Who doesn’t love the jaw-inspiring yearly spectacle that is Shark Week? Ok, people on vacation at the beach. Still, seeing these powerful beasts dominate the food chain and strut their stuff (even without legs!) not only teaches us to never try to resemble a seal but also offers a few helpful tips for commercial real estate professionals.

Here’s how watching Shark Week might have ingrained some subliminal property management knowledge into your mammal brain.

Spot problems where you least expect them.

As galeophobes are well aware, most shark attacks happen in less than five feet of water. The very area where you feel safest is actually the most likely to be your undoing. This idea should be absorbed by any competitive business today.

Many executives assume that primary business functions are inherently stable and sufficient due to their proximity to core performance. With this assumption, they search for problems on the periphery and often remain unaware of the most drastic complications or chances for growth brewing right under their feet. To account for this, all areas of operations, even those considered “safest”, should be regularly checked and monitored for performance.

Develop a shark’s sense.

Sharks have a number of extremely well developed senses that they use to locate and capture prey. Along a shark’s snout are a number of sensory organs called the Ampullae of Lorenzini. Why is this interesting? These electroreceptors monitor the water and detect magnetic fields caused by what the shark will soon know as lunch.

In property management, we too have a well developed tool to help us spot changes and potential opportunities that keep us fed. We call this tool metrics. Through the use of data-driven and actionable metrics, property management professionals are able to determine valuable information about their operations, tenants, vendors and employees – and react to it in a timely manner.

Always move forwards.

There is one similarity between sharks and businesses that could be considered the most powerful example of what it means to succeed: if you move backwards, you die. Sharks must keep water flowing over their gills at all times to survive. While some sharks are able to achieve this while remaining stationary, all sharks are in equal in that moving backwards will soon cause death.

In property management, moving backwards produces the same business results as it does to sharks. In order to survive and stay a step ahead of the competition, a company must innovate, adapt to tenant expectations, react to key data, and at all time, keep moving and improving.

Want to be an industry Great White? See how Building Engines can help you face forward and never stop growing.

Fun Fact! Sharks first appeared in the ocean 400 million years ago, long before dinosaurs. How’s that for staying power?