While I was watching the rescue operation of the miners in Chile last night, I felt a renewed sense of confidence in the human spirit. The sense of faith (a word I hate to use, because it is so loaded) I had when I saw what was going on was very powerful. How could one not be moved by this story and what it represents to us as a civilization? The part that really inspired me was not when the first miner was brought to the surface. The part that really got to me was when a rescue miner made his way into The Phoenix (the 21-inch wide rescue capsule) and went DOWN into the earth where his fellow miners had been trapped for weeks. To go to a place where he knew it was dark, dank and unsanitary, with no guarantee of return, was an act of bravery. Moments of bravery always inspire me. Perspective is a powerful thing. It defines for us the extent of risk and reward relative to our possible actions. In business, this is not dissimilar. I feel that as a culture, we owe it to ourselves to be brave and to pioneer. We have clearly seen the evolution of brave people in the technology business, companies that change our lives for the better. Google is one of those companies. They seem to balance innovation brought about by strategic calculated risk. Every month, they seem to be working on a new initiative that will push us into the new millennium. When there is more at stake or if the risk is higher, usually, if successful, the reward is greater. Cars that drive themselves? Wind that will generate power to support our power needs? This is the world I dreamt about when I was a child. These were the things we saw in Sci-Fi movies and read about in books.
Sadly, there hasn’t been much innovation in the real estate industry over the past 20 years. The consensus still seems to be that “buyers and sellers still need the same things they always did, and we as brokers, can offer the same old services we always did.” WRONG!!!! The wave of change has started and we have entered a brave new world (about 5 years ago). I am encouraged to see some bold people taking risks and others trying to innovate and change the industry for the better of the community. These people are not saving lives, but they are changing them – for the better. And I applaud their courage.