LOS ANGELES BUSINESS JOURNAL: Executive Insights
In the midst of headlines about layoffs and shutdowns, L.A. business leaders seem to be ramping up. Many are working remotely but embracing technology to stay connected with employees and clients via video meetings or the still-important personal phone call. A shared entrepreneurial spirit has them turning a crisis into a learning experience. These Type-A personalities are also rediscovering there’s more to life than work and are more than willing to share their tips for using at-home time as opportunity for introspection and self-improvement in anticipation of the next chapter.
Aftalion has served as development director for real estate investment company Markwood since 2014. The company focuses mostly on commercial developments across Los Angeles. Construction goes on, but Markwood observed that projects remain vulnerable to potential government policy changes. Aftalion has found himself thinking about how remote work may permanently change the design of future workspaces, particularly when today’s creative office spaces offer the opposite of social distancing. “I love real estate because it’s forever, (but) how we think about the office may change,” he said. Now that his home is his office, Aftalion has been rethinking his role as a business leader and has surprised himself by rediscovering his creative roots.
HOME AS OFFICE: “You have to work your entrepreneurial muscle; you have to look at how you can be a self-starter. I am going to be working at home, and I need to get over it. I have an amazing view of the sunset. I (was) never home to see it.” Simon Aftalion has started drawing architectural plans again. SELF-DISCOVERY: Aftalion found some of his old architectural plans and started drawing again, including this plan for a multifamily building inspired by L.A.’s Case Study houses. “I taught myself how to draft plans. I forgot about that hobby. It’s very easy to get obsessed with the science part of (construction) rather than the art part of it. It has brought out the art side.”