I just spent a few days in Chicago with the National Association of Realtors. During my travel, I thoroughly enjoyed Brad Inman’s description of our “fat cat (leadership) gathering.”
As I dined on velvety cream cheese airline crackers aboard the luxury Orange Line into town, I thought about how thrilling it was. I was in the company of the “thousands of NAR ghosts who love the suite life, sometimes travel first class and are experts at finding the best restaurants on their member-paid boondoggles.”
Bob Goldberg’s fat cat candy suite
Sitting through a 90-minute working lunch on better engaging our members and supporting our volunteer leaders, I surveyed my conference chicken and steamed broccoli feast. I reflected on the free drink ticket in my jacket pocket for the evening’s festivities. I had to admit that this really was the Ritz.
Speaking of Ritz, even the snack crackers seem to be material evidence when NAR’s new CEO, Bob Goldberg, is discussed these days. Inman said Goldberg’s suite was “larger than an average apartment in New York City and was stacked with more treats than a 7-Eleven. It looked out over the Chicago River with Lake Michigan views that might give rise to grand visions, delusions or both.”
I imagine that Goldberg’s suite was bejeweled in Reese’s Pieces and Diet Cokes that glittered in the lake’s reflection. If anything signaled delusions of grandeur, the snack bar was it.
This event might not have compared to the big-ticket galas or the six-figure checks that certain portals lavish on MLSs, but the shiny cardboard cylinders filled with savory oval potato crisps were some kind of wonderful.
Disruption: What’s in a word?
Goldberg has been talking about “disrupters” frequently, and there’s been an attempt by some to paint it as a show of fear or a victim mentality. I’m not sure if these folks actually listened to his interview with Andrew Flachner or his address to the Leadership Summit.
Goldberg’s message was to embrace the disrupters, the innovators, the change agents — and bring them into a bigger tent.
I don’t know Goldberg well enough to tell you exactly how his tenure will go as NAR’s CEO. Action will be the measure, not words. But as of right now, he’s saying all the things that membership is asking for.
There’s another notion making the rounds that we should stop saying “disruptor” because “innovator” is a better philosophical choice. Although I appreciate the intent, it’s a bit like me telling my kids that crying never fixed anything, so we’re just not going to have it in our home any more.
Great leaders don’t create SWOT analyses and refuse to fill in some of the boxes. Sometimes disruption is elegant innovation that should be embraced and partnered with. Sometimes it’s just cheapness at scale or brute force taking market share.
Sometimes disruption is an unending airport serpentine of passengers waiting for a single dog to smell their bags because somebody at TSA said, “today, let’s do it differently.”
This the other part of the disruption conversation: disrupting the status quo of your people. Goldberg has tasked the NAR staff and leadership to get out in the field and serve members, to know members and to measure members’ satisfaction with the trade organization.
If you haven’t had a chance yet, watch Goldberg’s speech. Listen to the promises, and hold him to them. Hold us to them. We want nothing less.
Focusing on people
Two consecutive Ubers canceled my 6 a.m. trip back to the airport because they couldn’t find one of the biggest hotels in Chicago. I swallowed my fat cat ego and hailed an old-fashioned cab.
It gave me a minute to conjure up the kind of big shot figurehead quote that I read every morning in my Wealth Magazine at the spa: “If your people don’t understand where they’re supposed to be going, all of the technology in the world won’t get them there.”
Excuse me while I light up a Cuban and sign some royalty checks.
All kidding aside with Inman, his final conclusion is spot on and actually much like Goldberg’s philosophy.
“With no shortage of good intentions, big ideas and devoted volunteers and staff, my advice is to stop asking your members to ‘support NAR.’ The slogan should be flipped: How is NAR supporting the everyday Realtor?”
We’re starting off on the right foot. Those who’ve already written Goldberg’s chapter may be in for a bit of disruption themselves.
Sam DeBord is managing broker of Seattle Homes Group with Coldwell Banker Danforth and President of Seattle King County Realtors. You can find his team at SeattleHomes.com and BellevueHomes.com.