Can You Build a Great Business Without Sacrificing Integrity?
Sponsored Content from Strategic Partner, Exit Realty Corp.
By Tami Bonnell, Co-Chair, EXIT Realty Corp. International
I think you can indeed build a great business without sacrificing integrity, but it takes deliberate intention, and your intention and actions must align.
Integrity must be built into your core values, both implicitly and explicitly from the get-go. A company is made up of people and those people must be connected, committed and working arm-in-arm to further the company’s clearly stated mission. Does your company have a mission or vision statement? Do you know what it is? Have you written one for your own real estate business? Do you live by it? Is it your touchstone whenever you have a tough decision to make?
When you’re building a mission statement for your business, start with who you are, your core values and how you plan to align your actions with those values. It doesn’t have to be long, for example, the Women’s Council Mission Statement reads, “A network of successful REALTORS®, advancing women as business leaders in the industry and in the communities we serve.” With this mission statement as its touchstone, on any action the Council contemplates, they can ask themselves, “Does this action advance women as business leaders?” If yes, the action is in alignment with their vision. If no, it needs to be reworked.
People are more likely to act with integrity in business when the company’s vision aligns with or allows room for them to pursue their own dreams. Do you actually know what’s important to the people you work with? At EXIT, a section of our mission statement reads, “EXIT empowers people to live their why. Real estate is our how.” One of the ways we live our mission statement is through our charitable program known as The Spirit of EXIT. Our associates can raise money for local, approved, registered charities and apply to have those funds matched from our pool of funds. They choose the cause that speaks to their heart and that cause may be different than that of the agent down the hall or the brokerage across town. Our charitable program supports our associates’ why and their dreams of making a positive difference in the communities they serve.
I’ve lately been encouraging the people I coach to change the word “discipline” to “devotion” because devotion conveys passion and whatever you’re devoted to (your people, your business, your mission) is easier to stick with when tough decisions have to be made. Belief is transferrable. When you have a strong, ethical belief in something, and you walk your walk and talk your talk, your belief is transferred to your team and you’ll attract ethical, coachable, reliable, people.
Many disrupters jumped into our industry because real estate is responsible for 16% of the US gross domestic product. We’ve seen some of them lose tens of millions of dollars a quarter, and while it’s certainly necessary to spend money to make money, one has to ask, is it ethical to keep lighting money on fire? Is it corporately responsible? Are they looking at their people as their greatest asset or is it all a numbers game? Are they buying market share or earning it? Think of the number of food insecure people who could be fed with the money they’re burning. At EXIT we take responsibility for our people. They made an investment in us, and we want to give them a return on their investment. Building a company without sacrificing integrity involves being responsible with money and putting people first.
A mission statement is similar to a business plan in that you shouldn’t write it once, stuff it in a drawer and never refer to it again. If you haven’t written one, perhaps now is the time. If you have, dust it off and ensure that it aligns with your ethics as a human being, a business leader and the impact you want to make. I encourage you to include the word integrity in how you plan to conduct yourself personally and professionally and take the appropriate actions, even when times are tough, to align with your mission.