The scandal over the Presidents Club dinner in London has sparked concerns about delegate behaviour at the world’s biggest property event in Cannes. PropertyEU, deputy editor-in-chief sounded out sentiment ahead of the event.
Europe’s second biggest property jamboree kicks off this month with an unusual number of warnings for those attending from the UK property industry. One major public relations firm with a host of British property clients admitted it was issuing warnings to clients, firstly to ignore contact from journalists asking about their reaction to The Presidents Club scandal and what they think of Mipim as a spectacle.
Secondly, it has warned clients planning to host parties at Mipim that some reporters are certain to try and copy the Financial Times’ Madison Marriage by exposing bad behaviour at a Mipim party, so control behaviour especially closely.
Mipim has the potential to cause a public relations problem due to the nature of the event. It is a week away from home, there is a lopsided men-to-women ratio and there is plenty of alcohol available throughout the day. Added to that is the fact that call girls and street walkers operate in and around the five-star hotels and a significant proportion of the people arriving in Cannes are not paying delegates and are therefore unbound by Mipim’s code of conduct relating to behaviour and conduct.
Presidents Club dinner
At the Presidents Club annual dinner in January, the cause of the furore was the way female hosts were treated by the all-male attendees, many of whom were from the UK property fraternity. Lurid tales centred on powerful, rich men groping and propositioning the young female hosts, some of whom found the whole episode very unpleasant. Unsurprisingly, questions are now being raised about the likelihood of such excesses happening at Mipim.
One veteran of Mipim that PropertyEU spoke with encapsulated what many feel about the event. ‘It is quite a bizarre work event in that, yes, there are prostitutes in the bars and on the streets. But you have to remember with Mipim there is also a lot of hyperbole. I remember being at a particular party on a boat. The reality is that there were 20 people there but 20,000 people were talking about it.’
He continued: ‘I suppose the closest to the Presidents Club came with one particular property company. They used to hire hostesses to host a stand and at the dinners they were dotted around the table. I wasn’t aware of any improper suggestions. In my experience, these girls – mainly students – are there to keep the evening going, laughing at bad jokes but in control of the whole situation. With the benefit of hindsight, perhaps it is a slightly uncomfortable scenario, but it was handled reasonably well if you can accept that it needed to happen at all.’
Most feel that Mipim got too far out of control from around 2005 to 2007. Some of the biggest agents were sending out some girls described as ‘being game’. But the sense is that nowadays, although the event is still male-dominated, there are more senior women present, which is a step in the right direction.
Inclusion debate
The Presidents Club controversy has served to not only call into question events within the annual property calendar, but to add impetus to existing movements such as getting women into higher positions.
Andrea Carpenter runs a not-for-profit called Women Talk Real Estate dedicated to increasing the visibility of women in the European real estate industry, specifically promoting women for speaking opportunities. ‘The President’s Club has highlighted pockets of unacceptable behaviour, which the overwhelming majority of the industry agrees needs to be stamped out,’ she told PropertyEU. ‘I hope the longer-term consequences of this will be to keep the topic of gender diversity firmly at the top of the agenda and that there is more support for practical initiatives to build real momentum for gender diversity and equal opportunities for everyone.’
Carpenter continued: ‘My experience in the industry in Europe has been a positive one; but I respect that this might not be the same for everyone. The important thing is to ensure that companies, and the sector, nurture an open culture so that no one feels intimidated or harassed, and that anyone sadly put in this position feels they can speak out and be heard. If events recently portrayed in the UK media cause companies to rethink their presence at industry events to ensure they don’t participate in, or inadvertently promote, unacceptable behaviour, then that has to be a good thing.’
UK property is certainly an industry dominated by males, but the issue is not restricted to the UK or Europe. Indeed, in the US there have not only been recent articles about poor behaviour at company events such as one published by The Real Deal on January 1 called ‘Inside the real estate’s bro culture’, but the debate has also played out to some extent on social media.
Social media
Lisa Lafave, a portfolio manager at Canadian investor HOOPP, has posted two comments on LinkedIn. In one post, she wrote: ‘OK. I'm calling out all real estate companies to demonstrate that they are inclusive. I've received so many personal messages that it's clearly an issue. I've cried knowing what people are going through. What will you do? Who will coordinate an industry response?’
In a second post, she refers to something that ‘almost destroyed’ her. She wrote: ‘It’s the industry backroom dialogue that you overhear and it has a very profound emotional impact on you. “Doesn't she know we don't want her here? She's such a bitch! What does she do other than respond to a few emails? What's her value? It doesn't matter where she is, let's start without her.” It's these comments and isolation that send you reeling. If you do manage to get through it, hopefully you have an Ellen Pompeo moment and decide to continue what you love to do and it’s their issue not yours.’
In a way, the US might be the best and worst example to follow when it comes to treatment of females and minorities in real estate. Unlike in Europe, there have been attempts to promote women-only and minority-led fund managers. Some investors such as New York Common have emerging manager programmes that in theory help promote such firms, but with limited success. One reason is that investors have been reducing the number of managers they partner in favour of larger, more established firms. Indeed, one investor PropertyEU spoke with sensed the bigger issue in the US was towards responsible investing and the environment rather than inclusions issues.
Solidarity among US and European professionals
Social media postings about diversity and inclusion have sky-rocketed of late, perhaps given a boost by the #MeToo movement. These are eliciting messages of solidarity among both US and European professionals. One such message was posted by Alex Jeffrey, chief executive of real estate at M&G. He said it would be good for companies to achieve certification like the National Equality Standard which is ‘demanding and independent’. However, his response was not received particularly positively by one person responding, who answered:
‘Certification means nothing. Another point to tick and fudge. (SIC) Till the culture changes nothing is going to help. And it is not going to change till old boy network stop controlling decision making: people like to hire in their own image, you cannot do anything about this.’
Jeffrey is a member of Real Estate Balance, a UK organisation designed to promote females into senior roles in property. It has been going 18 months and seems to be making headway. In April it will publish an online tool to help line managers in real estate firms deal with issues regarding gender inclusion and perhaps also bullying. That will be a step in the right direction as far as most are concerned. For now, most are hoping Mipim can be among property’s finest occasions and not something to be embarrassed about.
