New industry benchmark: ICG and REB make leadership quality in the real estate industry measurable for the first time

The Institute for Corporate Governance in the German
Real Estate Industry (ICG) and the Real Estate Brand Institute (REB) are entering into a
strategic partnership. The aim of the cooperation is to develop a
new, evidence-based industry benchmark for assessing leadership,
Resilience and reliability of companies in the real estate industry.

The core of the cooperation is the joint development of the Governance &
Leadership Index (GLI), a data-based benchmark system that
Leadership quality systematically measurable, comparable and controllable for the first time
powers. The Real Estate Brand Institute is responsible for the conceptual and
methodological architecture of the index as well as evidence-based modelling and
Analysis. The ICG brings its governance expertise, institutional classification
and anchoring in the real estate industry in the implementation and
further development of the scale.

Susanne Eickermann-Riepe FRICS, Chairwoman of the ICG: "Good corporate
governance is not an abstract principle, but a central success factor for
trust, resilience and sustainable corporate development. With the GLI,
we are creating a sound basis for the first time to make the quality of leadership
systematically visible and comparable."

The real estate industry is undergoing a profound change: In addition to
classic KPIs gain factors such as leadership quality, responsibility and
trust is becoming increasingly important. At the same time, there is a lack of resilient
Methods to validly record these aspects. This is where the GLI comes in: The index
combines data-driven analytics with governance expertise to create a
structured frame of reference for the assessment of leadership and
governance quality of companies.

A central point of reference is the existing ICG certification
"Compliance Management in the Real Estate Industry". This examines the extent to which
companies, regulatory requirements, values-based leadership and
risk management. The new index takes a step
further: He links these basics to the crucial question of how well
companies are prepared for future market demands.

Burkhard Dallosch, ICG board member: "This is how companies receive valuable
conclusions about how resilient they are positioned for the future.
The decisive factor is how organizations deal with uncertain conditions –
and whether they have the right leadership team for it." The focus is on
in particular the question of reliability in volatile times: How stable,
companies are capable of making decisions and trustworthy if the
framework conditions will become more difficult?

In the cooperation, both partners combine their respective strengths: The REB brings
its expertise in evidence-based modelling and comparability of
company quality, based on analyses and benchmarks by the REB. The ICG
ensures that the content is classified and anchored in the industry.
Together, a tool is created that bridges the link between governance,
trust and brand strength, and as a well-founded
basis for decision-making for management bodies and investors.

Harald Steiner, CEO of REB: "The real estate industry is facing a
paradigm shift: leadership and governance are becoming the decisive drivers
of brand strength. With the GLI, we translate governance quality into an
evidence-based, comparable model. This will make it systematically
visible for the first time how management structures shape the reliability and decision-making ability
of companies and how these can be controlled in a targeted manner."

In a first step, a pilot project will be implemented with some companies,
to validate the model, evaluation logic and comparability. Among them are
(in alphabetical order) Drees & Sommer, GSK Stockmann and Tattersall
Lorenz. On this basis, the index will be gradually developed and
integrated into central formats of the ICG, including events,
training courses and award formats.

With the Governance & Leadership Index, the ICG and REB aim to achieve a
evidence-based reference framework for governance quality. This
makes visible the influence of leadership on trust, resilience and
brand strength – and at the same time provides a sound basis for
strategic decisions in management bodies and among investors.

"In this way, we are making an important contribution to the professionalization of leadership
as a measurable variable and to strengthening sustainable corporate governance in the
real estate industry," Eickermann-Riepe and Steiner conclude.