A Special Thank You to Slimy Real Estate Professionals

The Set-up

There are times in a career when a question is posed that forces a wholesale evaluation of one’s chosen profession. I experienced one such episode during a mentorship lunch with one of my younger colleagues last week.
While we spent the majority of our conversation discussing the challenges of cold calling and business development, it was an off-handed comment towards the end of our meal that sparked the inspiration for this post.

The Challenge

The young star observed that there is strong reputational risk associated with being in our business and the much-caricatured profile of a commercial broker – dishonest, short-term thinking, self-important – has become the default assumption for many c-suite executives. It is within this reality that we operate, where it is not infrequent to hear executives openly suspect that we have something other than their full fiduciary in mind.
Honesty and integrity are the foundations upon which I was raised and they continue to be the leading beacons when making both personal and professional decisions. My 9-year long tenure at Savills Studley, noteworthy for being atypically millennial, is a testament to the strength of these shared values within our larger 10+ person team. And as I reflect upon our past successes, I’ve become even more convinced that significant credit is directly attributable to our embrace of these values.

The Insight

Ignore what the local news tells you; people are actually pretty good at differentiating between honesty and dishonesty. Try reflecting on your own experiences; perhaps there was a needy acquaintance who needed immediate financial help or a fast-talking salesman who was unusually persistent? Your ability to intuitively assign a level of trust to a counterpart is a skill upon which humanity depends on for its survival.
Within a business context, there is a clear reward for operating with integrity. Executives tend to be frighteningly good reads of people, hence their elevated professional status. As such, they are in an ideal position to interview and judge potential real estate advisors during a pitch. Therefore the thesis: While it’s certainly true that morally-wanting brokers exist, it is equally true that their existence makes it easier to stand out within our unfairly besmirched industry. Act with integrity. Success will follow.
Questions? Comment below or email me at gmarans@savills-studley.com