Realtors - Was 2010 Brutal or Was the Way You Handled it Brutal?

2010 was devastating for some, glorious for others. Did you blame others, or did you respond with flexibility and foresight?

Excellence is the Minimal Acceptable Standard

There was no room for error. Mediocrity wasn’t good enough. It lead to slow or fast demise. Excellence is the minimal acceptable standard. In yourself and in others.

Mediocrity Kills

Others will bring you down if you don’t make swift changes. Mediocrity shows disloyalty on their part, maybe even lack of integrity. Your response is critical. Will you reciprocate with managerial mediocrity and let it drag out until you have no business left and no ability to pay them any more?

Face the Brutal Facts

What if the mediocre performance is yours? Be brutal with your self analysis. If you have the innate capability to succeed you’ll be OK. Your job is to fix your process. There are books and courses on process improvement and analysis of core problems and how to fix them. This is a management issue, not a real estate issue.

Give Credit To Others, Take Responsibility for Failures

Give credit to others when there is success. Look in the mirror and blame yourself when there is failure. Then analyze how YOU created an environment that fostered the failure. Fix the process so it won’t happen again. Internalize that you are the reason for every failure and soon those failures will diminish.

Manage the Process, Not the People

Manage the process, not the people. If you fix the process and they still don't perform, they have a problem. If you still have to manage the person, you hired the wrong person. By not having their A-game, they’re not being loyal to you. Sorry, they have to go, whether they’re contractors, employees, and yes, even if they are family. It must be done. Who's the bad guy? You? Or them for destroying the company? They have other talents and they'll flourish elsewhere more compatible. You're doing them a favor.

Read Inspirational Management Books, Like "Good To Great" by Jim Collins

Go to the bookstore right now and buy the book “Good to Great” preferably with the companion audio CD set. Then find ten other easy to read inspirational management books. Read them, memorize them and watch your business flourish. Much of this post post was inspired by "Good to Great", but my bookshelf is lined with classics such as Peter Drucker's "The Effective Executive" written 44 years ago in 1966. You would think it was written yesterday.

Wishing you a great year - Dave