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Kevin Hou seemed like the obvious choice when he was appointed Managing Director of global real estate services firm JLL Taiwan in 2023. It might have had something to do with his 24 years with the business, which has left him with a clear vision about the future of the industry.
“Real estate consulting is changing,” he tells The CEO Magazine. “That’s mainly down to technology, particularly AI, which is having a big impact on the real estate industry.”
The other agent of change faced by real estate is the emergence of ESG policies.
“Before last year, the ESG concept was not that popular in Taiwan, even for the government,” Hou says.
“But United Nations statistics show that 40 percent of carbon emissions come from real estate development and operation, so I think it’s quite important for companies in the sector to evolve. As a result, the ESG concept has gradually come to be embraced.”
JLL Taiwan in particular has gone all in regarding both green and technological considerations. As facilitators of the purchasing, construction, occupation and investment arenas of real estate across the industrial, commercial, retail, residential and hotel stables, JLL understands the need to combine innovation with social thought leadership.
Taking JLL Taiwan in this direction, and in this new era, requires patience, something Hou says he has in plentiful supply. “Even though I’ve been with the company as long as I have, I still have the patience to navigate our course through a new generation.”
Much of that patience was earned through the rigorous selection process surrounding the Managing Director role. “There was a lot of external competition,” Hou says. “But eventually I won the trust of our Executive Chairman.”
Hou outlined his vision for JLL’s future during the process, and once he had the job, he wasted no time in implementing it. “The first thing I did as Managing Director was to improve transparency around our commission scheme in order to retain top talent,” he says.
“The second thing was to promote the ESG side of the business in Taiwan.”
This meant establishing a special ESG committee that spanned several JLL departments. “We use this committee to share information and business opportunities,” Hou says.
“And last year we began coupling new projects with the ESG initiative. We implemented energy saving measures in aging buildings and helped clients achieve Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design and WELL certifications.”
JLL also set about creating ESG road maps for its clients, another indicator that under Hou, the firm is all in on a greener future.
“It has been a challenge,” he points out. “Because nobody in the market knew JLL was doing this kind of business. We’ve had to leverage our client network and let them know we were going in this direction, and also that we had quite a strong ability to do so.”
Even before he was made Managing Director, Hou had a direct line to many JLL clients as the head of the firm’s consulting department. “It’s a strength of mine,” he says.
Hou’s skill set has given JLL another edge in a field where it already has several. “When you’re around as long as JLL, you build many long-term relationships with vendors, suppliers and agents,” he says.
JLL is the vendor for Taiwan’s biggest semiconductor company and also close allies with workplace designer Fun at Work International.
“It’s our strength that we can consolidate many different professionals for one job and be the single total solution contact for our clients,” he says.
It’s an approach that’s put JLL in a leading position in the Taiwanese market, from its strategic consulting arm to office leasing and facility management departments. To stay at the top, however, Hou says it’s a matter of investing heavily in emerging technologies such as AI.
“AI is quite important in real estate. It can accelerate the way we think and approach many of the things we do,” he acknowledges.
JLL has poured significant resources into developing its MarketLink feature, which helps clients understand the local rental office landscape. Also on offer is property management software to help clients analyze data from the JLL portfolio of buildings.
“We can tell clients how their buildings are performing and how to improve the efficiency of their facility,” Hou says. “And that’s an area I think we could combine with AI for even better results.”
Hou’s elevation to the Managing Director role hasn’t put any distance between him and JLL’s biggest projects. In fact, he’s more excited than ever about some of the firm’s top undertakings.
“We’ve just had a big indoor stadium open in Taipei, that was a very big project,” he says. “It includes a 40,000 seat indoor stadium, a shopping center, an office building and a hotel. It’s a project I’ve been involved with for more than 20 years, actually.”
From helping the client win the public tender to conducting feasibility studies on the site to providing advice on how to make the project as efficient and profitable as possible, JLL was there every step of the way.
“The client was able to follow our advice and ultimately come out with a successful project,” he explains.
While JLL’s future trajectory is in lock step with Hou’s vision, he says that as a leader, he isn’t a walled garden.
“You have to keep learning,” he says. “There are three elements leaders should have to make themselves more competitive. First is listening – to colleagues, clients and shareholders to see what they need and what their expectations are.”
Second, he says, is reading. “You can learn a lot from history. Learning is third; actually, two years ago I achieved my Executive MBA from Taiwan University. Going through the program I realized you can gain a lot of expertise from different industries.”
JLL Taiwan’s mission is to shape the future of real estate in pursuit of a better world, Hou says.
“We’re standing at the forefront and it’s on us to tell clients what the future workplace looks like. New buildings aren’t a problem, but there’s a lot we can do to improve aging buildings for the future. We can promote our culture, but we have to embody it, too.”
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