Teaching as the ideal preparation for management

Teaching, for some executives fed up with the grind of working in management or finance, is seen as a way of putting their skills to good use in an environment that offers different rewards.

Julia Calabrese headed in the opposite direction. She credits the three years she spent as a teacher early in her career as laying the foundations for the vital skills she brings to her role as chief executive of McArthurGlen, a developer, owner and manager of retail outlet villages in Europe.

Ms Calabrese has forged a career in people management and her experience in teaching, guiding and nurturing students provided priceless insights into the varying levels and types of guidance and inspiration needed by professionals.

"I've learned over the years that in order to become a better manager you have to recognise that not one leadership style is right," she says. "Whether it's coaching, counselling, influencing, I find myself using that toolkit of skills each and every day."

Leading a multinational company has also meant understanding the differing nuances in a number of cultures. McArthurGlen works across eight countries, and there are days when Ms Calabrese finds herself in board meetings with British, Italian, German and Dutch colleagues.

Although American-born, she is Italian, which gives her an intuitive understanding of European culture upon which to draw.

But the ability to be culturally sensitive is also a skill she learnt early in her career.

After joining property company Cushman & Wakefield, she was given responsibility for the east coast of the US, where culture can vary dramatically from state to state.

"It was very good training for me because the people in Pennsylvania were different from the people in New York. And the people in Florida were different from the people in Dallas. And it's similar here in Europe."

When it comes to gender, Ms Calabrese is quick to dismiss being a woman as having a negative impact on her own career. Instead, she insists, it has been beneficial: "Sitting on a board of men, I think they appreciate a woman's perspective."

She belongs to The Committee of 200, a global organisation set up to enable successful women in business to advance their leadership skills, as well as providing support and networking opportunities.

But she acknowledges that being ambitious can take its toll on life outside work, and the support of her husband has been invaluable in enabling her to pursue and develop her career: "I have an extraordinarily wonderful husband who encourages me and understands me, and I probably sometimes take advantage of that, by virtue of the fact that I do put work first. But I think the older I get, the more balanced I become."

McArthurGlen is expanding its portfolio of designer retail estates. This year, it has opened "villages" in Athens and Hamburg, and while there is continued focus on western Europe, the company is also turning its attention to North America.

Every day is different and Ms Calabrese describes how she can go from meeting with investors and partners, to jetting off to Milan to liaise with fashion houses, including Armani and Roberto Cavalli. By developing close relationships with brands, Ms Calabrese ensures McArthurGlen's retail outlets are continually stocked with luxury labels, and the brands are provided with a means of selling on excess stock. She describes it as a win-win concept.

"They're in the business of retail, we're in the business of providing them spaces within our shopping centres to sell their goods, so there is a mutual interest."

But managing a multi-million pound organisation is a far cry from Ms Calabrese's early ambitions. As a teenager she aspired to be a nurse, but after graduating from Indiana University of Pennsylvania, with a degree in marketing and business, she decided to put an additional degree in business teaching to good use and become a teacher.

She had never aspired to be "a titan of industry" but, after three years of teaching, an entrepreneurial spirit surfaced and Ms Calabrese pursued commercial roles, beginning with a brief stint as a legal secretary, and then an opportunity in property, developing condominiums. It was here that she cut her teeth in property development. A year later she became the business's vice president.

Working in property brought her into contact with Joey Kaempfer, the current chairman of McArthurGlen and at the time owner of Kaempfer Company, a developer of high-rise office buildings in Washington DC. Seven years after taking her first step into property, she moved to Kaempfer Company and, apart from three years spent as vice president at Cushman & Wakefield in the mid-1990s, she has since worked beside Mr Kaempfer on a variety of ventures.

Her move to Europe came in 1998, when Mr Kaempfer asked her to become chief operating officer at McArthurGlen in London. "My husband and I always said that, between us, whoever was given an opportunity or adventure, we would support the other in doing it. And in 1998, this qualified as an adventure."

At 61, she still finds herself motivated by a thirst for learning and considers herself fortunate to be chief executive of a company of which she feels proud: "I can't tell you how exciting it is, going to the opening of a new project. It's extraordinary what we do. From the beautiful architecture, to the lovely brands and the great consumers. It's fun, it's challenging - and I like that."

Secret CV

Your first big break?

Getting the job in real estate. It led me on the career path that put me here today.

Any role models?

Joey Kaempfer, chairman of McArthurGlen. I also learned a lot on the president management programme at Harvard Business School, both from the course and my colleagues in the class. We're still a close-knit group.

What do you do outside work?

I do like to work out at the gym. I also like to travel. My husband and I do long weekends away to places such as Somerset or Paris.

Where do you see yourself in 10 years?

I think I'll be semi-retired. And I'd like to be somewhere where the sun shines a little bit more often. Probably in Italy, driving around in a Ferrari.

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