and leverage.

4. Start Early Enough to Preserve Negotiating Strength

Often landlords do not approach their tenants to renew and instead wait for the tenant to “play the first card”—the phone call from the tenant that is the tell that tips off the landlord that the tenant wants to renew. Often tenants begin renewal discussions four to six months before lease expiration, believing that window is sufficient, and without going to market as described above. But for any complex move that would require a permitted tenant improvement build-out elsewhere, even a year in advance of lease expiration is often not enough time to relocate, so tenants must take control of the game clock.

Starting the relocation/renewal process 12–24 months in advance allows leadership to evaluate alternatives thoroughly, conduct test fits, model financial scenarios and create competitive tension in the market. When timelines compress, urgency replaces strategy and leverage diminishes. When options remain open, negotiating strength increases.

5. Do Not Think of the Building Owner as Your Friend or Partner During the Renewal Process

Landlords are in the business of paying their mortgage and other expenses, giving a return to their partners or investors and making a profit—in that order. While there are surely exceptions, many building owners chummy up to their tenants, hoping that the tenant is complacent during renewal and doesn’t engage qualified representation that the landlord must pay. Many landlords do a good act of letting you think you’re getting the best of them, as it reinforces the narrative they have helped create. What business reason is there for landlords to have “relationships” with tenants, whereby a landlord is then vulnerable to leaving economics on the table, eroding the landlord’s profit? None, not a one.

6. Do Not Think the Landlord’s Broker Will Help You Negotiate with the Building Owner

Often the landlord’s broker will pitch you with “I know the landlord’s bottom line.” If that were true, is the landlord’s broker telling you that they are prepared to share the landlord’s confidential information with you and breach their fiduciary duty to your landlord? If their agency to the landlord is that fluid, you can only expect that the reverse will be true—your bottom line will be shared as well. You must understand that the landlord’s brokerage team is the outsourced sales and marketing arm for the building owner—the landlord’s proxy to do their bidding. That same brokerage team doesn’t just represent the landlord in dealing with you, as a conflicted “dual agent,” but also lists the rest of the building for lease, and likely other buildings that landlord owns for lease, and provides property management, capital markets and other advisory services to your landlord.

To create the appearance of independence, these multi-person listing teams will offer to split up and have one broker represent the landlord and another represent the tenant. But practically, they cannot negotiate against each other and should not be expected to. These brokers are long-time business partners and share in the commissions generated, so everything is just a wink and a nod. It’s a great deception to skirt around the inherent conflict of interest of the same broker representing two opposing parties, but it’s nothing less than a ruse.

What This Means for Business Leaders

A lease renewal may appear simpler than relocation, but it carries the same long-term financial and operational implications. The most effective leaders treat renewal not as an administrative exercise, but as a structured strategic review. By evaluating alignment, market position, economics, flexibility and timing, business leaders can ensure that their next lease term supports the business for years to come. Equally important is who leads and advises on that process. To level the playing field and create advantages, tenants benefit from representation that is exclusively aligned with their interests, with no competing obligations to property owners. A tenant advisor that does not work for a landlord listing brokerage firm brings market intelligence, optionality, negotiation leverage and a fiduciary mindset that ensures decisions are made with the company’s long-term strategy in mind, not the landlord’s.

The post Six Mandates That Every Commercial Tenant Should Consider When Renewing a Lease appeared first on Hughes Marino.

By Nicholas Willis

The role of traditional office space has evolved over the last several years. The office environment has been reshaped in part by attendance and the emergence of remote and hybrid work. Once vibrant environments that were designed for employees to have dedicated focus space can now feel empty and underutilized in a hybrid work environment. Despite signs that in-office participation is on the rise, business leaders have struggled to compel employees to return to the office without a mandate.

This presents both a challenge and an opportunity: how do you create an office environment that feels energized and dynamic even when underutilized, and an office that is a magnet for talent, collaboration and culture?

To remain relevant, office spaces must evolve into destinations, places people choose to go, rather than places they’re obligated to be. A destination office enhances a person’s work experience and well-being. A destination office is a hub of identity, connection and creativity, not just productivity.

People are drawn to experiences, not assignments. The office environment becomes attractive when it offers emotional and cultural resonance. Attraction leads to voluntary participation and builds momentum and culture, creating a self-sustaining energy that turns space into community.

Basic amenities such as dedicated desks, “Zoom rooms,” lounges and vibrant break areas are now table stakes and often expected. Employees want environments that foster inspiration and purpose. When your office delivers these expectations, it becomes a strategic asset that drives a return on investment, not just commands a rent payment.

Programming Principles that Deliver Value

As the principal architect of one of the nation’s largest woman-owned commercial real estate tenant representation firms, I often discuss with our business owners and executive clients the importance of designing a destination that attracts their team back to the office, while being mindful of cost, practicality and efficiency. I am also personally invested in and intrigued by how space makes us feel, the emotion that it elicits, and the energy and productivity it can create.

Of course, we know what truly sustains office presence is the collection of people and the incentives available, a shared culture, a sense of being, mentorship and advancement opportunities, and functional attributes. Not an amazing office design. That said, a well-designed office should be regarded as a fundamental prerequisite to creating a destination.

Hospitality settings like resort and club environments offer a template for programming an office space through how they employ visceral connections, nodes for activity and independence and intentional experiential design. The success of a hospitality design lies in layered experiences starting with grand and welcoming arrivals, seamless indoor-outdoor flow, curated wellness amenities, cultural programming, a careful mix of private and public spaces, and exclusive experiences that make people feel part of something special. Hospitality programming for an office environment should include:

Choosing the Correct Building Floorplate: The floors of office buildings come in all shapes and sizes, and priority needs to be focused according to the intended layout and function of the office. For example, technology firms may benefit from deep bay depths for maximum visibility across open office environments, while professional services firms or law firms with perimeter, glass-line office requirements will benefit from long, rectangular buildings with shallower bay depths. Choosing the right type of building for your business use will improve efficiency and eliminate underutilized areas.

Create Branded Arrival Moments: Establish your unique, branded environment from the entry, but keep it warm and hospitable. Soften the rigidity of the traditional reception desk, seating area and conference room. Just as luxury hotels choreograph every moment from the curbside to check-in, offices can create memorable impressions with artful lobbies, ambient lighting, hospitality-centered staff and personalized technology.

Reserve Prime Real Estate: Protect the perimeter glass line where the nicest views are for social, amenity and community zones. This will encourage use of these amenity spaces, while also signaling to employees that they are as valued as the senior staff or management.

Densify Appropriately but Carefully: Densify individual focus work areas to create more energy and free up space for other uses, but be sensitive to the amount of utilization expected. More density will not be uncomfortable if staff are on a hybrid schedule, but full-time in-office teams need more space. Densifying appropriately strikes a balance between maintaining personal space while creating a sustainable energy flow.

Flexible Floor Plans: Keep the floor plan design flexible and modular to enable different uses and densities over time. Private offices can become future video conference rooms or conference lounges, open office areas can be transformed over time based on how furnishings and technology activate the area.

Invest in Activation: Technology, programming and curation turn passive circulation space into visually activated experiences. Invest in artwork, digital displays and botanical elements.

Architectural Enhancements

Architecturally, the destination office can benefit immensely by prioritizing these best practices in the overall design. In fact, it is hard to create an unsuccessful office space when it contains these base elements:

Volume: Maximize ceiling heights in open spaces to create grandeur while maintaining intimacy through articulating lower ceiling transitions in rooms or focus areas.

Light: Prioritize natural light, minimize ambient artificial lighting, and use direct and feature lighting to add depth, making a space feel more dramatic.

Connection to the Outdoors: Incorporate operable windows, terraces and outdoor access to enhance well-being. Where possible, allow for fresh outside air.

Transparency: Use glass and open layouts to carry natural light through and expand perceived space.

Materiality and Texture: Employ natural materials and tactile finishes to enrich the sensory experience.

Sensory Design: Use scent, sound and touch to activate a visceral experience.

Final Thoughts

Every company is different, but more than ever, there is crossover from industry to industry in how space is used and how it can be activated. There’s no universal standard for creating a destination office, but the goal is to create resonance—a place that makes people feel proud, energized, creative and part of something bigger, a place that invites them in and keeps them coming back.

This is not just a design challenge, rather it’s an opportunity to redefine the role of the workplace in modern life. In embracing the destination office, companies can create spaces that increase participation, inspire and retain employees, foster community and culture, and give teams a feeling of pride and belonging.

The post Designing for a Destination Office appeared first on Hughes Marino.

By John Jarvis

We live in an age of data and AI is weaponizing that data. Depending on where you sit, all that data is either your best friend or your fiercest foe.

Imagine you are shopping for a new car. You call up your local dealership to find out the price of their new models and they say, “Well, the price is withheld, but we can talk about that when you get here.” Or maybe you and your newlywed are house hunting, you find a home you like, you call the listing agent and ask about price, only to be told, “Well, the price is withheld, but we can talk about that when you get here.”

To paraphrase Sherlock Holmes, you would surely think something is afoot.

The price tag was first invented by the Quakers in the 1870s on the moral belief that everyone should pay the same price for an item, as, according to the Quakers, all are equal before God. Prior to the price tag, haggling was the only way to establish price. Some were better than others at haggling, so the price of items tended to vary widely. As the saying goes, all things old are new again, and now we have commercial property landlords listing their asking rents as “withheld,” preferring to revert to that old-school haggling model.

In modern terms, there are two concepts at play here: pricing transparency and information asymmetry.

Pricing transparency is pretty straightforward, as the name implies. With pricing transparency, all buyers know the price of an item, with some form of a “price tag” on full display for all to see. This advantages the buyer community, with buyers able to price-compare between sellers, forcing sellers to compete on the basis of the asking price.

Information asymmetry is more subtle. A buyer typically buys one item, while a seller is literally in the business of selling their stuff. Of course, they hope to sell lots and lots of their stuff to lots and lots of buyers. Think of a commercial property landlord who owns millions of square feet with thousands of tenants and tenant transactions, compared to, for example, a CPA that signs a new lease for space in the building once every five to seven years. There is no public reporting of lease transactions, therefore aggregate transaction data is largely unknown to all but the landlords (and those few of us who track it), and the landlord community would very much like to keep it that way.

Do landlords really play games in the interest of higher rents? Of course they do. Remember that every $0.10 in rent is worth $20 to the landlord. I wrote about this particular alchemy in my article titled Pennies, Nickels, Dimes & Dollars.

Here is an example pulled from recent headlines:

RealPage is a Texas-based software company using property management software and data analytics to improve the performance of investment properties. According to their website, the software is “designed to maximize operational efficiency, empower decision-making and deliver proven NOI growth” for property owners. Apparently it works, as RealPage annual revenue is estimated between $1.2 billion and $1.6 billion. Unfortunately, their software includes certain algorithmic rent-setting features that landed RealPage in the crosshairs of a Department of Justice antitrust lawsuit against six large landlords for participating in algorithmic pricing schemes that harmed tenants.

The DOJ complaint alleged that the landlords coordinated through a variety of means, including:

• Directly communicating with competitors’ senior managers about rents, occupancy and other competitively sensitive topics
• Regularly conducting “call arounds” 
• Participating in “user groups” hosted by RealPage

As of late 2025, a few of the defendants have agreed to settlements, such as Greystar, the largest apartment manager in the U.S. with over $300 billion in assets globally, wherein they admitted no wrongdoing, but agreed to stop using anticompetitive algorithms that rely on nonpublic competitor data and to refrain from sharing sensitive pricing information with rivals.

In other words, AI doesn’t just calculate rent; it predicts the maximum point of pain a tenant will accept. If landlords are actively using AI (and their listing agents) to exploit the information asymmetry and lack of pricing transparency, what can business owners do?

You can hire the right partner. Today more than ever, there is a critical role for a strong advisor-advocate to navigate commercial real estate transactions on behalf of buyers and tenants. The idea that the same agents who represent the building owners can also serve in this role on behalf of buyers and tenants is simply ludicrous. Sometimes when we talk about the conflict of interest that arises when a firm seeks to act as a dual agent, i.e., representing both landlord and tenant or buyer and seller in transactions, it can make people uncomfortable. I get that. Those dual agents aren’t bad people, after all. And know this. Tolerating the conventional dual agency model stifles pricing transparency and exacerbates information asymmetry. Did you know those dual agents are actually forbidden from sharing with you any information that could be harmful to their other “client?” They are literally forbidden from sharing with you information that they know would be extremely helpful in your negotiations. That’s your agent we’re talking about. And they are forbidden from helping you. Let’s be clear: a dual agent is, by law, a neutral facilitator, not an advocate.

So yes, maybe you can find a better partner to represent your interests in your next commercial real estate negotiation. When you see asking rents listed as “withheld,” you should see it as a sign of the times, and a “stop sign” perhaps. You should see it for what it is, information warfare, and it will only increase in the age of AI. Welcome to the future. Don’t let data (or those darn dual agents) be your downfall.

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We can’t tell you how many times we have toured a stunning, high-design office that feels more like a museum than a workplace. Every amenity is there, from the sleek fitness center and the high-end espresso machine to the shuffleboard table. But despite all these high-end details, if culture isn’t being built, and no one is actually enjoying their time in the office, it’s just a lifeless place that’s good for marketing imagery and initial recruiting. It’s a common trap for some business leaders today to believe that if you just write a big enough check for the right stuff, culture will magically follow. While the assumption may be that amenities create engagement, in reality, engagement is what activates amenities, and amenities are secondary to the culture. A ping-pong table is just a piece of furniture if you haven’t spent the time cultivating a culture of connections, that in turn translates to a high-functioning team. You can’t purchase belonging or outsource relationships. And you certainly can’t expense your way into trust.

Business leaders have to move past the box-checking phase of real estate and start talking about the activation of their offices. The most meaningful amenity in any office isn’t something you buy, unless intentional effort is there to encourage enjoyment. Intentionality is the multiplier, and without it, even the most beautiful spaces fall flat. As we like to say, “a real amenity is a high-five when you walk in the office.” It’s about the energy of a space, and the team, that feels truly alive. The truth is, there are real ways to activate the amenities you already have to bring personality to your space, reinvigorate culture and support a disciplined, high-performing team.

Leadership is the Ultimate Amenity

When we talk about activating a space, we are really talking about intentionality. The open kitchen concept is the perfect place to start with any workplace. While it may confuse traditional leaders who wonder why everyone is watching each other eat in the middle of the office, it is an incredible area to build camaraderie, energy and life. At Hughes Marino, the kitchen is the heartbeat of each of our offices. It’s where team meetings happen around our family farm tables, and where we are constantly meeting each other for coffee and to catch up on each other’s lives. It’s the focal point where all the engagement happens. But whether it’s a “Fika afternoon” on Fridays or a laughter-filled lunch, that table only works because we have very intentionally fostered a culture where we want to sit together. It works because leadership participates. It works because time together is modeled, not merely allowed. Building this camaraderie in the workplace isn’t just a way to foster nice relationships; meaningful connection is what builds strong, resilient teams that enjoy solving problems together, and can function at an even higher level to accomplish amazing results.

Of course, if your team is rushing out to eat separately because they dislike the office atmosphere, the most expensive kitchen in the world will not fix your culture. You have to be the one to give them the implicit permission to enjoy the space. That permission is demonstrated in small but powerful ways: by a leader who joins their team at the table, who schedules walking meetings through the neighborhood or who blocks time for connection instead of only for productivity. We often hear of companies who “bought all the stuff,” but then created an environment where if someone spent their lunch away from their desks, or actually used the pool table (within a reasonable timeframe), they felt like they might get fired. If your employees feel like they will be judged for taking twenty minutes to connect, those amenities are not benefits. They are just performative decorations.

As we often advise our clients: “If you want people to enjoy your amenities and enjoy where they work, you have to give them the space to do that.” Have a shuffleboard, pool table or other type of game? Encourage a monthly tournament! At minimal cost to companies, these activations encourage connection and foster new relationships that feed into an office where the energy and warmth are palpable.

The Power of Concentric Circles

The next layer of this activation concept is looking at the building itself through a lens of energy. We’ve had clients tour perfect projects that have every bell and whistle imaginable, yet they walk away feeling cold because no one is occupying the space. In 2026, the real luxury isn’t just a rooftop deck. It’s being in an environment where people are actually showing up and engaging. As you look at your own footprint, ask yourself if you’re utilizing the “concentric circles” of your space, from your immediate desk to the building’s common areas, to the neighborhood outside or to the coffee shops down the street, to drive productivity and spark joy.

Sometimes the best way to activate your office is to stop looking for the next big thing to buy and start looking at how to utilize typical space features in a fresh way. For example, most companies have a conference room with a TV, but how many use it to let their operations team watch an hour of an old movie together or host a “crafternoon” to build camaraderie? That’s an activation of a space that is already there, but usually sits empty. A few ideas include transforming a break room wall into a gratitude wall, utilizing a main conference room for an internal fireside chat or using underutilized lounges for a monthly lunch book club. Hughes Marino has implemented optional quarterly meetings where a designated teammate leads a presentation on something they’re genuinely passionate about. So far, our team has learned everything from cooking in a tagine to hosting guests and the ins and outs of RVing! None of these sessions required new furniture, just new thinking, yet they’ve both activated amenities and fostered inspiring connection. The magic doesn’t happen because of the square footage, it happens because you’ve spent intentional time creating an environment where people are excited to be in the game together.

Breaking the “Check-the-Box” Mindset

Ultimately, the ROI on your real estate is not found in the lease rate alone. It’s found in whether or not the space is actually being lived in. We quickly dismiss the monthly “hottest amenity” lists because they miss the point of what executives should actually care about. No company can buy its way into a great culture, but it can certainly build a space that acts as a catalyst for one. “It’s like you bought that coat,” we tell people. “Have you put it on?” And more importantly, “Have you created a reason to wear it?”

Whether it’s a gym, a lounge or a simple coffee bar, these things are only as good as their use. If you want a workplace that people are excited to commute to, there has to be a system (or designated person) in place to make those spaces worth the trip. At each of our offices, we designate a “culture keeper” to organize birthday treats and team lunches, decorate for holidays throughout the year and facilitate office events. It’s a great way to help our teams build meaningful bonds and maintain a happy, infectious energy. That role isn’t about party planning, it’s about protecting intentionality and ensuring the space is continuously activated rather than occasionally admired.

The Bottom Line

At the end of the day, we believe that real estate is simply a tool for leadership. You can have the best office in the city, but without a reason for your team to engage with it, it is just a collection of expensive rooms. The magic happens when you stop viewing amenities as items on a checklist and start viewing them as opportunities to build and fuel meaningful connections that in turn build strong, resilient teams. Culture is built over time through intentional moments and habits. If you focus on building a team that actually likes each other and then give them the genuine freedom to utilize the space, the office becomes more than a place to work. It becomes a destination that reinforces your culture and supports the hard work happening in it every single day.

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Michael Best is a full-service national law firm with more than 400 legal professionals serving clients across 17 offices nationwide. Founded in 1848, the firm has built a reputation for excellence in areas ranging from intellectual property and corporate transactions to labor and employment, energy and government relations. When Michael Best set out to consolidate its two Utah offices into one unified space in downtown Salt Lake City, they weren’t simply looking for a new address. They were looking for an environment that would bring their team together, reflect the caliber of their practice and set the stage for continued growth. Our team had the privilege of partnering with Michael Best to identify and secure a headquarters that would do exactly that.

Located in the LEED Gold, Class A building of 650 Main, their new home is in one of the sleekest buildings in downtown Salt Lake. Within walking distance to an abundance of restaurants, hotels, parks, courthouses and public transportation, their office is in a prime location for both their clients and their team. The building itself has incredible amenities including a social courtyard complete with a bocce court and a fire pit, an indoor/outdoor fitness center, an on-site restaurant and a high-tech conference center. It’s the kind of environment that promotes balance and well-being throughout the workday.

Upon arriving at Michael Best’s office on the sixth floor, visitors are greeted by a reception area that immediately sets the tone. The firm’s logo is displayed against a sweeping wall of light natural stone, flanked by rich emerald green velvet lounge chairs, a marble-topped coffee table and a sleek leather divan. Floor-to-ceiling glass floods the entry with natural light and frames views of the downtown cityscape and mountains beyond. The effect is polished yet welcoming, signaling sophistication without a hint of stuffiness.

Step deeper into the suite and you’ll discover one of the space’s most striking features: a hospitality-inspired living room anchored by a show-stopping linear fireplace. Framed by fluted wood paneling and flanked by dramatic book-matched marble, the fireplace wall feels more like a luxury hotel lobby than a traditional law office. Sculptural navy seating, a warm oak coffee table and a vintage-inspired patchwork rug add layers of texture, while a butler’s pantry tucked just beyond provides a convenient setup for entertaining clients and hosting firm events. Adjacent seating areas offer panoramic valley views through expansive glass and direct access to a private outdoor terrace, perfect for stepping into the fresh air between meetings.

The firm’s boardroom is built for high-stakes collaboration. A generous conference table lined with cognac leather executive chairs seats the full leadership team, while floor-to-ceiling windows showcase sweeping views of the Wasatch Mountains. A warm wood accent wall provides a refined backdrop for abstract artwork in deep tones of indigo, charcoal and forest green, grounding the room with gravitas and creativity. It’s the kind of room where important decisions are made, and where clients feel the confidence of the firm’s more than 175-year legacy.

Functionally, the space is designed around how attorneys actually work. Private offices feature glass walls with mountain views, sit-stand desks, integrated video conferencing and built-in seating for impromptu conversations, balancing focused work with the accessibility that fosters mentorship and teamwork. Open workstations are equally thoughtful, set against rich green accent walls and softened by planters that bring life and warmth to the workspace. Glass-front offices throughout the suite maintain transparency and ensure natural light reaches every corner.

When it’s time to recharge, the team gathers in a sleek, modern kitchen that doubles as the social heart of the office. Dark cabinetry, a generous stone-topped island with bar-height seating, pendant lighting and a glass-front beverage cooler create an inviting atmosphere for shared meals, casual conversations and organic connection. The space supports daily use and client entertaining alike, flowing seamlessly into the lounge areas.

Perhaps the most enviable feature of Michael Best’s new home is the expansive outdoor terrace. A lush green lawn, landscaped planting beds, and multiple seating and dining areas create a rooftop retreat with panoramic views of the Salt Lake Valley and surrounding mountain ranges. Whether used for a quick break, an al fresco lunch or an evening firm gathering, the terrace brings a quality of life to the workday that is rare in any office, let alone a law firm.

Michael Best’s new downtown Salt Lake City office positions the firm to attract top legal talent, deepen relationships with clients and grow with confidence in one of the country’s most dynamic markets. By consolidating into a single, purpose-built suite at 650 Main, Michael Best has created a long-term home that is as strategic as it is stunning. More than just a beautiful office, the space reflects who Michael Best is today: a firm built on collaboration, excellence and over 175 years of trusted partnership, which makes this one of the Spaces We Love!

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By John Jarvis

The term VUCA was invented by the U.S. Army War College in the 1980s to describe post-Cold War international dynamics. It is an acronym for volatility, uncertainty, complexity and ambiguity. This clearly describes the state of play in so much of our lives today in 2026. In times like these, when everything is changing, the status quo is a trail map to obsolescence. We absolutely need to change with the times, if only to keep up. And nowhere is this desperate need for change more apparent than in the built environment, where commercial real estate stands as a prime example of an industry requiring clear, fresh and different thinking in order to navigate today’s VUCA landscape.

What’s changing?

Where We Work

The Covid pandemic caught us all by surprise, sending us home to isolate and forcing us to rethink our work. It turns out, working from home can work quite well. It is harder on some, to be sure, depending on circumstance. And with smart phones in our pockets and laptops on the table, we have the tools we need to gather as a team literally anytime and anywhere, virtually or otherwise. We can collaborate. We can brainstorm. We can problem-solve. In other words, we can be productive. Yes, in-person is better, it’s just no longer mandatory (at least at most companies).

How We Work

AI is an amazing technology, coming on fast. If you aren’t using AI, you will be left behind. Claude is your friend, and not just because it is opposed to fully autonomous drones with kill decision authority. Claude, and other similar AI tools, are amazing at collaborating, brainstorming and problem-solving. Yes, those were the reasons we were driving into the office or logging on to be with our teammates. Now with AI as a partner, we have another choice. Which likely results in a bit more screen time for you and me, and a bit less together time for our teams.

If We Work

Maybe you were alarmed to read the recent Citrini AI memo suggesting that white collar jobs are going to disappear over the next two years. And maybe you found solace in the Citadel Securities response, which suggests that new technology has always threatened to render labor obsolete, but never has, and that this time is no different. Both sides posit the extreme cases, and reality will likely deliver somewhere in the middle. Either way, change is coming. As of Q1 2026, the U.S. labor market has unexpectedly declined, with recent job reports showing a loss of 92,000 jobs and the unemployment rate rising to 4.4%. Whatever the numbers, here is the hard truth: blue collar jobs are being replaced by automation, white collar jobs are being replaced by compute.

What Needs to Change

As a business leader, if you haven’t taken a hard look at your real estate in the face of these changes, now is the time. Someone needs to ask some hard questions, like “how is your business changing, and how are these changes impacting the workspace you really need today and in the future?” With most of our clients, these conversations result in some combination of different space and better space, and in almost every case, at a much lower cost.

What Else Needs to Change

It is almost certainly time for a changing of the guard. By which I mean the brokers and advisors called upon to help companies navigate this new, uncharted territory. In today’s VUCA environment you need more than a broker. You need an advisory team you can trust to lead meaningful conversations in order to define your workplace strategy before launching into any kind of tactical negotiations. Prescription without diagnoses is malpractice.

And when you do launch into those tactical negotiations, you’ll need that same advisory team to drive a “price discovery” process every time, because in the current market, comps are irrelevant. It is simple economics really, where declining demand for office space has led to increased availability which has led to declining profits for most office investors. And, of course, those office investors (aka your landlord) are actively resisting the decline. They have called upon their army of agents to resist, and to promote a counter-narrative about the health and recovery of the office market. But it’s just a story. And it isn’t true. Yes, there will be pockets of strength, where the very best buildings in the very best locations may outperform. But those A++ buildings exist within an ocean of excess inventory of aging and ordinary office buildings. In this context, you cannot rely on traditional (i.e. landlord representing) commercial real estate agents to initiate the hard conversations about how to price these second and third tier buildings. The large broker firms can’t do it. Those firms are the front-line defense for their property owner clients, and their charge is to hold-the-line, to protect building values, to tell a story of strength, to protect the status quo.

Except, when everything is changing, beware the status quo. Let us show you a better way.

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I’ve always believed there are leadership lessons everywhere if you’re paying attention. Sports in particular have a way of revealing mindset in its purest form. The discipline, the preparation, the resilience. Recently I watched a short interview with Cooper Kupp, Super Bowl MVP and one of the most respected receivers in the NFL. He shared something that really stood out to me, both because of his inspiring perseverance and because it’s extremely similar to a mantra we regularly discuss at Hughes Marino.

Freshman year in high school, Kupp was an underdog, but undeterred. Smaller than others his age, he trained every single day by running and wearing ankle weights to bulk up. His daily dedication and hard work earned him a spot on the Eastern Washington University football team. He was drafted out of Eastern Washington, not exactly a traditional football powerhouse. He worked his way into the league, helped lead the Rams to a Super Bowl victory, and was named MVP. After all Kupp has achieved, he has every reason, by most standards, to feel like he’s arrived, because he has already achieved what most players only dream about. And yet he said at no point in his journey did he ever feel like he deserved any of it. Not college. Not the NFL. Not a starting role. He worked and fought hard to earn each opportunity, and once he had it, he thought of it as a new start, and worked to earn it again, never taking an opportunity for granted.

Kupp isn’t the only player whose journey reflects this mindset. His teammate, quarterback Sam Darnold, followed a remarkably similar path from a different starting point. Drafted No. 3 overall with sky-high expectations, Darnold’s early years were defined by struggles, criticism and being written off. Rather than letting the noise consume him, he refined his craft and focused on proving his teammates and family right. That resilience carried him through stints with multiple teams until it all came together in a Super Bowl victory. As our own Senior Managing Director, Will Tober, who grew up with Sam, put it: “He’s living proof that if you just stay the course and refuse to give up, you’ll eventually find success.” Different roads, same mindset.

That mindset is powerful because it runs directly counter to something that can quietly derail success: entitlement. The moment someone starts thinking, “I deserve this,” something shifts. Hunger turns into expectation and complacency. Gratitude turns into assumption. Growth slows down because the focus moves from improvement to preservation. Entitlement convinces us that what we did yesterday guarantees what we’ll get tomorrow. But it doesn’t.

In business, just like in sports, past performance doesn’t entitle us to future opportunity. A great year doesn’t guarantee the next one. A strong relationship still requires care. A leadership title doesn’t automatically earn trust. Those things are built and rebuilt consistently over time. They are earned in the small, daily decisions most people never see. As a company, we wholeheartedly work to earn the trust of our peers and our clients every single day. As a testament to this, we end every team meeting with the same phrase, one that has inspired me ever since I heard it from Starbucks founder Howard Schultz: “Success is not an entitlement. You have to earn it every day.” It’s what I live by, both personally and professionally, and what our team believes in, which is why Kupp’s story instantly struck a chord.

“At no point during that journey…did I then say, ‘Okay, I’m there now, like I’ve done enough, like I’ve arrived and now I deserve to play,’” Kupp shared. This is what I respect most about Kupp’s perspective, that he never adopted the “I’ve arrived” mentality. Each season ends and he resets. There’s more to improve, more to learn, more to earn. That approach keeps him coachable. It keeps him hungry. It keeps him sharp.

Strong cultures operate the same way. When individuals and teams stay focused on earning rather than deserving, performance compounds. Humility stays intact. Accountability remains high. There’s less room for complacency because everyone understands that success is not a destination you reach and relax in. It’s something you actively build and protect every day.

There’s a quote from Clemson strength and conditioning coach Joey Batson that captures this perfectly: “They don’t put championship rings on smooth hands.” Nothing meaningful is handed out. It comes through discipline, sacrifice and consistent effort over time.

The question for all of us isn’t whether we’ve earned something in the past. The real question is whether we’re earning it today. That mindset creates resilience. It fuels growth. And it ensures that success, when it comes, is never something we assume; it’s something we continue to work for.

The best never feel like they’ve arrived. They earn it again, every single day.

The post Earn It Every Day: Lessons Learned in Sports & Business appeared first on Hughes Marino.

In the fast-paced life cycle of business, we spend much of our time focused on what’s next: the next client, the next milestone, the next strategic move. That forward momentum is healthy. It drives performance and pushes us to improve. But without pausing to reflect and practice gratitude, it’s easy to become trapped in an endless pursuit of more, rarely stopping to appreciate what is already in front of us.

When we intentionally reflect on our successes, failures, lessons and milestones through a lens of gratitude, we allow ourselves permission to slow down and recognize the significance of what we have already built. Perhaps the secret to lasting success lies in urgency, balanced by the quiet power of gratitude.

I was reminded of this while reading about Hiroyuki Sanada, the acclaimed Japanese actor known for his roles in The Last Samurai and the award-winning series Shōgun. His accomplishments are remarkable by any measure—Emmys, Golden Globes, and a career defined by discipline and excellence. Yet what stood out most was not his resume, but his perspective.

It’s commonly attributed to him that he observed that people often long for what they do not have, while overlooking what is already within reach. Someone dreams of a swimming pool while another rarely uses theirs. One person longs for companionship while another takes it for granted. Someone who is hungry would treasure a simple meal, while another critiques the taste. His point was simple: somewhere, someone would give everything for what we already possess.

If we are honest, gratitude is not our default setting. Ambition comes more naturally. So does the desire to improve, to optimize and to reach higher. That drive has built companies, created opportunities and fueled innovation. It is part of what makes great teams great. But ambition without gratitude can quietly turn into chronic dissatisfaction. When we are always focused on the next horizon, we risk overlooking the ground beneath our feet.

When I consider our own lives and the work we do at Hughes Marino, the baseline alone is extraordinary. We have the freedom to build and to serve. We have meaningful careers and the privilege of partnering with clients who trust us with decisions that shape their organizations. We have our health, relationships, families and teammates who show up each day with integrity and commitment. We have access to technology that allows us to connect instantly across cities and time zones. There is so much to be grateful for before we ever begin to talk about growth or performance.

Gratitude does not mean ignoring challenges. It doesn’t minimize hard seasons or complex problems. In many ways, it strengthens our ability to navigate them. Challenges refine us, build resilience and sharpen judgment. When viewed through a lens of gratitude, even difficulty becomes part of the privilege of growth rather than evidence of misfortune.

Our business coach, Mike Robbins, shared with our team a simple reframing question. Instead of asking “Why is this happening to me?” ask, “Why is this happening for me?” That subtle shift does not deny adversity. It transforms how we engage with it. Framing our experiences through gratitude opens the door to learning, growth and perspective.

What would happen if we trained our minds to pause more often, even briefly, to acknowledge how fortunate we are? That shift in perspective changes how we show up for our clients, our teammates and our families. It creates steadiness. It builds trust. It fosters a culture that values people as much as performance.

Years ago, we introduced a practice at Hughes Marino that we call the “Hughes Marino Grateful Chain.” A few times a year, before heading into a weekend, every team member replies all and shares something they are grateful for on a single company-wide email chain. It doesn’t need to be elaborate, but it does have to be intentional. And because everyone participates, it reinforces that gratitude is not a private exercise. It is a shared value that strengthens our culture. And it’s incredibly uplifting to read what others are grateful for, no matter how big or small.

When we operate from a place of appreciation, we lead with greater clarity and resilience. We become less reactive and more intentional. We remember that success is not only about what we are striving toward, but also about honoring what we have already been given.

Ambition will always play an important role in meaningful achievement. It pushes us forward and challenges us to improve. Yet alongside that drive, there is value in cultivating a deeper awareness of what is already working: a greater appreciation for the people, progress and opportunities already within reach.

Gratitude does not slow progress. It strengthens it. It sharpens perspective and steadies decision-making. And in a world that constantly urges us to want more, that grounding may be one of the most powerful advantages we can embrace.

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