books read in 2020

A Storm of Swords - George RR Martin

Trailblazer: The Power of Business as the Greatest Platform for Change - Marc Benioff

Scaling Up - Verne Harnish

Break Barriers - Bishoy Tadros

The Outsider - Stephen King

Mr. Mercedes - Stephen King

Finders Keepers - Stephen King

End of Watch - Stephen King

What it Takes: Lessons in the Pursuit of Excellence - Stephen A Schwarzman

The Ride of a Lifetime: Lessons Learned from 15 Years as CEO of the Walt Disney Corp - Robert Iger

The Coffee Bean: A Simple Lesson to Create a Positive Change - Jon Gordon

A Gentleman in Moscow - Amor Towles

Broken - Don Winslow

The Obstacle is the Way - Ryan Holiday

Growth IQ: Get Smarter About the Choices That Will Make or Break Your Business - Tiffani Bova

Ego is the Enemy - Ryan Holiday

The Hot Zone: The Terrifying True Story of the Origins of the Ebola Virus - Richard Preston

Talking to Strangers: What We Should Know About the People We Don’t Know - Malcolm Gladwell

The Comedians - Graham Greene

Stillness is the Key - Ryan Holiday

The Infinite Game - Simon Sinek

How to Be an Antiracist - Ibram X Kendi

Everything is Fucked - Mark Manson

The Down Days - Ilze Hugo

The Great Influenza: The Story of the Deadliest Pandemic in History - John M Barry

The Dawn Patrol - Don Winslow

The Mist - Stephen King

The Enemy - Lee Childs

Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius - Dave Eggers

Human + Machine: Reimagining Work in the Age of AI - Paul R Daugherty

The Gentlemen’s Hour - Don Winslow

Breath: The New Science of a Lost Art - James Nestor

Plum Island - Nelson DeMille

The Death and Life of Bobby Z - Don Winslow

Pre-Suasion: A Revolutionary Way to Influence and Persuade - Robert B Cialdini

The Kite Runner - Khaled Hosseini

My Bondage and My Freedom - Frederick Douglass

Dare to Lead - Brene Brown

Coaching for Performance - John Whitmore

The Gold Coast - Nelson DeMille

Conspiracy - Ryan Holiday

Underworld - Don DeLillo

Just Mercy: A Story of Justice and Redemption - Bryan Stevenson

The Grapes of Wrath - John Steinbeck

Man’s Search for Meaning - Viktor E Frankl

Tripwire - Lee Child

The Lion’s Game - Nelson DeMille

Night Fall - Nelson DeMille

Turning Pro: Tap Your Inner Power and Create Your Life’s Work - Steven Pressfield

Running Blind - Lee Child

Intensity - Dean Koontz

Wild Fire - Nelson DeMille

Salt and pepper, cupholder, or why details matter

Do you know the easiest way to tell if a restaurant is poorly managed? Or, to say it another way, if a restaurant has the potential to make you sick? Check to see if the salt and pepper shakers are half empty. Another tell is if the menus are sticky and dirty. Why do I bring this up? Because details matter! If a restaurant manager can't be bothered to check the details on the front of the house (where customers sit and interact with their business) then I can bet you they aren't minding the details back of the house (where your food is cooked!)

In the real estate business, there are a lot of "details" to manage. Contract deadlines and timelines, inspection reports to sift through, contracts to review and explain to clients, etc. But what about the "people" details? Are we checking those boxes? What makes or breaks a great business are usually the seemingly insignificant details. 

Are you remembering to...

• Smile!

• Say please and thank you. 

• Send follow up emails--review what was discussed and what the next steps are. Send a quick thank you email after each meeting (first one being the most important!)

• Send a handwritten note thanking the client for their business. 

• Follow through on your promises--under promise and over deliver! 

• Return calls promptly. 

• Print out a professional CMA. 

• Show up on time! 

Details promise professionalism! Handling the small details will inspire confidence in your clients that you prepared and ready to handle the more important, larger details. 

What do cupholders have to do with anything? A few years ago after my dad passed away, my Mom offered to sell me his Audi A6 for a screaming deal. I test drove the car and the first thing I noticed was the cupholders could just about hold a 12oz can and that was it. I always have a Yeti or big water bottle with me and there was simply no place to put it. For that reason, I turned down the generous offer. As soon as the appeal of a newer, fun, fast car wore off I would be stuck with a car that didn't solve for a very basic need. Audi forgot to consider the end user. In an effort to create a sleek, well-engineered design, they neglected the consumer. What needs of your client are you neglecting? As practitioners, we often can forget that our clients don't do this every day. Is there a basic need that a client may have that you are forgetting about? Did you thoroughly explain the terms of the contract? Walk them through expectations around inspections, appraisals, and the closing? Let's always remember that we are here to serve the "end user," the client. As Robin Sharma says, "The purpose of work is to help people. The other rewards are inevitable by-products of this singular focus." 

Be kind...

"Leaders Without Titles talk about ideas versus people, and dreams versus others." - Robin Sharma 

I was having dinner with one of my best friends a few nights ago. He was in from out of town and it had been a while since we broke bread in person (and had a beer or two!) As we were catching up that impulse to gossip started to crop up. "Have you heard what so-and-so is up to?" That kind of talk.

Later that night, I thought more about that impulse. From an evolutionary standpoint, humans are predisposed to gossip. Thousands of years ago gossip around those who were not carrying their weight could be a matter between life and death. Fast forward to today, and the move to gossip is still alive and well. 

"Anthropologists believe that throughout human history, gossip has been a way for us to bond with others—and sometimes a tool to isolate those who aren’t supporting the group."

But what about when gossip goes to a dark place? Are we protecting the group or are we simply being unkind? Looking back at that dinner I mentioned earlier, the conversation had moved to an ugly place. As a father of three children in the age range of 14 to 4, I see daily how destructive negative talk and gossip can be. 

In light of this, I am challenging myself to stay away from negative talk about other people, personally and professionaly. It doesn't serve any purpose. 

I would like to challenge everyone on the team to do the same. If you find yourself in a conversation that feels mean or unkind, slow down and really ask yourself, is this conversation helping me and my team reach their goals? If the answer is no, take a step back. 

The coach I work with made this point to me a few months back and it really stuck with me: when someone demonstrates behavior that frustrates or annoys you, keep in mind that that very behavior is causing that person ten times the pain it is causing you. 

When someone has ugly behavior or is mean, it is usually coming from a place of trauma somewhere in their life. It is not to say, it excuses their behavior but certainly, we can be the bigger person and have empathy and meet them with kindness. 

The world would be a better place if everyone just took time to be kind to one another. 

"I told you once and I told you twice

why be mean, when you can be nice

come on, be kind to me"

- Michael Hurly - Be Kind to Me

One page business plan

As leaders we often overcomplicate goal setting. Challenge yourself to distill your goals down to a one page plan. My approach is to start with the one Wildly Important Goal and then drill down to three priorities that would have to happen to reach that goal. From there, I take a SMART goal approach with five strategies to make those priorities happen. For me in 2018, it looks like Sales, Client Experience and Expansion as my priorities. Remember to keep is simple but focused. With the simplicity of this approach, you will find it is much easier to break the strategies into daily activities that feed the overall Wildly Important Goal. 

Book Recommendation: The Dream Manager by Michael Kelly

If you don't know the personal goals for the people in your organization, you will never get the most out of them. Only when human's are in alignment and meeting their personal goals are they happy, and therefore most productive. Michael Kelly's incredible book The Dream Manager gives practical tools in an easy to understand format. I can't recommend more highly. 

As you set business goals with your employees for 2018 make sure to leverage this approach for personal and professional goals: have the employee complete 60 day, one year, three year and someday goals. Then focus on personal goals and back those into their business goals. In other words, if an employee would like to make a downpayment on a home, find out what amount of money they would need and then show them the activities that will lead to that income and then hold them accountable. 

https://www.amazon.com/Dream-Manager-Matthew-Kelly/dp/1401303706/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1512576005&sr=8-1&keywords=the+dream+manager&pldnSite=1