Brian narration: This is Built, a new podcast series where you’ll meet the people behind some of the biggest transactions and investments in commercial real estate, and hear how they got to where they are today. 

I’m your host Brian Maughan, Chief Marketing Officer with Fidelity National Financial.  

And those of us in this business, well we know the buildings...but how many of us know the stories of the people behind those structures?

In this final episode of our first season, we’re talking to Chris Chen.

Chris is associate general counsel at Prologis, a massive player in the warehouse space. This kind of real estate was already growing before the pandemic, but now…it can’t get built fast enough. All those goods we’re ordering online have to be stored somewhere before they get shipped, and Prologis has warehouses all over the country and the world.

It’s a built environment that plays a huge part in our lives, even if most of us don’t think about it. I couldn’t wait to talk to Chris and find out more.

Brian Maughan: Chris, thanks so much for being here. Let’s start at the very beginning, and I'd like to begin with a little bit of history about your background.

Chris Chen: I was actually born and raised in Taiwan, and my family immigrated to the States when I was about 15. And then when I went to college, I actually studied accounting and was an auditor for about three years before deciding to go to law school. And at that point in time, you're working as an auditor, you're working the hours, night and day, it seems like. And then we get to see, you know, the lawyers really on the front end trying to structure deals and things like that. So that definitely piqued my interest.

Brian narration: So a few years later Chris went to law school and once she graduated and landed her first job in private practice, she worked on a lot of real estate transactions. Over the years she moved around quite a bit, then landed at retail giant Safeway, and finally moved to a company called Catellus Development Corp. Catellus was ultimately bought by her current employer, Prologis.

Chris Chen: At Prologis we buy, we develop and we maintain the largest collection of high quality logistics real estate in the world. Currently, we have about $177 billion worth of assets under management, and that translates into roughly about 994 million square feet of space warehouse space. And we operate in 19 countries, and the easiest way to understand Prologis is, I think everyone has received a package in the last year - and then whether the package is from Amazon, from any of the retailers, chances are that package probably has gone through a Prologis warehouse. So that's the easiest way to think about it. We provide a logistics real estate solution to businesses.

Brian Maughan: Great. And Prologis has grown, they've done some of the biggest deals in this space for a number of years. But what does your day-to-day look like?

Chris Chen: In general, I oversee an in-house legal team. Legal teams that support the real estate business in the United States, Canada, China, and Singapore. We are looking at transactions and how we can get things under contract. We are looking at, you know, leasing - leases, if you will, with the customers. And sometimes we're actually looking at some litigation matters that we're managing. And in addition, I also manage our environmental services team. That team basically underwrites the environmental due diligence of the transactions, if you will. And interestingly enough, Prologis actually is involved in many of the brownfield redevelopment projects.

Brian narration: So Prologis builds some of its sites on brownfields - meaning a property that has often sat unused for years because it’s contaminated by pollutants or chemicals from past use.

Prologis might build a warehouse putting what Chris describes as a ‘cap’ on the site  - maybe a parking lot, or the foundation of the warehouse building…some kind of barrier that keeps those contaminants from spreading.

Chris Chen: But at the same time, you can actually now reuse the property, right? And then put it back into production instead of just having it sit there dilapidated or not being used. So this is a real area of focus for us.

Brian narration: Brian narration: I love this. I grew up in the Rocky Mountains and loved to be outside in nature, and I think a lot of people think of industrial development as being the reason land is taken out of the commission, rather than being a source of bringing it back into production.

And Chris says it’s not just about laying down concrete that keeps contaminants from rising up. There can be air quality issues to deal with, problems with groundwater…

Chris Chen: And groundwater, it's not static. It moves, right. So it may not be the contamination is coming from your site. The contamination may actually be migrating from other sources onto your site. So when you're doing the due diligence, it is not just about, OK, you know, we're only going down to 20 feet of the property or something like that. And quite the contrary, you're really trying to understand any pathways for any of the contaminants that may escape any point in time. So that you're looking at the safety of your occupants, which is definitely our number one priority.

Brian Maughan: Wow, fascinating - and so timely because of everything that we're learning more and more about our environment and the need to keep it, like you said, not only productive but healthy for all the participants around us, right?

So let me talk a little bit about that other side of your work. What's that like to kind of manage a global team, especially considering all the different types of regulations and deals that you have to deal with?

Chris Chen: I think the most important thing, as with anything, is having a great team that you can't rely on. It is impossible for me to understand all of the laws in Singapore or in China. So I definitely rely on our team on the ground in China to be informing me of risks, of issues…

And in terms of my own management style I've evolved from micromanaging, and I think the micromanaging comes from a desire for the team to succeed. But in that I actually overlooked the importance of letting the team or the individual team members flourish, right? So in my team actually was courageous enough to actually raise their hands, say something, allowing me the opportunity, and it was a very humbling experience, but allowing me the opportunity to actually work with the team to get to a place where I still care - and I care very much about the team's success in individual success as well. But I now just care differently. And by sitting back, letting the team actually showcase their talents, I think we have a much stronger platform in terms of what it is that we are able to deliver to our customers.

Brian Maughan: Well, I'm curious, what did they say? How did they bring it up to you?

Chris Chen: They said Chris, we appreciate you. But this is a little suffocating, so we need you to back off. And I think that took tremendous courage, right, in terms of where they are. And I think they didn't want to hurt my feelings in all of this. But by having the courage to say something, it allowed me the opportunity to adjust, right? And I think as any relationships, ultimately, it comes down to communications and the willingness to listen.

Brian narration: Chris says her communication skills were honed early on, in the years after she arrived in the US as a teenager. She says the experience of being an immigrant was tough in some ways, but ultimately it’s shaped both her and her career for the better.

Chris Chen: When I first came to the States, I actually encountered many setbacks at the time, really didn't speak English. I think I can recite the alphabet and then maybe a few vocabularies, but that's probably it, at the end of the day. And so through the many setbacks, I think I was fortunate enough to have then built up some resilience, right? And I think in the United States, in the western culture, opportunities are plentiful. And if you see how a lot of the times the kids are nurtured, they're encouraged, but they don't really experience much setbacks. You know, people are always being told how great they are, how smart they are and things like that. And so I feel like the setbacks I have experienced has actually taught me to be resilient. If you fail, that's OK. It's not about how you fail. It's about how you actually get back up.

And then sometimes I think when the resilience side is not as much in the psyche, I think it then prevents people from taking - from embracing opportunities or taking risks because you're afraid of failure, if you're afraid of failure, there's probably a lot of things that you're going to pass up and not do. So I think, you know, on the one hand, I think my experience has really helped me in that aspect. The other thing is, since I didn't speak the language when I first came, it really forced me to try to listen, right, and it's about listening and it's about active listening, and it's about observing the people around me and what they are saying. And it's through that, it's through active listening and the desire to understand where the other side is coming from, what the other side is trying to communicate, I think that has helped me to be effective in what I do.

Brian Maughan: That's wonderful. I want to talk a little bit more about your role in this large global firm, Prologis. Talk with me a little bit about your experiences negotiating through these large deals that you've been a part of, and how - how do you do it?

Chris Chen: So I think on that front, I will come back definitely to the listening, right? This is where the act of listening is tremendously important. There's nothing that gives more pleasure than having a win-win type of situation where we can accomplish both of our goals, and a lot of the times, instead of just saying no, I usually would ask the other side, I see you have an issue with this. Can you share with me what is your concern, right? What are you trying to get to? Because there could be a different solution than just us caving on a particular issue.

Brian narration: Chris says the hardest deal she’s ever been a part of was when her then-employer, Catellus Development Corp, was acquired by Prologis.

Chris Chen: And part of it is because I was just in the middle of it. And I like to say, you know, in my career, I've been sold a few times, involuntarily [laughing], yeah. But it turned out to be one of the best things that has happened to me in my career.

Brian Maughan: Talk with me a little bit about that because in commercial real estate, we're used to buying properties. Properties change hands. In your case, you're repurposing properties. But when you buy an organization and you go through that process, you're not only buying the physical assets of the land or the buildings, you're buying the team, and you've gone through that.

Chris Chen: So in my career that has happened twice when - one is when Prologis acquired Catellus. And then the other time was in 2011, when Prologis and AMB actually had a merger. And to me, what was fascinating through it all in and you've touched on it, it's the emotional element to the deal.

Brian narration: She says when one company merges with another, employees often feel insecure, worried, and resentful. People at one company have done things their way…staff at the other organization have their own systems and habits…

Chris Chen: So when you're confronted with differences, people are very resistant and people become very defensive, because somehow by embracing the other side, it may be translated into, in their minds, ‘Hey, I've been doing things wrong’ or ‘I've been doing things subpar.’ And to the extent something is done differently, there may be a lot of learnings there, there may be a lot of tools that's not otherwise available to you, right, in your current environment. So just because someone else does something differently, it doesn't mean I'm doing things wrong. So if people can actually take the emotional piece away, you know, put it aside and actually be open to how other people are doing things, the end result would be very different instead of, you know, feeling hurt, or feeling ignored, it will be very different.

Brian Maughan: If you could give advice to someone that is growing, maybe at the beginning of their commercial real estate career, whether it's in law or whether it's in the business side of things, what advice might you have for that individual?

Chris Chen: So I would say it would be two things. One is, they need to understand what is their brand, right? Any point in time do you know how you're being perceived by others? And when people share their perception of you, when you feel like you're being misunderstood, try to resist a temptation to be defensive or to explain, because then you're missing out on opportunities of hearing the insights that other people have of you.

Now just because people perceive you a certain way, it doesn't make it so, right. But I think it's important to understand how you're being perceived so that you can decide if that's how you want to be perceived. And be grateful when people are willing to go out of their comfort zone and tell you something that may be uncomfortable to you, and frankly, to them, right? I think that there is a real investment in the relationship when people are actually sharing something that's out of the comfort zone.

Brian narration: She says the other thing is something someone told her 20 years ago.

Chris Chen: Remember that your biggest strength is also your biggest weakness. What made you successful in one situation may be actually detrimental in another situation. It's all circumstance-dependent. And I think when someone said that to me, it was about - the critique was, Chris, your biggest strength was you work really hard. Your biggest weakness is also, you work too hard. And I remember hearing this, like, I mean, this doesn't make any sense at all, right?

But then afterwards, I had the time to reflect and I realized, you know, working really, really hard is great. And it got me to be successful or effective in what I was doing in a certain project, in a certain job. But for the next level of work that I'm doing, what you want to then be perceived as is, hey, you're strategic, you're pragmatic, right, and not just about, Hey, so-and-so works really hard. So that took a while for me to reflect upon, and I wish I had known it, you know, at the beginning of my career.

Brian Maughan: That is great advice and honestly, something that all of us in any part of our lives could really benefit from. I think that we get a little bit struck by our strengths and want to make them more prominent than we need to have them be, and they can kind of get in our way. Last question for you - obviously Prologis, huge in industrial real estate, logistics real estate. What's next?

Chris Chen: So it's interesting that you asked the question, actually at Prologis we are very focused on, I would say, not just logistics real estate. We are actually focused on the logistics solution as a package for our customers. So one avenue that we are exploring into is what we call ‘Prologis essentials’, and this is where we are actually offering ancillary services, whether it's forklifts, whether it's racking, whether it's solar energy, really different things that can potentially have the customers look at us as one-stop shop. And I would say the thing that I'm most proud about Prologis is we are not satisfied with being just a global leader. We are focused on how can we actually be the disruptor of ourselves, of the industry, so that we can push this segment, if you will, forward. It is that focus that makes me very, very proud to be part of the team.

Brian Maughan: Chris, I cannot thank you enough for spending this time with us and sharing with us your insight, your perspective. You're truly a disruptor. You're pushing things forward. So is Prologis, and it's been a pleasure talking with you.

Chris Chen: Brian, thank you for thinking of me and the opportunity. I feel like it's a real privilege. So thank you for taking the time.

Brian narration: Thanks for listening to this last episode in season one of Built. We will be back in the spring with another season.  What I love about this first season its taught me that no matter how much you think you know about what you see, there is more to the story then you could ever imagine…

It has been so amazing to meet and talk to the people who are behind some of the largest real estate transactions in the US. I feel honored to have met the women and men behind the curtain – if you will – of commercial real estate.

As ever, we’d love to hear from you, we wanna know what you think of the show. You can email us at built@fnf.com.

Built is a co-production of Fidelity National Financial and PRX Productions. From FNF, our project is run by Annie Bardelas. At PRX, our team is producer Ashley Milne-Tyte, Senior Producer Genevieve Sponsler, production assistant Courtney Fleurantin and intern Claire Carlander. Audio mastering by Rebecca Seidel.

The Executive Producer of PRX Productions is Jocelyn Gonzales.

I’m Brian Maughan. See you again in a couple of months for season two.

Every story is unique, every property is individual, but we’re all part of this BUILT world.