Our environment can adversely influence our performance and engagement in life. When something is not serving us, and we cannot remove it or remove ourselves, it’s time to take brave action and limit our exposure.
In a poor environment, why do some thrive while others languish? Previously as a leader of a highly profitable real estate office I’ve experienced several market changes – none more memorable than the Global Financial Crisis. At the time others insisted we wouldn’t maintain high profits in a market where approximately 30% of offices were ready to close.
The media was heavily publicising economic problems, and it would have been easy to blame the market, accept that we could not maintain our results and begin a period of poor outcomes and income. As the leader this would have set the wrong example – the proverb “a fish rots from the head down” comes to mind.
We made the decision not to blame the market. The Australia-wide real estate results in our group proved winning offices were not affected in this poor market. Those in the top 100 in the boom were still in the top 100 in the tough market – we couldn’t use the market as an excuse.
Make a decision to thrive
We quickly made a decision not to settle and adopted the mantra “we are market proof – results not excuses.” We couldn’t change the market but as a team we made two decisions to limit our exposure to the negative market hype:
- We stopped reading the paper and watching the news – choosing only to hear radio news headlines. We had to keep the negativity out.
- We decided to eradicate market excuses from our vocabulary. The market was never blamed for a poor result.
It worked! We continued to thrive during the GFC and afterwards. We were a highly profitable office gaining market share and a reputation as an optimistic agent with a refreshing attitude amid a very negative real estate environment.
You can’t always change your external environment, but you can control your exposure to it.
The women we showcase on stage at our Leading Women Eventshave something in common – their success is no accident. These Leading Women are brave; they make decisions daily aligned with their values, excuse-free, no matter what the environment.
Whether it’s our health, work, wealth, or our relationships – make a decision to take control.
