I’ve been thinking about teams lately because I’ve been getting a lot of calls from agents asking if it’s smarter to be part of a team or be a solo agent.
I’ve always believed that a team – a business, a class, a fraternity, a squad – is only as good as its weakest player. I learned this as a young kid playing sports, and then most profoundly, when I was in the Army. Our basic training was led by a masochistic 22 year old corporal. The first thing he had us do every morning, after inspection, was a 2.4km run. The entire squad, (all 40 of us) had to run the 2.4 in boots with full gear and rifle – in under fifteen minutes. If we completed this successfully, we could go to breakfast. If we failed, we had to repeat until we finished as a team. The obvious challenge being that the more times we did this, the more tired we became and the slower our time would get as a group. Our squad was diverse when it came to our fitness level. Most of us could easily complete the course in the allotted time, but others could not. Southall was a member of our squad who probably had never exercised a day in his life. To say that he was out of shape is an understatement. The first day we ran he came across the finish line dead last. He clocked in at over 20 minutes. He was spent. Some of the fitter men snickered, until Corporal Cornelius lined us up, started his stopwatch, blew his whistle, and told us to give it another try. The joke was over. On the second attempt, Southall was on his knees in tears. On the third try, we were livid – and now starving. He was humiliated. Some of our squad were swearing at him and threatening him. Others were more sympathetic. The fourth time around, a few of us literally carried him across the finish line by the pack with his feet dragging on the ground behind him. We weren’t sure who we hated more – Cornelius or Southall.
It took us a few weeks to realize that Cornelius wasn’t actually using his stopwatch. He knew exactly how many times we were going to run on any morning, regardless of our time. He was punishing us and torturing Southall. Punishing us for leaving him behind and torturing Southall for being so slow. He didn’t care about our anger or Southall’s humiliation. The resentment for Southall was palatable that day. I can’t imagine the agony and anxiety he must have felt that night in our bunk knowing he let his team down and that every one of us blamed him, in part, for our exhaustion.
This same situation played out every morning – until it didn’t. Southall trained hard and we all worked with him as a running partner so he was never left behind. Within a month, we clocked the distance in less than 15 minutes and we made sure Southall led our pack. This was our “fuck you” to Cornelius – or so we thought. This was the corporal’s intention all along. He forced us to rally around the weakest link, and in turn, we all did better. A team always has more power than an individual – but unless each team member is committed to the greater good of the team and willing to support those struggling, it will exhaust itself by running in circles. The in-fighting and resentment will tear it apart. A team is not the easiest path – but if you look around, the best agents all have teams. Some are big. Some are small. The best, and most successful, real estate teams are willing to carry their Southall’s over the line, if needed. A team makes this very lonely, isolating business seem less lonely and isolating at times. I know, just like in the Army, that I need my team in order to be successful. I couldn’t imagine it any other way.
Let’s do this.
-Shaun