I read a thought provoking post about the evolution and adaptation of sea turtles. It was a fascinating piece (Biggest Business Challenge: Escaping the Past) offering a unique perspective about doing business in today's ever changing world. The author asked the following question:
"If you were to build your company today starting from scratch, for today's environment, would you build it differently?''
My answer is a resounding yes! At the present time, I'm an owner and managing broker of a boutique real estate office in the Pacific Northwest. Our bricks and mortar building is lovely and provides beautiful office space (with a kitchen to boot) for our agents to meet clients. That's about to change!
One needn't possess a PhD to understand that technology has dramatically altered the course of our business. Other industries have been quick to adapt, while our predominantly 50 and older crowd goes kicking and screaming. I dare say... if we don't wake up and create a proactive approach to accommodating a forwardly mobile consumer, our prehistoric mindset will only perpetuate our self-inflicted path to extinction.
I expect the usual commentary... 'But Mel, our 'value' as Realtors is substantial. Certainly our clients couldn't possibly transact a real estate deal without us.' Yada, yada, yada. I'm sure the mailman and the UPS guy (gender aside) are collectively echoing the same sentiments, while Amazon ponders the use of drones to drop ship packages to doorsteps within 24 hours of ordering.
Some might say it's a lousy example to compare the real estate industry to the shipping industry. Perhaps. However, it would also be a stretch to limit evolutionary change and/or extinction to reptilian sea turtles. No longer can we rest comfortably on our ancestral laurels, blissfully repeating... They need us... they really need us!
Should conventional thinking become best practice? History says no. Perhaps it's time we do ourselves a flavor (fun/pun intended)... let's step inside our discomfort zone and create original thoughts on how our industry might look differently if we were to build it today. Whether we like it or not, evolutionary change in business is inevitable. If we don't build it, some other brain child like Zuckerberg will. Then what?
Would You Build It Differently? ~ Melinda (Mel) Peterson
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