RANCHO SANTA FE, CA—“Every firm should make an effort to contribute to the community and the causes in which they believe in any way they can,” MREN‘s co-founder and CEO Joy Hou tells GlobeSt.com. Hou will be speaking on the panel session “CEO Insight: Conscious Capitalism” during NAIOP’s real estate conference in Toronto next month. We spoke exclusively with her about the concept of conscious capitalism and what attendees can expect from the session.

GlobeSt.com: The description of your session reads, “How can aligning conscious culture, leadership and stakeholder orientation benefit the greater good as well as the bottom line?” What does this mean to your firm?

Hou: A big part of our initiative is actually focusing on the public sector. The reason we got into it is because it’s been very apparent to me recently that cities and counties are some of the largest owners of real estate, and most of them are in fairly troubled financial situations—largely due to the new accounting regulations. When we took a look at what we can do in the private sector, we believed that bringing our expertise in could help the public sector as well. Most of them don’t have the capability of having an accurate inventory of their assets, and when you have a lot of financial challenges and don’t know how much you’re worth, it’s really hard to move from that point on. We’re learning a lot about what the public sector needs because it has a direct impact on the community. By giving cities and counties the ability to manage what they own and methodically plan how to aggregate the assets they own, they are able to free up cash, create jobs, create a tax base and uplift the value of the community and neighbors.

As someone who has spent most of my life in the private sector focused on the bottom line and revenue, taking that skill set and approach into the public sector will have a positive impact on the community. We want to encourage the private CRE stakeholders to really take a look at the opportunities they can collectively build with the public sector and the leadership of cities and counties. It is a collaborative effort that will result in capital, planning and having the ability to rebuild areas that need to be rebuilt—and making a difference.

We’re looking at what Brookfield did in Downtown New York to transform the area that was depressed after 9/11, regenerate that energy, create jobs and recreate that vibe and demand. The current market is very healthy, and historically there were a lot of players who weren’t focused on development deals before who are now looking at this. If we can enhance the availability of opportunity and bridge that gap, everybody wins.

The education sector, the school districts, are in the same situation as the cities and counties. They own a lot of real estate assets, but most of them don’t know the true value of those assets. They took them on decades ago. Consultants are able to understand their needs and can bring their private-sector expertise—and potentially capital. It makes so much sense. A lot of universities are doing sale-leasebacks to the private sector, allowing the private sector to run these assets and taking away the responsibility and expense of managing those facilities.

GlobeSt.com: How does diversity come into play in real estate?

Hou: Diversity is very important, especially now, because the world is a lot more interconnected, and there’s a lot of foreign capital entering the US. We’re seeing a lot more diversity in every part of our business. I believe the world is definitely getting closer, understands other cultures and has the ability to embrace them.

GlobeSt.com: What does the term “conscious capitalism” mean to you, and how does it work?

Hou: The real estate sector is one of the most powerful sectors in the country. The amount of money made in the sector is significant. Every firm should make an effort to contribute to the community and the causes in which they believe in any way they can—not only by sharing that expertise, but also by promoting it internally. It’s a relatively new concept to established real estate firms because the focus has been on making money, but the statistics I’ve read are that Millennials are focused on trying to make a difference and won’t take a job unless it matters. This mindset is influencing the industry—not just in the US, but also globally. ULI and other organizations are trying to focus on affordable housing and related projects on a voluntary basis. It will take time, but it is definitely a lot more visible, accessible and real to most of us than it used to be.

GlobeSt.com: What else should our readers know about this topic?

Hou: I think we need to encourage people to think about it and get involved.