If you’d like to catch a video replay of this Connect Now session, and access the other 25+ hours of video content from Connect Now, tickets are still available. Click here to access.
Brad Inman, founder of Inman News, rallied audience members at Inman Connect Now on Tuesday during a talk entitled, “The Big Idea: Realism, Reflection, and Action” while calling on the real estate community to come together to support one another and their communities during a time of national upheaval.
Only a few months prior at Inman Connect New York 2020, Inman had predicted good things to come for the economy, the housing market and the digital age in the year ahead.
“How wrong could I have been?” Inman wondered aloud to the virtual audience.
Just weeks after Inman Connect New York, the coronavirus pandemic hit. Then the economy plunged. Protests have now unleashed across the U.S. in outrage at the murder of an Black man at the hands of a white police officer in Minneapolis as three other officers stood by.
“What’s next?” Inman asked the Connect Now audience.
Brad Inman
A way forward won’t be easy, but Inman said it begins with every single person making a conscious effort to eradicate systemic injustices.
Inman implored industry leaders to “step up” and go beyond making “vague commitments to diversity, charities and economic fairness,” noting the palpable lack of minorities and women in real estate boardrooms and executive suites.
“It is really hard to imagine heaven while living through hell,” Inman said. “But we have no other choice right now.”
Nobody need rise to the level of “heroic,” Inman noted, but it’s essential that real estate professionals — now more than ever — get back to work and be present for others in their communities, he added.
Inman called on individuals in the real estate industry to exercise emotional intelligence, empathy and service to others during these times of uncertainty.
He went on to note that the industry has experienced this season a “Digital Spring,” a technological awakening of sorts, imposed by “the invisible hand of a pandemic,” that, nevertheless, has swiftly forced real estate into a future in which the entire transaction can be completed virtually without a hitch.
While we’re just beginning to “see through the fog” of the tragic events of recent months, Inman said it’s important to remember that this too will pass. Real estate professionals now must make “a collective commitment to help those who need to find housing.”
In conclusion, Inman reminded the audience of the name of his talk: “The Big Idea.”
So, what was Inman’s big idea after all?
“The big idea is you, the ‘new you’ who was born in March of this year,” Inman said in closing. “The new you who is courageously getting back to business, serving others, doing what you do best.”
If you’d like to catch a video replay of this Connect Now session, and access the other 25+ hours of video content from Connect Now, tickets are still available. Click here to access.
