There are several areas where Andreia Nobre has worked and the position of general director of the national real estate agency TKA | The Key Advisors is the latest addition to his impressive career. During her professional career, which spans more than two decades, the leader has truly proven that she is an authentic inspiring example for others.
Before rising to the top of TKA, Andreia had a \u201cquite diverse\u201d and \u201ca little outside the norm\u201d trajectory, as she describes it, because she not only held positions in various sectors but also \u201clived in 10 cities on 3 different continents\u201d. Initially, in 1999, the director graduated in Mining and Georesources Engineering from Instituto Superior T\u00e9cnico, and, that same year, she began working at Somincor, a firm that \u201cexplores the largest underground mines in Europe\u201d, she says. In 2004, she completed an MBA (i.e., Master in Business Administration) in Management from Universidade Cat\u00f3lica Portuguesa and, subsequently, worked in numerous positions and companies, from controller at AutoVision (Volkswagen Group) to advisor to the Secretary of State for Justice and from Secretary of State for Administrative Modernization to Senior Manager at the multinational company EY (Ernst & Young). In the latter firm, Andreia worked first in Lisbon and then in Dubai, specifically in the area of Fraud Investigation and Dispute Services. This was \u201cperhaps the biggest challenge\u201d of her career, she reveals, as it forced her \u201cto spend 15 days away and then return home for 15 days\u201d, and, with her children aged 5 and 7, her husband had to take over alone. their education and, thus, \u201che became the person they call when they get hurt.\u201d
Back in Portugal, Andreia would completely change her field, venturing into ocean conservation, which took her, in 2019, to the Azores to lead a project by the Oceano Azul Foundation. Three years later, she returned to Lisbon and became general director of TKA, a position she currently holds, as well as mentoring at Instituto Superior T\u00e9cnico, Universidade Cat\u00f3lica Portuguesa and the Lisbon MBA. Meanwhile, the leader is about to complete a Postgraduate Degree in Real Estate Management and Valuation, at the Higher Institute of Economics and Management (ISEG). In Andreia\u2019s view, academic and professional paths are \u201cboth essential and inseparable, if we want to progress in our career and become more competent professionals\u201d. On the one hand, \u201cformal education\u201d provides a \u201csolid base of theoretical and practical knowledge\u201d, something that is \u201cextremely useful in all aspects of our lives\u201d, noting that, in his case, \u201call the training he did left -the richest and, above all, more secure and confident in the decisions she makes.\u201d On the other hand, as there are \u201caspects of leadership that are difficult to teach in an academic environment\u201d, such as \u201cinterpersonal skills, emotional intelligence, strategic vision or decision-making ability under pressure\u201d, professional experience is what really helps to obtain them and consolidate them, he admits.
Therefore, \u201ccontinuous personal development and practical experience also play a crucial role in leadership\u201d, reiterates the director. Currently in the real estate industry, Andreia has been general director of TKA since 2022. Founded in 2005, TKA | The Key Advisors is a Portuguese company that provides \u201cspecialized consultancy services in real estate assets\u201d, in the words of its leader. But what distinguishes this firm from others like it? For Andreia, the answer is \u201ctechnical capacity, combined with customer service and the desire to continue learning and growing\u201d, which allows her to \u201cwork with the best clients in a motivated way, helping with their growth\u201d and that of the group itself. . According to Andreia, her entry into this firm began with a simple email from the career management consultancy Upper Side. <\/p>\n
Although she \u201cloved the Azores and even more the Azoreans\u201d, the leader felt that \u201cher commitment to the [Oceano Azul] Foundation project was already fulfilled\u201d and that this professional opportunity came at \u201cthe right time, with the added bonus of allowing her to return home.\u201d So, with \u201ca desire for change and a little nervousness\u201d, she applied for the position and ended up being selected.<\/p>\n
For the leader, this process presented \u201ctwo great doses of madness\u201d: the first corresponding to the fact that she \u201cdared to accept leading a company in an area in which she had no professional experience\u201d and the second the fact that the \u201cmain shareholder\u201d of the company \u201cbelieve in your abilities, despite knowing that you had no experience professional\u201d and the second the fact that the company\u2019s \u201cmain shareholder\u201d \u201cbelieved in its capabilities, despite knowing that it had no experience in the area of real estate and valuations\u201d. \u201cThe truth is that, 18 months later, we are both very happy to have taken the risk and the balance is frankly positive\u201d, he emphasizes. As soon as she became leader of TKA, Andreia quickly saw the<\/p>\n
\n\u201cTHE NEED TO MAKE SOME CHANGES, INTERNAL AND EXTERNAL, THAT WOULD REFLECT OUR POSITIONING AND ALLOW US TO OPTIMIZE OUR WORK\u201d.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n
According to the director, there were \u201cfive essential points\u201d that underwent changes: the processes, to guarantee \u201ccomplete transparency in the way [the firm] operates, whether for clients or suppliers\u201d; the functions, in order to adjust the team \u201cto the needs of its clients, ensuring that they deliver value with the best talent on the market\u201d; the reports, to \u201cfacilitate the reading of all their content\u201d and clarify the decisions made; the company’s image and website, which were updated and modernized; and the facilities, with the purpose of \u201ccontinuing to grow, improving the working conditions of its team and those who visit them\u201d.
This \u201cfirst stage\u201d of changes was \u201csuccessfully completed\u201d, says Andreia, and the company is already focused on a \u201csecond phase, which focuses on the development of new services\u201d. One of these examples corresponds to a \u201ckind of \u201ceverything you wanted to know\u201d about a specific property\u201d, a service aimed at \u201cindividuals who are thinking about buying or selling a property\u201d and which provides them with an analysis \u201cfrom different points of view\u201d , both procedural and physical, including the market value of that specific property.
Thus, TKA aims to give clients \u201ca comprehensive analysis of what is being bought or sold, providing suggestions for potential improvements to the asset and helping to make more conscious and informed decisions\u201d that lead to \u201cbetter investment decisions\u201d, it indicates. In this way, Andreia believes that \u201cany client who sells or buys a property will benefit from having an independent entity, like TKA, telling them the real value of that specific property\u201d with its valuation, being \u201cthe cost of it, in almost all situations, fully compensated by the best business decision\u201d. At the top of her career, the general director of TKA reveals that she \u201cwas never guided by big goals\u201d and, therefore, is \u201cmore adept at the saying\u201d of the philosopher and poet Agostinho da Silva: \u201cDon\u2019t make plans for life, that you can ruin the plans that life has for you.\u201d
However, because she is a \u201cperfectionist and loves challenges\u201d, she presents \u201ca permanent desire to overcome herself and do better\u201d and, therefore, to \u201cprogress\u201d, highlighting that \u201cwhat kept moving her were the challenges she was lucky enough to encounter and hug along the way\u201d, which made her grow and learn.
Despite being in a position still dominated by men, the leader never had her abilities questioned because she was a woman. For Andreia, \u201cthe question of whether or not she has the capacity came up more in the opportunities for which she applied and for which she was rejected\u201d, revealing that, in these last situations, the recruiters opted for other women, \u201call of them with better CVs\u201d. than yours, for that specific position, and therefore \u201ccannot complain\u201d.
For Andreia, any woman is capable of simultaneously \u201cleading multiple projects\u201d and \u201cachieving professional success\u201d. Achieving this \u201csignificant feat\u201d not only \u201cdemonstrates exceptional leadership, organization and determination skills\u201d but also \u201cchallenges stereotypes\u201d and \u201centrenched prejudices that suggest that women cannot, should not, or cannot hold leadership positions or have successful careers.\u201d<\/strong> -successful at the same time as they have families and a social life\u201d, he argues. In turn, this deconstruction highlights the \u201cimportance of a society that values and promotes gender equality at all levels\u201d and contributes to \u201cawareness\u201d and \u201cchanging attitudes\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\u201cI HOPE THAT MY EXAMPLE, AND OF SO MANY OTHER WOMEN, PROVE THAT IT IS POSSIBLE, BUT ALSO ILLUSTRATES HOW WOMEN CAN BE EFFECTIVE AND INFLUENTIAL LEADERS IN ANY FIELD\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n
With the missions of valuing women and \u201chelping to change stereotypes\u201d, Andreia is one of the members of the WIRE Portugal (Women in Real Estate) organization, chaired by Filipa Arantes Pedroso. According to the TKA leader, the \u201cpurpose\u201d of this association is to \u201cincrease the visibility of women in the real estate and construction sector, through their greater representation at events and initiatives in the sector\u201d<\/strong>, in order to \u201cdefend their interests\u201d and generate \u201ca community of active and reference participants\u201d. In addition to WIRE Portugal, Andreia is \u201cproudly part of\u201d other organizations. She highlights Inspiring Girls Portugal, whose aim is to \u201cinspire girls to achieve their aspirations by putting them in contact with professional women who are successful references in their area of activity\u201d<\/strong>, in order to \u201cshow that there are numerous career options and professions that they can follow\u201d. As general director of TKA, Andreia is an advocate of the idea that you can only be a successful leader \u201cwhen you are an example\u201d and that \u201ctakes work\u201d. In order to achieve this goal, she reveals that it is necessary to have \u201can enormous capacity for work\u201d, \u201ca generous dose of empathy\u201d – that is, \u201cbeing able to put on the other person’s shoes\u201d – and, finally, \u201ca pinch of humility\u201d, since it is \u201cimportant to always bear in mind that nothing is done alone and that we won’t always be right\u201d<\/strong>, arguing that \u201cknowing how to listen to others and, if necessary, backing down and apologizing is […] the salt of the earth\u201d<\/strong>. <\/p>\n
\n\u201cI BELIEVE THAT BEHIND A GREAT LEADER THERE IS ALWAYS A GREAT TEAM AND THAT ONE CANNOT EXIST WITHOUT THE OTHER\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n
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