Mark Given Ninja Culture

Last year when we were here, Larry kind of introduced a new slide, a new concept. It kind of looked like this. And without his permission, I've tweaked it a little bit because what Larry really was talking about— this came from the Bell Institute, I guess the theory of it came from the Bell Institute, which of course I love because that's the University of North Carolina, which is just down the road from me, an hour and a half. Anyway, he presented this Ninja Path theory which had come from another theory, and here's what he said. He said lots of agents within our industry have knowledge. I mean, they have an understanding of— maybe even if it's basic, a basic understanding of what to do. They just maybe don't understand how to do it, and so they're lacking in many cases the skill. But what we talked about was Where are you on the level of knowledge as compared to skill? What I add to it, what I added to it without permission, was the fact that even after we teach the skills, if you don't take action on the skills, and that's kind of what Terry and Garrett do, I mean, they teach, we teach the skills, they help them put them into action so that you can get results. The theme of what we talked about here the last couple days, were a couple things. One, Larry kept drilling it yesterday, results. You know, what companies want is results, and what agents want is results. They have to take some action to get those results. I want to change it even a little bit more. Well, here's, I guess, my thought. The knowledge to me is the what. And it was, what's it all about? How do you, you know, not how to do it, but what is it that we need to know And then the skill is the how. What we teach in Ninja is a different way of the how. There are lots of places they can go to get a different theory on how, but we've already proven that our how is significant. And I have probably a couple times while I'm here, you see me kind of, you know, pound my chest and It's because it's the how is not just a bunch of systems, although the systems are critical, but it's how you put them into place. It's how it feels. And here's what Ninja doesn't feel to me. Ninja doesn't feel icky to me. There's nothing about it that's icky. You know, I mean, I'm sure all of you have dealt with somebody in some sales situation before that it just felt icky. You know, you just— Ninja is absolutely the most non-icky thing I've ever known. But anyway, here's the other part, and here's what Ninja has done for me personally. It's created in my life an action which I want to call the why. Ninja has created a why for me. In other words, what's the purpose? Or purpose as it would be explained in other ways. And if you combine all those, the what, the how, the why, the results, although critical based on numbers, are not just the end result. The end result is the legacy. It's the legacy you leave. It's, you know, what is the message that you want to send to the world? Because we're going to send a message. I mean, there's going to be a message when we're gone. People are going to talk about us, maybe not for very long, or maybe for, you know, maybe for a long time. I don't know. So I want to ask you, I want to spend about, I don't know, 15 minutes talking about this. But I want to ask you a question. What makes a great company? Because that's been the other theme. You know, the other theme has not just been what we teach and results, but what do you think? What makes a great— I mean, if you've seen them, and I know you have, what makes a great company? Great leaders. Great leaders, okay. It's people. It's great people. Great systems. Great systems. Reputation. Great reputation. Can you name some? Apple. Apple, yeah, I mean that's, we've talked about them a few times. Starbucks. Starbucks. Nordstrom's. Nordstrom's. The group. The group. You know what's interesting about that? I've talked about this before in a number of places. And within real estate and within other industries. But here's the interesting thing about real estate. When I ask that question, what makes a great company, and then I say name some, except for here, I never hear anybody say a real estate company. That's right. I mean, we'll name other companies, but what the heck is wrong with that? There's something really wrong with that. Now we can name the group. Because we know it's true. So here's what I want you— maybe you want to write this down. Here's my philosophy of what makes a great company, a great product or service. I mean, we all sell houses and we have systems to sell. The Ninja System is absolutely the best system for selling our product, but the Ninja System is not just about selling a product. It's about the feeling and what we do. It's the non-ickiness. It's the service that we provide. Here's the next thing, is that I think a great company has to have great leaders. And, and you know, the message that the leader has— Marcus Buckingham wrote a number of books, but he wrote about the difference between leaders and managers. And one of the things he said is that leaders have to have a vision. If you don't have a leader with a vision, well, where you going? And then I think that you need to have great people. See, the one thing I find about ninja companies, when they go from just a real estate company to a ninja company, is they realize the significance and the power of having great people. Here's the next thing, common goals. I think that what makes a ninja company is a common goal to, to be better, to serve better, to be customer-centric, to make a difference in people's lives. It's, it's not just about selling the product, it's about how we make them feel throughout their lives. Not just now, but what happens in the future. How do we connect with them? How do we feel about them that makes them want to feel good about us? And the next thing is this, the focus. And, and I really have got this focus broken down into a couple things. I think great companies have to have a focus on these things. They have to have a focus on improvement. They have to have a focus on innovation. In other words, as the industry changes, Can we change with it? They have to have a focus on reinvention, which means that can we do that, or do we even want to do that? Then they have to have an interest in mastery, getting better all the time, every day. What am I reading? What am I doing? How— what are the— what do we got in place to make sure that we're always getting better? And then they have to have a focus on longevity. If we're only interested in profit, we're in trouble. If we're interested in people, we can have a long-term business. And then the last thing would be the legacy, because I just really think that the why, the legacy, is significant. Actually, Ralph Waldo Emerson said it this way: do not go where the path may lead. That would be the regular, regular real estate industry. You know, instead, go where there is no path and leave a trail. Yesterday we were, actually Larry drew this. I like your drawings. I don't need to recreate them because they're just good. Larry was talking about even us is, you know, what's our trail? And he compared it this way, that the concern might have been that in some ways we have a vision, but we're not congruent in what we're doing. In other words, the nucleus is there, We all want the same thing. Maybe we're just going about it the wrong— here's what happens with real estate companies is that, see, Larry was kind enough to even connect us. With most real estate companies, they got people out here and over here and, you know, they belong to the company, but they don't have any interest in the company. They don't have a passion for the company because they don't think the company has a passion for them. At least, at least we're here, Larry. At least we're here trying to get to the other, you know, and I agree with you. So Apple would say it this way. I had to put this in here last night because we talked about Apple. Apple would say it this way. Your company culture is like combining computer hardware and software. Here's what they say. The hardware won't work efficiently without the software, no matter how good the hardware. And I think that's true. Real estate is exactly the same way. See, companies that succeed have people that are great. Ninja will succeed if we can help companies besides the group understand that it's not just somebody that owns it, somebody that manages it, somebody that has a license, but they're, they're the, The playing field is the same. We're all trying to accomplish the same type things. My second son works for Disney. And so I actually took a course from Disney, from the Disney Institute. It was a short course. It was a half-day thing. But my son Chase, who lives in California, is involved in the Disney Institute stuff because his plan in life, his passion, His why is to become a long-term Disney executive. That's what he wants to be. So even though he's only in public relations right now, his goal is to move right up the ladder. So he's taken everything they have available to them for executives, even though he's not an executive. So he sent this book to me not long ago, and he said, how is it that Disney can create the magic for people that, that makes them so much different than everybody else? Let me just ask you a simple question. Now, I've got 4 grandkids. Our oldest son lives right beside us, and so his son, my son, and his wife and 3 of my grandkids live right next door to us. Now for some people that wouldn't work. For us it's perfect. My wife says, "When are you leaving so I can keep the grandkids for days at a time again?" And that works. I mean, it just, it really works for us. We have so many meals together, it's It's just a wonderful experience. Anyway, the reality of that is that we get to communicate in different ways that other people don't communicate. If I had my two oldest grandchildren, my 7-year-old, my 6-year-old grandchild, and let's say I was keeping them and they were gonna— and I had to go make some calls or I had to do something in another part of the house, could I take a Disney movie and put it on the TV and be gone for 30 minutes and not worry about what they were seeing? Oh, absolutely. You know why it's that way? Because they're trusted. Because, well, you know, that's just the way it is. I mean, you can trust them because that's the message they're trying to send. Disney Institute says it this way, and I think it relates to ninja. They said this: the system of values and beliefs an organization has that drives actions, behaviors, and influences relationships. That could almost be a ninja philosophy. That we drive relationships. That what we do in Ninja drives relationships. Long-term relationships. In fact, we even talked statistics yesterday that said, that was talking about how many sellers come back and do business with buyers again and how many buyers come back and do the, I mean, how many sellers do business with the same agent again. Same thing with buyers. And it's pathetic. And it's our own fault in the industry. Anyway, that's what Disney says. Culture is really what I'm talking about. There is a culture here in this company that does not exist in other places.