“Learning and innovation go hand in hand. The arrogance of success is to think that what you did yesterday will be sufficient for tomorrow.”
-William G. Pollard, American physicist and Episcopal priest
If you’re a Top Producer, you may be fond of saying “results speak for themselves.” But how can you be sure they’ll keep the conversation going?
We need to be careful with success. When the pipeline is full and leads are still flowing, it’s easy to believe we’ve arrived at the summit. Our hard work has paid off. We have cracked the code. But as any career agent knows, there are boom and bust cycles. Only an agent who has worked through both has an acute appreciation of fortune’s fickle nature.
In times of great success, at least two conditions threaten our long-term goals:
1. We focus only on what’s working, to the point of stagnation. It’s easy to justify processes and systems which routinely deliver results. But sometimes around the ragged edge of this tunnel vision are the first indicators that the decline is coming. We may be landing seven out of ten deals, but what are we overlooking about the three that went awry? Sometimes what’s hiding there will gradually emerge as a new truth, and before we know it we’re landing two out of ten.
2. We deny signs of change because we cannot imagine alternative solutions. Being forced out of our comfort zone is scary. We don’t want to envision major change, because we have no idea where we would turn. It is useful at times to imagine situations where everything we’re doing right suddenly goes wrong. Why not probe the possibility before a catastrophic sea change is at hand?
Education is the surest way to remain humble in the face of success. If you are invested in your real estate career, seek out the frontiers, the scary places where people are experimenting with new models. Recognize the ephemeral nature of success. A little humility in high times will serve you well.
