Carlos Ginés
I’m Carlos Ginés, I’m 58 years old, and I love the real estate sector. I enjoy its multi-disciplinary nature and the fact that it is constantly changing: from the technical aspects to legal or finance, they all seem equally exciting. Currently, my position as CEO of the parent company of our family group allows me to play an active role in all of them. The Real Estate Asset Management Program allowed me to update my knowledge and perspective on the real estate sector.
"I had fun, I learned, and I improved personally and professionally."
Carlos Ginés has been wo rking his whole life in the real estate sector. His career at his family business, of which he is currently CEO, is an example of professional advancement in family businesses. He started working as an accountant and continued to acquire experience in different positions of responsibility until attaining his current position. Carlos has always known how to leverage what he’s learned: his final master’s project became his company’s main investment, and his time at IE Business School has changed his approach to equity investment.
Why did you decide to further your education at IE?
I’m 58 years old and I’ve always worked in real estate management for the family company. Over time, you relax and get comfortable, you hang on to stale ideas and you don’t see your own mistakes, you downplay them, and you fail to recognize new opportunities. But after COVID, I felt a need to activate myself in the midst of a lethargic, disruptive period, and I saw the IE Real Estate Asset Management Program. I decided to further my education at IE because the program’s content matched the subjects and cases I deal with every day. I needed to get up to speed on concepts and ideas and an overall vision of the real estate sector.
Do you think that your time at IE has changed your focus in your career?
My approach has changed: now I see equity investment from an integrating point of view. IE has taught me to observe and relate economic and real estate variables, to see the differentiating details of assets and to think a lot more about future development. I have witnessed the sector’s technological evolution and that experience has made me more proactive in the digital tools applicable to asset management. I’ve undergone profound changes in some areas and I’m open to analyzing others.
What is your current professional status?
Currently, my professional status is as stable as it has been over the last 30 years. I manage my family company and I will continue to do so, incorporating new techniques and maintaining the ones that work. At my small company, I have the multi-disciplinary knowledge needed to navigate the sector.
What is the most valuable lesson you learned during the program? Do you have any inspiring stories you’d like to share with your classmates?
The program showed me that group work improves individual results, that there are people who get as involved in the project as you do (there are always exceptions and other ways of viewing the commitment to the group), people who make you better and you make them better. There were moments of conflicting opinions which eventually led us to the best proposals and results. It was remarkable to me the role that different personalities played in group work. Negotiating, researching, objecting, discussing, accepting situations that cannot change, and seeing how some of the group members evolved was very gratifying. I really had fun, I learned, and I improved personally and professionally.