Journal Reflections

About Business:
As I reflect on the business visits in London, it is amazing to think how many different firms we
had the chance to meet with, in terms of both number and all the different areas of real estate and
finance they cover. With that being said, I wanted to focus on interesting things I noticed across
several of the firms we visited. Also, partially by coincidence and partially because I made an
effort to focus on it as part of this course, as I was trying to connect the dots most of my findings
seemed to have a tie to real estate in one form or another. On this note, it is key to bear in mind
that London is the worlds foremost property market. Among other results, this is in large part
why London is such an important and expensive market for residents, businesses, and investors
around the globe.
I knew that there were major differences between the property markets in London and
Cincinnati, but just how different they are was quite surprising. Starting with basic observations
that surprised me, here are a few. I knew London had much more history than any US city, but I
was surprised at how old the buildings still standing throughout the city were. I was expecting far
more modern, high rise buildings than the few we saw in Canary Wharf. I would have guessed
25-50 percent of the city buildings would have been built in the last 70 years since World War II
as the city has undergone tremendous growth, and that they would be in clusters together (again
beyond Canary Wharf) instead of scattered. Id never been to Europe before, so Id imagine
many of the older cities around the continent are similar in terms of architectural design and
layout. When doing research for the project and listening to some of the presentations in London,
the level of price discrepancy between there and anywhere else Id been was staggering. I knew
it was expensive, but not how expensive. I was surprised at how little non-street parking there
was and how much area was devoted to urban parks when compared to a place like New York
City. It was also interesting to learn that even outside the city center neighborhoods tend to have
all sorts of retail and shopping nearby because large, centralized shopping centers are very rare.
And at the Kings Cross redevelopment site I was not expecting to hear that the developers were
charged with keeping a large portion (at least 30%) of their residential units as affordable
housing. To my knowledge, in the U.S. thats something that only government develops. Some
other things that I found odd were the prominence of open/compact corporate workspaces we
saw, the extremely high level of foreign real estate investment in London, and the difference in
how much commercial real estate was owned by investors versus how little residential real estate
belongs to private rental systems or investors, both relative to normal figures in other similar
locations. On another note, from our conversations with businesses I was amazed how influential
and far reaching (to much more than real estate) the effects of a British exit from the EU would
be. When looking at these surprises, I believe that the primary cause is the extraordinarily high
level of real estate prices and the prominence/liquidity of the real estate market. This could easily
help to explain why businesses there have lower than normal space per person, why foreign
investors are so involved in the market, why lease terms there are so much more favorable for
lessors than elsewhere, why large residential landlords seem rare, and why large-scale developers
are mandated to earmark a portion of residential units to be more affordable. The UKs different
regulations for real estate investment trusts, and prominence as a global financial center and
leading EU member certainly have important effects here as well.

The most important implication of these understandings for me or someone in similar shoes
would be the ability to learn from and make decisions based off of this knowledge in business
and/or social settings. One simple but concrete application was our interactions with the real
estate graduate students from Cass Business School. Because of the circumstances outlined, it
makes sense why they were in utter disbelief during and after our presentations at the price
discrepancies between London and Cincinnati, for both residential and commercial real estate.
Similarly, for future travel, investment, or business endeavors relating to Britain, the role real
estate will play in decision making cannot be understated. Whether Im finding a hotel to stay in
or seeking a real estate investment, basic knowledge of the market and pricing dynamics will
allow me to make more informed decisions. Likewise, when interacting with a British colleague
or friend having a better understanding of his/her general situation will allow for a better and
more productive relationship.
There are two factors worth mentioning that probably skewed my view of business culture in the
UK from this trip. First off, several of the companies we visited were UK/European offices of
multinational firms based in America or somewhere else besides England (KPMG, JLL/Procter
& Gamble, CBRE). This doesnt mean that they dont exhibit elements of British culture.
However, for an outsider like myself, it would be very difficult to distinguish what elements of
those firms cultures are unique to their London offices. Similarly, it would be just as tough to
distinguish which aspects of those firms overall cultures may be attributable to the London
offices. Second, the fact that these were largely financial services/real estate firms probably had a
significant impact as well. As I know well from experience in the U.S., the operations and norms
of finance-oriented companies can be much different than those of other sorts of firms. Having
interviewed at places such as EY, Goldman Sachs, JP Morgan, LPK (a branding agency), and a
pharmaceutical firm, as well as visiting several other non-financial firms, I can easily say that the
atmosphere in financial firms is usually quite different than that in more creative or technologybased companies. I dont know it to be fact, but based on the limited experience I now have from
visiting some real estate firms, I would guess that they (particularly ones involved in the
financing/investing aspect of real estate) are more similar to financial services firms than to other
types of corporations.

About social interactions:

When examining social interactions over the course of this trip, it is quite difficult to
discern what cultural nuances are British versus those simply typical of all the people
encountered while in London. This is largely because the majority of locals that my colleagues
and I interacted with were not British, hardly surprising since less than 45 percent of the London
population is white British as of the countrys 2011 census. The two largest groups of other
people with whom we interacted with were also distinctly international. The students at Cass
Business School, as Dean Marianne Lewis pointed out, hail from over 140 countries and are
largely foreigners. Similarly in Cambridge, outside of scheduled visits many of the people we ran
into while out and about were in town for a physics convention at the university which drew a
largely international audience. Even while outside of scheduled visits in London, I found myself
frequently but unintentionally speaking with others who were American or from somewhere else
outside of the UK. Apart from demographics, this makes sense given that Americans who tend to

be loud and very willing to talk to strangers would be more likely to randomly end up speaking
with people of a similar nature than those who tend to be more reserved towards strangers (as the
British seem to be). One of the American presenters at KPMG quoted his British wife as saying,
Americans invite someone to their home to get to know them; British people get to know
someone before inviting them into their home. With that being said, the biggest cultural
differences that I observed, and will attempt to analyze further, revolved around how British
people tended to communicate in groups and what they tend to discuss. First I will discuss what I
observed first hand, briefly supplement that with second hand evidence, and then try to
determine some of the reasoning behind this and possible implications or limitations with said
reasoning.
The most interesting thing I noticed on a social note, in both professional and informal
settings, was the topics of conversation in England tended to differ dramatically from what
would be customary in America. Specifically, where sports and entertainment are frequent
conversation starters in the U.S., I found it surprising that they rarely came up during our visit
when speaking with locals. Instead, common conversation starters were the weather, world
events, and politics. Talking about weather is common anywhere, but deeper subjects like
political and world events (especially Brits talking American politics) coming up frequently was
an unfamiliar experience. I found it particularly intriguing that, after simple pleasantries,
Londoners seemed very quick to ask about Donald Trump and the upcoming US Presidential
election upon finding out my colleagues and I were American. My initial reaction was surprise in
learning that they knew not only about Trump, but also tended to be familiar with Ted Cruz,
Hillary Clinton, and Bernie Sanders. Unfortunately, as in the US, John Kasich is not nearly as
much of a household name. On the flip side, I knew the name of the UK Prime Minister (David
Cameron), but have no idea what party he is from, when their elections are, or how much longer
he may remain in power.
This, combined with the fact that our neighbors across the Atlantic seem to use more
proper and sophisticated vocabulary, leads me to believe that British culture places a heavier
emphasis on world knowledge versus sports and entertainment when compared to ours. Along
similar lines, and given the way university is structured in the UK, I would also venture to guess
that there is more of a focus there on long-term planning and specialization for young adults.
While these ideas may not all seem extremely related, I think the central takeaway is as follows.
It appears the British are generally more aware of the world around them and more concerned
with practical matters than their American counterparts. In looking at some of the basic
differences between the UK and US, I presume this to be the case because the UK is smaller,
more international, more closely involved with its neighbors (as part of the European Union)
than the US, and therefore more focused on practical impacts of strong global
interconnectedness. The size of the EUs economy and population are relatively similar to those
of the US, and as part of such a close alliance, European countries must be extremely aware of
their neighbors. Similarly, given its presence in a bloc featuring free trade and open migration,
the UK is widely considered a more internationally-inclined nation. This means it is more
important, and more practical, for the British to have a better sense of what is occurring
internationally. While it may be a stretch to assume British people are more practical than their
American peers, the fact that education specialization happens much earlier and to a larger extent
in the UK would at least suggest that this may be the case. It is practical to know what is
happening in the world and, for the British, much more impactful on daily life. It is also more
sensible to gravitate towards deeper conversation topics in a culture where people seem less

frequent to have long conversations with strangers. Admittedly, this is not a simple theory to
prove. The best way to test this on a national level would be to see if it was consistent across age
groups (most people I interacted with there were 45 and under) and geographies (the UK is
certainly bigger than the areas I visited in London and Cambridge). I feel these differences in
conversation topics were too frequent to be idiosyncratic, but would need much more research to
determine how much of this may be due to my proposed reasons. The biggest benefit of knowing
about this is the ability to adjust and prepare. Essentially this means do research to be informed
on current world events, think of some appropriate casual conversation topics given the
circumstances, and dont be offended by more frequent political questions/discussions (which
Americans often shy away from other than with close acquaintances).
About the impact on me:
Like any worthwhile study abroad experience, this course and trip have left a wide-reaching (and
hopefully long-lasting) impact on me that is evident in several areas. Here I will focus on four
areas of impact: my world view, my understanding of myself, my perspective on business, and
my perspective on culture.
Starting with worldview, this trip was especially insightful since I had never before set
foot in Europe. First and foremost, Id never really thought about how unique Europes layout as
a continent is until we had a basic European knowledge quiz in the JLL offices. Ive always been
at least decent at geography, but I guessed the number of countries in the continent was closer to
30 than the actual figure of about 50, depending on how you classify nations such as Russia and
Turkey. The fact the 50 or so countries combined (excluding Russia and Turkey) have a land area
and economy similar in size to the US (but with about 1.5 times as many people) isnt something
Id ever spent much time thinking about. I knew there were some very small countries like
Monaco scattered throughout the continent, but not that there were at least eight European
countries (ignoring de facto independent countries and dependent territories such as Kosovo and
Guernsey) that have fewer people than Wyoming. No wonder the member countries of the
European Union find so much value in their alliance. One of the limited bits of foreign news that
Americans seem to be eyeing with keen interest is a possible Brexit, which was a fascinating
reoccurring topic during our visit to the UK. When looking at the facts above, and considering
the international prominence of the UK, its no wonder this is such a closely watched event.
From a proportional population view, it would essentially be equivalent to California leaving
America. The biggest surprise for me was just how complex of an issue Brexit is. If the US were
to leave NAFTA (probably our closest comparable alliance to the EU), it would take quite a bit
of time and effort to renegotiate the trade relationships involved. If Britain leaves the UK, those
trade agreements would only be one facet of all the issues between the UK and the rest of the EU
needing resolution. Similarly, being in London during and after the Brussels attacks only further
illustrated the interconnectedness of the continent. In addition to tightened security, the fact that
we as a group experienced two different security scares on the underground in the days following
the Brussels incidents was probably more than sheer coincidence. From a world view
perspective, the other neat part of London for me was the historical exposure. In prior travels,
particularly to Lebanon, Ive seen and learned more about many historical periods dating from
the era of the Ancient Egyptians and the Phoenicians to much more recent times. However, I
hadnt really seen or experienced firsthand much of the history that took place from about 1500

AD through the Industrial Revolution. Coincidentally and fortunately, much of the architecture
and British history museums I got to explore fit in or near that time range.
As far as understanding myself more after this trip, I have a couple of quick thoughts.
First, I think after a couple experiences abroad Ive become a lot better at fitting in with my
surroundings, whether it means wearing clothing that doesnt scream tourist or figuring out how
to navigate public transportation. Im not always the quickest at reading subway maps, but Ive
enjoyed becoming a lot less reliable on step-by-step electronic navigation. There are pros and
cons to this ability to fit in, but the biggest benefit is the ability to be flexible and function
reasonably well in a variety of environments. Given the nature of this course one of my
motivations was to learn more about real estate in general, as its not been a part of my college
coursework to date. I think the numerous and wide-ranging site visits and lectures were
tremendous in allowing me to gain a basic understanding of what real estate actually entails and
some of the different sub-industries within it. Something else I found fascinating upon returning
home was a certain social media plugin. After selecting which countries/regions youve visited,
itll create a map and estimate how much of the world youve seen. I didnt actually have to enter
all my destinations (spanning 10 countries in total) to know that the figure was probably only 3-4
percent. The friends map Id originally seen had a few more countries than mine would have,
but still didnt reach even 5 percent. And clearly these numbers are skewed upward because for
smaller countries (in terms of area), itll assume that by visiting it youve seen most if not all of
that country. Ive always tried to enter into study abroad experiences with the mindset that there
is far more yet to learn than I already know, but to put this in a quantitative method was mind
boggling. The positive side is that I should have a lot of time to work on changing that.
As for how my perspective on business and culture changed, I will try to highlight and
expand on those ideas beyond what is in previous entries. The US and UK are among the most
similar pairs of countries you could find, but the fact that even they have significant business and
cultural differences means that the differences between America and most other countries would
be huge, and much more pronounced. It may be tougher adjusting to the UK than somewhere far
more different because going to the UK it would be easy to underestimate and overlook the
differences. Looking at business, the overall takeaway was just how important London is in the
UK. In a country of about 65 million people, London accounts for roughly 15 percent of the
population but more than 25 percent of the economic activity in the UK. It seems every person
and business want to be there, and the only thing keeping some of them out is the astronomical
level of real estate prices, and the corresponding lack of available space. I also found it
interesting how closely related real estate (particularly the development and investment aspects)
and finance are related. I could have never underestimated the impact of real estate prices on the
UKs, and specifically Londons, economy. I also enjoyed the research-based lectures from the
standpoint of figuring out what sorts of areas real estate (or land economy) academics actually
spend their time researching. The neatest part of that for me, having an analytics background,
was seeing how important data analysis techniques were to all of the research topics. Looking at
culture, I think Ive come to the conclusion that I often dont notice more subtle cultural
differences until after the fact when reflecting on them with my peers. One of the things I am
keenly aware of is hearing other languages being spoken around me (and trying to figure out
what they are). That also makes me disappointed that I didnt put more time into learning
Spanish and Arabic. The UK, and particularly London, is a very diverse mix of people of
cultures. In that aspect it reminded me quite a bit of my time in Dubai. I also noticed, partially on
my own and partially because it was pointed out to me, that it seems like British people are more

frequent in their use of sarcasm than I am accustomed to. I would think this ties back somewhat
to the idea that the English seem less inclined than Americans to spark conversations with people
they dont know. If you spend less time interacting with strangers, you can probably afford to be
more frank when speaking without much issue. I didnt mind it, but before our time at Cass I
hadnt ever received sarcastic feedback/questioning while giving a presentation. Last, but
certainly not least, I never expected to find a country that had a better version of bacon than
America! Something about it not dripping with grease and fat was very appealing.