5 Questions For Philly's Power Women: Post Brothers Senior Vice President Sarina Rose

With its ambitious projects and outspoken CEO, Post Brothers is one of the more visible development companies in Philadelphia. Senior Vice President of Development Sarina Rose only contributes to one of those factors, but leading market-setting projects like Presidential City and the recently completed Atlantic at Broad and Spruce streets are achievements that prove she deserves a little bit of the spotlight.

We asked Rose and other speakers for Bisnow's Philly Power Women event Oct. 30 at The Rittenhouse Hotel five questions to get a sense of the many different ways one can be a Power Woman. Here are Rose's answers.

Bisnow: If you could teach women growing in the industry today just one thing, what would it be?

Rose: I would say to leave the chip on your shoulder at the door and bring your sense of humor to work with you, and use it.

Also, give men a chance to receive you as part of the conversation. There is no reason to force it. I, for one, truly enjoy being underestimated, and then joining in or even setting a new tone once I understand the context and issues fully and can offer something substantial to the conversation. It can be fun to surprise people.

Bisnow: What is your biggest career failure and what positive lessons did it teach you?

Rose: My biggest failure was probably sinking years of my time and effort into a partnership with someone with whom I was not remotely compatible, and in a job that I did not enjoy. I did this because I thought that being a partner in an architectural firm defined me as successful.

It taught me a couple things: One, that you do not have to let others define you simply because of your affiliation with them, but also, that you can reinvent yourself over the course of your career and as your goals and interests evolve.

Bisnow: What accomplishment are you most proud of in your career and how did you achieve it?

Rose: The accomplishment that I am most proud of is having developed a track record of minimizing risk with well-planned strategies at a very early stage in our projects, and a reputation for pushing through adversity. I almost always have a Plan B and Plan C, and that has served me incredibly well.

I recognized early on that if you have the choice to change your path, and choices in the companies you are working with, those companies and individuals that you are working with tend to behave. Conversely, if you have no options, you have no competition for your work, individuals tend to sense it and exploit the situation. The more challenging a project, the more I enjoy working on it.

Bisnow: How have you seen companies change the way they address wage and gender inequality in recent years?

Rose: I have seen the work environment become more comfortable for women at every turn. I see designated site restrooms that tend to stay a tad cleaner, minimal profanity and inappropriate doodling of the walls and a general feeling on the sites that women are welcome.

On a more serious note, I see a lot more communication in the workplace regarding the reality of family obligations and peers working together to allow for more compatible schedules. More specifically, I see both men and women staggering their schedules with each other to adequately cover work site supervision when one has to put kids on the bus in the morning and one is coaching baseball in the afternoons in the spring.

A more forgiving work environment for both genders has also, I believe, allowed for a higher level of community involvement. I no longer see the “judging” of someone who needs to leave for a surprise family matter or to volunteer for the community. That person is not going to have his or her work be quickly discounted based on a decision to scoot out a tiny bit early to serve on a board or coach a hockey game. That type of culture has a positive impact on employee dedication, loyalty and contribution overall.

Our office, at the request of the employees, recently started a program to donate vacation time to a colleague that might have been in a car accident or is struggling with an illness of a child. It is a testament to the office culture that it was requested at all.

Bisnow: What is your favorite part of working in the Philly market, and what is the thing about other markets/another one in particular that you envy most?

Rose: I see the designed and built product in New York or pretty much any major city as superior to Philadelphia, despite the site conditions being more challenging and costly. High design-intensive areas like Hudson Yards are really something to admire.

My favorite part of working in Philadelphia is that the built product is fairly tired compared to other cities. There is so much room to push the built product and to have a high impact. It makes creating an exceptional product easier and more gratifying.

Before I came on board at Post Brothers, and when I was practicing years ago in an architectural firm, I heard a saying: “The best project is one that you got paid for but never built.”

The thought was that a project was better un-built than to be cut up to the point that is was terribly ugly, but met the budget. Many architects were so beat down that they left creativity at the door from the start. High construction costs and modest returns left architects little chance for impact in a project design.

Philadelphia is finally pushing the product and I love that I am part of that.