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Greetings from the Last Frontier! There are many reasons to love Alaska, including the glaring paradoxes of strip malls only a few minutes from unadulterated, deadly nature as well as on-site renewables paired with battery energy storage solutions that provide grid reliability in the land of offshore oil rigs and natural gas pipelines.
Thank you to our readers who share their feedback on the newsletters. Your feedback is valuable and meaningful. Here are two of the notable anecdotes shared with me recently:
“My internal mantra is ‘take your shushing and shove it.’” In response to June’s Hushed or Shushed? Listening to the Signals in CRE.
“Nostalgia and optimism with a dose of GSD. A good reminder for our industry right now.” Shared after reading May’s You Can’t Go Around It. CRE Leadership in Times of Disruption. (GSD is the acronym for Get Sh*t Done.)
Thank you for reading and if you have any questions, feedback, or comments, please reach out. Who knows, your anecdote may be published!
Emotional Literacy: The Leadership Superpower for Uncertain Times
In commercial real estate, we spend a lot of time analyzing capital flows, asset performance, supply/demand dynamics, and repositioning opportunities. But when uncertainty hits and notches up, as it has in force across today’s CRE landscape, it is people who drive the outcome, and leaders who determine the trajectory.
This is where emotional literacy shows up, not as a soft skill, but as a performance lever.
We define emotional literacy as the ability to recognize, process, and respond to emotional dynamics (both our own and others’) in a way that builds trust and momentum. Especially during times of confusion and disruption, emotionally literate leaders can stabilize a situation, communicate with clarity, make better informed decisions, and motivate their teams to move forward, even when we do not have all the answers.
Why does this matter in commercial real estate today?
Because volatility is our standard operating condition.
Asset values are fluctuating. Regulatory demands are rising. Teams are stretched. Investors are cautious. And still, progress must be made.
Picture this (an all-too-common occurrence lately for many of us in asset management):
A portfolio manager is preparing for quarterly reporting. Performance came in below projections across financial, operational, and ESG+R metrics, driven largely by macroeconomic headwinds and global instability. While most of the shortfall is due to external forces, the responsibility still rests with the manager. Instead of deflecting, avoiding, or pushing harder, the leader gathers the team, acknowledges the pressure, solicits input, listens actively, communicates clear next steps, and rallies the group towards shared goals.
This is emotional literacy in action. And it has measurable results: faster execution, stronger team alignment, higher retention, and better outcomes. The kind of leadership that shows up in your rent rolls, renewal rates, and investor confidence.
What emotionally literate leaders do well:
- Acknowledge emotions without being ruled by them.
- Read the room and act with intention.
- Communicate clearly and credibly, especially when visibility is low.
- Stabilize the environment through consistency, empathy, and direction.
- Motivate others through connection, not just control.
At Feroce, we believe this is one of the most undervalued assets in today’s CRE leadership toolkit. And it is not just personal, it is strategic. Emotional literacy enables leaders to translate volatility into opportunity and friction into forward motion.
Emotional literacy is not fluff. It is your competitive edge.
It turns chaos into cohesion. Resistance into alignment. Uncertainty into action.
So here is your nudge:
Where are you being called to lead with more emotional clarity this quarter?
Who on your team is modeling this superpower already?
When we name it, then we can build it, nurture it, and use it.
Bottom line: emotional literacy is key to effectively leading people when the path is not yet clear.
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Batteries are saving the ☀️summer. Are they saving you?
As extreme heat grips much of the U.S., resiliency is not a future investment, it is a now necessity. Big batteries are quietly keeping the power on, our businesses running, and communities safe.
For the 104 million of us living in the areas of the U.S. where extreme heat could shut off the power, here are three key reasons to pay attention.
🔋 Resilience, recharged.
Utility-scale battery storage grew 41% in the 12 months through this April. On a scorching May day in Texas, batteries stepped up and prevented outages by covering 8% of peak power demand.
🧯 From emergency backup to essential infrastructure.
Batteries cut Texas's grid emergency risk from 15% to 3.6% this summer. In California, they are expected to support up to 25% of peak demand. This level of reliability due to renewables and storage is a significant shift to how we stay powered.
💸 Cheaper, longer-lasting, smarter.
Battery discharge duration has grown from 30 minutes to 8 hours, while costs have dropped 19% from 2023. Battery energy storage solution technology is scaling like solar did a decade ago, and it is already changing how we manage demand.
Your turn.
How are batteries keeping you, your business, and your buildings operating, and safe, during this summer’s extreme heat?
Bloomberg, How Big Batteries Could Prevent Summer Power Blackouts
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Leadership in action.
“I was fortunate to have a plan, but balancing preparation for the future with the demands of professional sport is never simple. A career on the pitch has a natural end. Ensuring there’s a beginning after that end should be part of the journey. Why not help the champions of tomorrow start building their futures today?”
- Alia Guagni, FC Como
A two-time Serie A Women’s Footballer of the Year and a 2017 champion with Fiorentina, Alia Guagni printed her résumé on her jersey for her final match before retirement. Not for applause, but to spotlight the stark reality facing women athletes after the final whistle on the pitch.
Her message resonates beyond football. It underscores the need to support career transitions, from one phase to the next, from one industry to another. Talent pipelines matter: in sport, in commercial real estate, in every field.
Brava, Alia.
The Guardian, Como defender prints CV on shirt to highlight post-career difficulties for female players
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Maybe we will actually get an affordable* EV in the US?
What I like about the Slate?
🛻 It is a truck. You can take a girl out of Alaska….
🛻 You can buy the bare necessities version, hence the affordable price tag.
🛻 Plug and play customization.
Hesitations?
🛑 So much customization leads to price confusion.
🛑 Customer experience of everything being a DIY customization.
🛑 Deja vu anyone? This is not the first promise of an affordable EV....
Top Gear, First Look: Jeff Bezos’ $20k Pick-Up Truck
The Autopian, Jeff Bezos’ Sub-$20k Slate EV Is A Bare-Bones Truck With Crank Windows And No Paint: Here Are The Details
What milestones do you track throughout the year?
Birthdays, anniversaries, fiscal quarters?
Growing up in Alaska, we track the solstices, the extremes of light and dark. 🌞
On Friday, June 20 we marked the Summer Solstice: the longest day of the year in the Northern Hemisphere.
While the solstice itself may pass quietly, its symbolism is powerful.
A turning point.
A marker of progress.
A reminder to celebrate the light.
So, what are you celebrating?
What light are you carrying forward?
Forbes, Summer Solstice 2025: Date, Time And How It Works
🪜 Mind the Gap 🪜
That was the first thing that came to mind when I was reading Planet Money’s recent manufacturing series.
My takeaways of the three critical gaps and the opportunities they present through a lens of manufacturing jobs:
- Wage Gap: Manufacturing jobs consistently pay 30–35% more than comparable roles in retail, education, or healthcare, especially for workers without a college degree. These jobs are a proven bridge to the middle class.
- Skills Gap: While the jobs exist, the workforce is not always ready. Nearly half of manufacturing openings require specialized skills or a college degree. But this gap is fixable, through investment in apprenticeships, technical training, and workforce development. For context: the U.S. has a 0.3% apprenticeship rate. Switzerland? 3.6%.
- Retirement Cliff: By 2030, all baby boomers will be 65 or older. That means a wave of retirements is coming, and we are not yet prepared to fill those roles. We need to be actively transferring knowledge, skilling up younger workers, and implementing technology now.
Good news 📰: manufacturing jobs are valuable, we want more of them domestically, and we have line of sight on the opportunity. The next step is to execute 🔍 on policy, planning, and investment (much of which is in place) to turn the potential into impact.
Now is the time to build the bridges 🏗️ before the gaps get wider.
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What We Are Reading
✨ Construction Physics: Should the Federal Government Sell Land? Brian Potter, 10 July 2025 – consider a reframe of the question to: “Should the federal government SWAP land?“ Which federal land should the government swap with cities to balance local economic development opportunities with federal assets?
✨ Wired: Cloning Came to Polo. Then Things Got Truly Uncivilized. Matt Reynolds, 10 July 2025 – fascinating story of the science, intrigue, betrayal, and the insane amounts of money in the polo world.
✨ Texas Monthly: The River House Broke. We Rushed in the River. Aaron Parsley, August 2025 – powerful telling of one family’s experience in the Guadalupe River flood.
✨ Creating Your Best Life, Caroline Adams Miller and Dr. Michael B. Frisch – thoughtful recommendation from a connection in the vc, angel, and proptech world.
✨ Cooking for Kings: The Life of Antonin Carême, the First Celebrity Chef, Ian Kelly - in honor of Bastille Day; find it at your local library.
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Where We Can Catch Up
✨ MCPS Boundary Study Presentations
✨ Alexander Creek, Alaska, July
✨ Hesketh Island, Alaska, Aug
✨ CREBA Annual Meeting, 27 Aug
✨ Inspiration @ Intersection of Real Estate + Tech Dinner
✨ Feroce webinar: The Realities of AI and CRE Asset Management, Sept
✨ Feroce AMA: President to President Chat
✨ CRE Diversity Equity and Inclusion Advisory Board speaker: Sandy Paik, Tower Companies, 11 Sept
✨ Girl Scouts Nation's Capital Camp CEO, 3-5 Oct
✨ NexusCon 2025, Denver, 6-8 Oct
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About Feroce Real Estate Advisors
Feroce Real Estate Advisors works with forward-thinking real estate companies to leverage change and build value at the intersection of real estate investment, sustainability, and technology. We guide clients through complex challenges, positioning their real estate and teams for success in a rapidly changing world.
Our work usually falls into one of these categories:
- Fractional executive roles serving as head of asset management or portfolio management for growing real estate investment management companies.
- Provide high value strategic advisory services with a focus on delivering investment performance measured by risk-adjusted returns and organizational priorities.
- Advisory board roles with proptech organizations focused on high ROI solutions in renewables, decarbonization, cleantech, and operational improvement.
Please reach out to connect:
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All the best,
Mandi
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