Movers & Shakers: Let’s Talk about Leadership...
Leadership - we’re constantly asked about what that means to us and how we approach it in our business. We also consistently challenge our thought process and embodiment as to how we show up as leaders for our investors, our vendors, our employees and the communities we are involved in at large. It’s a topic we’re passionate about and thrilled to have the opportunity to share with you as the topic of today’s blog post.
To us, leadership is the glue that makes our engine work for the long haul.
“My own definition of leadership is this: The capacity and the will to rally men and women to a common purpose and the character which inspires confidence.” - General Bernard Montgomery
Another great definition is, “the act of motivating a group to act toward achieving a common goal.” As you may know, Leadership is one of our Core Values, which happens to tie to the other three. An exceptional leader cannot successfully lead without Integrity, Excellence, and Purpose.
We believe that in order to be an impactful leader, one should be accountable, reliable, have an empowering mindset, they should set the example by their actions, and set high standards for others as well as oneself. A transformational leader creates bold transformation by setting a vision and inspiring possibilities within others they may not have thought possible themselves. An inspiring leader is empathetic and listens to truly understand. The greatest leaders empower others to be great.
Beyond simply observing and embodying the qualities of great leadership, we believe leadership is essential for our long term success in how we lead our team (whether at the company or property level), how we lead our industry with a bold vision for the future and innovative approaches, and how we lead ourselves by demanding excellence and a constant and never ending commitment for improvement.
Importance of Leadership
“Leadership is lifting a person's vision to high sights, the raising of a person's performance to a higher standard, the building of a personality beyond its normal limitations.” - Peter Drucker
Fun fact for everyone: 83% of organizations acknowledge the importance of leadership development. Yet, only 5% have actual leadership development training implemented at all levels.²
After reading that, it wasn’t shocking when we found another survey stating that 38% of new leaders fail within the first 18 months.¹ This is why we hold our ground on emphasizing the necessity to lead by example and prioritize leadership to lift up the people around us. We strive to embody the core value of leadership within all of our team, our vendors, and everyone else around us. Leadership is a way of life for CF Capital.
Leadership: Core to CF Capital’s Philosophy
“A genuine leader is not a searcher for consensus, but a moulder of consensus.” -Martin Luther King Jr.
How do we lead differently? We think the appropriate answer is not (entirely) about being different, it’s also about “standing on the shoulders of giants'' that came before us. In other words, we learn from what other great leaders have done in the past so that we are using real life evidence when we lead ourselves.
While we aren’t doing things drastically different, we are always continuously working to improve upon the work and philosophies of the successful colleagues who have come before us. After all, success leaves clues.
With that said, we do believe that it is not always common for a leader to take the time to learn from our world’s most admired and effective leaders. We also acknowledge that daring to “be different” is inherently the path less chosen, and we like being uncommon.
But we, at CF Capital, choose “different.” It wouldn’t be in our best interest to do otherwise, and it would be irrational for us to believe that extraordinary results come from fitting in with the crowd. (See our post about contrarianism).
Why do we spend so much time challenging, training , and inspiring our colleagues? Why are we transparent with the public in how we approach everything from due diligence to investor communications?
Because it matters. We believe in the spirit of giving and how embodying the spirit out extraordinary leadership elevates humanity. We know that this is not a zero sum game and that the more we give, the more the rising tide lifts our ships, too, in addition to it being the right thing to do.
Every time we lead, and lead “right,” it gives us a great feeling of joy knowing that we will leave an impact in small or sometimes profoundly substantial ways.
Standing on the shoulders of giants of the current and past, we are confident that the output of our leadership actions will bring us a positive future.
Now that’s the way we make real estate and business meaningful in more ways than simply financial.
1 SOURCE: Compare Camp
2 SOURCE: Leaders Beacon
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