This is a first-person testimonial from Greg Ismay describing how Lars Hedenborg’s REBS coaching program shifted his focus from tactical sales content to personal leadership and accountability. Greg describes becoming more intentional about how he shows up as a leader, instituting team accountability and standards, and reframing success around helping others rather than transactions. He also reflects on transitioning from a successful corporate career into real estate and how the program provided a foundation to apply past experience more effectively.
I had been to several coaching programs and I just was not getting the traction that I was looking for. And I met Lars at a commission zinc event and heard his message and thought that it was really coming from a place from a core value standpoint that I related to. And that's really how it started. The biggest change that has occurred is not necessarily in my business, but with me. And this weekend we're studying leadership. And that's really one thing that I realized, that I haven't been a very good leader with the various coaching programs being really concentrated on content like listing presentations and conversions and so forth. But this has led me down a path of really focusing on how I'm showing up as a leader or how I was not showing up as a leader. And it's really taken some time to unpack that. The big aha is that it's not a quick fix and it takes really dedication. It takes really digging in and going hand in hand with your team. And I think it's probably a trite thing, but going all in and not really expecting the business to give you something, but more about what are you giving to it. And through that it will come back to you. There are tons of executional type things that have really made a difference, the accountability aspect and really that does tie into leadership. If you're not making yourself accountable and you're not making your people accountable, you're not being a very good leader. But I think the single most thing that I've taken away so far is both the accountability for me and the accountability for the team members to really execute against standards. There's more of a sense of people with similar values and it's much less about generating transactions or money or self fulfillment and much more about helping other people and then achieving your goals through that process. I think the real summary is that as a guy who is in the real estate business for a second career and thought he had been very successful in the corporate world and brought a whole bunch of skills over to a business that is not very sophisticated. And I thought I could crush it in that. Be careful because it can be humbling, especially if you're not anchored in the right way. And Lars coaching program has really provided a lot of foundation for me to take that past experience and use it much more effectively in building my business.
