Q&A with Bruce Khajehnoori, our new Principal, Strategy Australia

In this Q&A, our new Principal, Strategy in Australia, Bruce Khajehnoori, shares his experience, passions and what he's most looking forward to in his new role.

Welcome to Unispace Bruce, we’re excited to have you in the team. So, why did you choose to join Unispace?

Thanks, I’m excited to be here. In my prior role I had numerous engagements with Unispace and was always impressed by the team’s professionalism and high attention to detail. I liked Unispace’s wholistic approach, the depth of their construction know-how and the clearly defined end-to-end model.

What are you excited about in your new role?

I enjoy complex problem solving and developing strategies to help businesses achieve enterprise transformational goals. What excites me the most about my new role is that I'll have an opportunity to draw upon my professional career to help clients solve their property needs, and to plan, create and maintain better workplaces enabled for the future.

Tell us about your professional career, what are you bringing to the new role?

I bring with me a business driven, solution focused mindset developed over two decades of professional career. Spanning across design and architecture, innovation development and implementation, portfolio management, steel fabrication, concrete construction and workplace strategy evolution.

What are you most passionate about?

I'm passionate about learning new things every chance I get. In the past seven years I have focused on researching cognitive neuroscience as part of a journey to better understand the full spectrum of our workforce here in Australia and globally (there is a complex array of neurodiversities that affect 1 in 5 people in Australia). I’m looking forward to using this knowledge to help companies develop inclusive workplace strategies that cater to the unique needs of their people, to make sure no one is left behind. It will be fulfilling to work with the Unispace team to apply this understanding in the design and construction of spaces.

Finally, a more personal question, what is your favorite career mantra?

These questions are always a challenge, because there’s much good material out there. Being a list writer I have to answer this one with a list of helpful career mantras that have helped me:

1. Never stop learning
2. There is always a better way to do everything
3. With adequate time and resources, every obstacle can be surmounted
4. 80/20 is as close to perfection as you’ll ever get in a professional context
5. Mistakes are inevitable, always focus on the lessons learnt so you can continuously improve
6. Success is hard work applied consistently over time, there are no shortcuts

Bruce has almost 20 years’ experience working in design, architecture and workplace innovation. He has also been researching human cognitive behavior and neuroscience with a focus to better understand the complex array of neurodiversities, and therefore the needs of his clients and their people. Bruce will be working with our strategy clients across Australia, helping them to define and understand their needs so that we can create the right work environments for their people to succeed.