Community Is The Difference Between a Brand That Thrives and One That Fades
The business case for curating real community
Does community really make a difference when choosing where to work?
Or has it simply become another marketing buzzword?
Those were the questions we recently posed to the Brave Ideas community on LinkedIn. Over 30 landlords, operators, coworking members, and thought leaders weighed in.
The responses were thoughtful, candid, and highly consistent:
Community still matters. But only when it’s done right.
The conversation around community has become increasingly polarized as more flex space operators and landlords seek to differentiate their offerings. Many promote community as part of their brand story, but far fewer deliver it in a way that truly drives member experience, retention, and long-term business performance.
Let’s explore why community still makes a difference, where it often falls short, and why getting it right is not only a cultural advantage but a commercial one.
When Community Is Done Right
Why It Matters
Community is not a tagline; it’s a business asset. When cultivated with intention, it drives loyalty, renewals, referrals, and organic growth. Operators who have mastered this understand that real community creates what Suzanne Murdock calls "stickiness" — the reason people stay even when alternatives exist.
Karen Tait, founder of The Residence, captured it perfectly:
“Someone could always outspend me, outshine me in amenities, spend more on advertising, but they can't replicate a solid community, tied together with personal relationships... you get found out very quickly, it's either there or not.”
Community makes members feel seen, valued, and connected. This leads to organic referrals, member-led programming, and a vibrant culture that amplifies itself over time.
Cat Johnson, who coaches coworking community managers worldwide, frames it as both cultural and commercial:
"If your members are happy, engaged, loyal, and telling others how great your space is, you have an efficient and effective marketing engine built into your business."
Simply put:
Real community lowers vacancy, increases renewals, and stabilizes NOI because members form emotional ties to the space, relationships with each other, and trust in the operating team — making them far less likely to leave.
This creates predictable, recurring income and ultimately differentiates assets in underwriting.
When It Becomes a Buzzword
The Risks
Where community often fails is when it's treated as an add-on or checkbox. Many operators attempt to “install” community through surface-level amenities or irregular programming, believing that features alone will build belonging.
Sophia Primarolo of Innov8 Property Solutions explains:
“Community has become a box that people try to tick with a free coffee machine, a yoga class, or hosting a local vendor once every 6 months. REAL community at work takes time, constant innovation, and most importantly, PEOPLE.”
Martin Prince-Parrott, in his Brave Ideas exclusive Stop Saying ‘Community’, challenges the casual use of the word. The danger isn’t in promising community, it’s in promising it without doing the work to back it up.
When operators overpromise and underdeliver, trust erodes. Members sense when connections are artificial or transactional, and that disconnection eventually shows up in turnover and churn — eroding both brand value and asset value.
Emilie Lashmar says community shouldn’t just be a buzzword, it’s the “whole damn point”.
The Role of Brand and Values in Curating Community
The strongest flex space brands understand that community doesn’t happen by accident…it’s curated through brand clarity and values.
Jerome Chang describes it this way:
“I have built my communities over the years a lot on my brand… I have never thought one could scale community unless the brand does.”
At Brave, we believe values must sit at the center of every touchpoint — from the website to onboarding, from programming to partnerships. These signals create natural alignment before anyone even steps foot into the space.
As I shared in my article Is This The New Equation For The Office?, brand and values are now inseparable drivers of asset performance.
The brand sets the tone; the community brings it to life.
In a market where location and amenities can be copied, cultural alignment and brand-led community become the defensible moat because they attract both people and companies who actively choose spaces that match their values, amplify their culture, and connect them to a like-minded ecosystem they can’t build on their own.
What Real Community Actually Feels Like
When community is done right, it’s not hard to spot.
It’s in the daily interactions, the small rituals, the organic relationships that emerge.
As Emilie Lashmar of GCUC UK described in her:
“True community is what happens in the cracks—in between the meetings, in the 'fancy seeing you here' moments, in those five-minute convos that spiral into shared purpose. It’s not about networking. It’s about belonging.”
The Simple Playbook for Curating Community
While every space is unique, real community typically grows from a few common disciplines:
Lead with values:
Clearly communicate your purpose, mission, and the kind of culture you’re building. Values attract alignment.Curate your membership:
Use onboarding and sales conversations to clearly communicate your values and culture, so both people and companies can assess whether your space is the right fit — not simply join because space is available.Design for interaction:
Create physical spaces that encourage natural collisions, casual conversations, and informal moments of connection.Deliver intentional programming:
Build a mix of events, workshops, and activations that align with your members’ interests, values, and business goals — creating repeated opportunities for connection, collaboration, and shared experience.Empower the team:
Community managers aren’t event planners; they’re relationship builders. Train and support them accordingly.Create rituals and shared experiences:
Consistency builds familiarity. Familiarity builds trust. Trust builds belonging.
As Cat Johnson puts it:
“You can’t force people to connect. What you can do is create opportunities for people to find their people.”
The Consequence of Getting It Wrong
When community is promised but not delivered, members disengage. Retention weakens. Brand trust erodes. And the building becomes just another commodity in a crowded marketplace.
Barbara Drobnak summarized the risk perfectly:
“‘Community’ became a buzzword because it was easier to say than to build. The real question is: are we building for people, or just branding for them?”
The Simple Truth
Community still matters.
In fact, it matters more than ever. But it's not a marketing hook. It’s a discipline…one that, when practiced well, becomes the foundation of enduring workspace brands and long-term asset value.
If we’re going to promise community, let’s make it real.
Let’s make it human.
And let’s build it together.
Brave Ideas would like to thank everyone who contributed to this conversation. This article was directly shaped by the insights, honesty, and experience of our community.