Bob Otten : President of Lat Purser Real Estate

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Welcome to the Mike Hartman Show. Mike is a performance coach and former Stanley cup champion with the New York Rangers. Topics on this show are focused around stories, mindset and champions. Mike will also go into details about helping you with your pain points and struggles and finding motivational solutions on how to have the mindset of a champion. Now, here's your host, Mike Hartman.

Today I have Bob Otten. Bob was the president of Lat Purser Real Estate company in Charlotte, North Carolina. And we have a little bit of a story to tell. But first of all, I want to introduce Bob. Bob, how are you today?

I'm doing great, Mike, and I appreciate this opportunity to chat.

Well, I have to share this with our listeners that for the longest time it was last year we just moved back from living outside the New York City city area and I would see you every day at Starbucks. You and I were early risers. You know, I tell people we get on a schedule and the first thing I do every morning, I start my workout at 5am I go have my coffee and I walk on this gorgeous greenway. That's a whole other story that your wife was responsible for, for helping that project get going here in Charlotte, which, which to me is amazing, but that's a whole different. I could be a whole podcast itself. But you and I started talking like everybody every day. And I remember one day I had a hockey bag with me. I, I know I was, I didn't want to carry my, my laptop in, in a briefcase like there was one briefcases the old days, but I had that shoulder strap and I said I'm just going to carry it in this bag. And I think you asked me if I was an Islander fan.

That's correct. That is correct. It sure is.

And I almost looked at you like, wait a second, I know, I know we're in the south and they do play hockey here. And I said no, it's a Ranger fan. And you said I'm kidding with you. And then, you know, after all this time I'd see you with your gorgeous dog and I just really enjoyed talking to you. We never told each other what we did maybe after two months, maybe. And we just had a really good, built a really nice friendly relationship talking about how gorgeous it is outside. And that's the start of the story. And I, and I'm so happy that you and I have come to, to meet and I'm so happy you're doing this podcast with us today.

Well, I'm happy to be, be participating.

Well, just to go back a Little bit. So the one day I walk in and I know who LAP Purser is. For some of the people that don't know, I think you've been in business for 60 years in Charlotte, one of the top real estate companies in the country. I know you built the shopping center. You're a very modest guy.

You're.

You built a shopping center where actually that Starbucks is, and you take great pride in it. I remember there was fire trucks there one day, and you were there and you were really conscious and observing what was going on. But the way what I asked you was you had a shirt on, a lat purse or shirt. And I go, hey, Bob, I said, do you. Do you know those? I think you said, well, yes, I'm the president of the company and I help. I go, holy smoke. And there's only been maybe 11 presidents in the entire company, I believe. Did a little research since started. And. And I thought that was pretty, pretty neat. Now here you are, you know, talking about, you know, being modest. Never mentioned a word. And you're the president of the, of the company. I thought that was pretty amazing.

Well, thank you. Yeah.

And going back to, you know, you mentioned too about. I said I love the greenway, and you mentioned how your wife orchestrated that, how we needed a greenway here in Charlotte. And I know you're so modest. And I'm going to get right to what we're going to talk about today. We're going to go into some leadership strategies. But I want to share with people a little bit about you. And what I've noticed when I went to Starbucks is you talk to everybody, no matter if they could be maybe a homeless person there, it could be somebody that just coming in and you take the time to just really listen to people. And that's a big thing we learn in Leadership 101. But I said, man, I really took. I took notice of that even before I knew you were with LAP Purser. And then I talked to you one day a little bit about leadership because that's. That's what we do. And you told me you. You use this system called eagle. Can we talk about that a little bit?

Sure. You know, the eagle, where that came from? If you were to go in my office, I had pictures of eagles all over my office. I just think they're a magnificent bird. When you take a look at, you know, they. I looked a lot of similarities in what we do in real estate, as odd as it sounds compared to the eagle, you know, an eagle soars at 10 to 15,000ft. They can swoop down at speeds of 200 miles an hour and they can spot prey at an altitude of 1,000ft, two miles away and say, well, how does that relate to real estate? Well, you know, it's funny, we take a look in our industry, we say, you know, initially we look at development opportunities from a 10,000ft perspective. You know, it's, it's very high level. So, you know, I tied it into that. And there's times that when you find an opportunity, a site, back in the days when all the freestanding drugstores were being built, you had to move very quickly. So you felt like you were swooping in on a site opportunity at 200 miles an hour. And then, you know, in terms of how I tie the, you know, spotting things two miles away, a lot of the retailers, the drugstores, the grocery stores, they take a look at their business model in a three, two or three mile radius. So there were a lot of similarities in the eagle into what I do. I get motivated. I look at the eagle. They're a very intense looking bird, they're very focused. And that motivates me every day. So I took a look and said, you know, how can I apply that and come up with an eagle strategy? And in essence, you know, what I shared with you, Mike, is that, you know, I took eagle as an acronym. You know, we as leaders, I think leaders continually strive for self improvement. You know, we typically read a lot of different books. There's been a lot of great books. I know there's probably three that were among my favorite. You know, what they don't teach at Harvard Business School. That was a book that Mark McCormick wrote. Great book, In Search of Excellence by Tom Peter Good to great Jim Collins. And you know, you take a lot of time reading. And over my career I've read so many of those books, I thought, what could I do to put something. Consolidate all that, almost like the Reader's digest of all this collective knowledge. I've had the benefit of reading over the years and I came up with this EAGLE strategy. And if you'd like, Mike, I can kind of walk through each, each letter of this eagle is an acronym and explain, you know, my strategy.

Absolutely. In fact, I was so fortunate that you sent it to me. And I'm one that loves research. I read probably two to four books a month, even on leadership. I continuously want to learn. But when I saw this, I loved it because it's so simple. So I would tell everybody, if you do have, if you're not driving. Please be safe. If you're listening to this podcast and driving, you can always go back and listen to it later. But. But take notes because. Because I have. And we could start with. Start with the. You know, we start with eagle and the letter E. And I think the first one you have is employee, but I'll let you take over from here. I'd love for you to share this with us and this great knowledge and this great information to. To everybody and all our listeners.

Sure. And. And Mike, what I did in coming up with this, I tried to take a look at maybe five or six different traits for each each letter of Eagle and how that relates to, you know, again, the management strategy or this EAGLE strategy. So starting with the first E, I'll say that share five words and I'll expound on them. Employ, educate, engage, empower, expect, and entrust. So in employ, we need employee those you want to be surrounded with and accomplishing your goals. You need to educate them as to what you expect to get accomplished and more importantly, your deadlines. You need to engage their feedback, their thoughts and concerns. You need to empower them to perform. You need to also inspect what you expect along the way. And you need to entrust them, not micromanage them. The next letter is A. Again, another six words. Act, accept, align, acknowledge, affirm, appreciate. You have to act on your instincts. Those instincts rarely let you down. You have to accept candid feedback. You align the right team to accomplish your goals. You acknowledge exemplary performance to build confidence. You affirm that your team's performance is achieving the desired results and appreciate and value your associates. The next letter is G. And again, another six words. Goals, gather, guide, give, gain, grow. Goals and expectations must be clearly defined and communicated. You gather your team to gain their trust. You guide your team along the way. You give candid and sincere feedback on your team's performance, good or bad. Gain from your experiences and those of your associates and grow as a team. The L and Eagle came up with just four. You listen, learn, leverage, laugh. You listen aggressively to what is being said and equally important, of what is not being said. Learn from your mistakes and assess what you should have done differently. You leverage the talents of your associates by providing them the opportunity to take on greater challenges. And you laugh at yourself and with your associates. The last Ian Eagle is four primary words. Encourage, elevate, exercise, and excite. Encourage your associates to take on greater challenges that you're voting in your confidence in them. You elevate the talents of your associates by delegating More. You energize your passion you have in achieving your goals, and you excite your team with enthusiasm and drive. And I would add another letter. You know, you do all these things. You excel. So, you know, I've always said with this strategy, if you follow these. These basic premises, you know, just watch your team soar like an eagle.

I love it. That was. That was great. And you put that together quick and spot on for everybody. We bring on different leaders, and to me, this was one of my favorites. And just getting to know you has been. Has been a great joy. I love seeing you every day. You know, you have your dog that I could see how much you love and. And can. Can you do me? Can you talk about the Greenway? Because if anyone is in Charlotte, we do have. We have thousands of subscribers, and actually, we have a pretty big following in Charlotte. Can you share a little bit about the Greenway? Because the Greenway is like. Like, we. We literally wanted to buy a home close to the Greenway. I mean, it's. It's such a. It's such a great site for everybody. It's. It's beautiful. You could walk it in the morning. I think it's four miles one way. Right. And four miles back. And then now they're trying to connect them all over the city. Can you share a little bit, but a little bit about your wife and how she started that project?

Sure, sure. Well, as I shared with you, Mike, we live, you know, within a mile's walk of the Starbucks where you and I met. And we live in a subdivision called Touchstone. It's bounded by Elm lane and Highway 51. And my wife was for many years, president of our homeowners association. And when we bought into this subdivision 34 years ago, the. We knew that there was greenway land or dedicated land around the backside of the property. The. The Greenway, the only section of greenway that had been completed at that time, started an area off of Highway 51. For those that know the kind of the south part of Charlotte, there's a restaurant called Trio's on Highway 51. And directly across the street, or across the street from Highway 51 is the parking lot for the Greenway. And that section of the Greenway started at basically that Trio's restaurant and terminated where Johnson Road crossed the Greenway land. Well, my wife, Terry, had approached the parks and recs department and said, look, we have, you know, you. You have the Greenway running up to Johnson Road, but you have all this land that runs from Johnson Road to Elm lane to rea road. And how come you've not developed that. That section of the greenway? And they told her, well, nobody's come forward requesting that. You know, they were. Had originally planned on, I think, extending a section of greenway at steel Creek. So they asked Terry if she would be willing to attend planning meetings and so forth. And she actually walked that. It's a. It's approximately 1. About 1.6 miles, Mike, from what I call the bridge that crosses over four mile creek at Johnson road to the. To where the Starbucks is where you and I met. So she literally walked that with the hip waiters on and members of the parks and recs to show them here's the area that the greenway could go in. And she was successful in getting $3 million of greenway dollars reallocated to that section of the greenway. And I have to. Maybe I'm a bit prejudiced, but I feel like that is one of the pretty sections of greenway. And, you know, it's funny, my wife, you say, gee, you know, I don't feel like I've ever been able to do anything that. That impacts people's lives. She. She said, bob, you know, you develop shopping centers or different properties and so forth, and you create experiences that people go around. And she said, I don't feel like I've ever done anything like that. I said, terry, I said, you played the most influential role in getting this section of the greenway in. And look at the tens of thousands of people that have enjoyment of that section of greenway since it's been completed. And so I, you know, I absolutely love it, and it's been a tremendous addition. And Mike, like you were saying, I feel fortunate to live. I can literally walk down my street to our cul de sac and walk right onto the greenway. And it's. It's a tremendous amenity.

Well, I could share this with you. So we moved back to Charlotte, and I had a condo here that I owned for years in south Park. Sold a home here, and then I, long story short, had my condo, and it was always a rental. And with COVID in New York and hockey stopping, and I said, it's time to come home. And, you know, my son is here. I have a daughter in New York City. And, you know, I would make sure my son would come out as much as possible, but now he's here with me every day. And the first thing we said is, let's look around where the greenway is, because I once had a home back off of 51 there. And we looked and looked and we found something. And we said, oh, we could just take our bikes right to Trader Joe's, to Starbucks, and right to the Greenway. But it didn't work out. We ended up buying a home towards south park again. But we did it based on, I mean, what your wife has done. And, like, when people come here, the first thing I say is, you need to walk the green way and appreciate how gorgeous it is. And I told the story on one of our podcasts. What I went by was I did see a coyote out there, and I was by myself, and I didn't really understand that coyotes don't. I mean, they really chase dogs. And we're the biggest dog lovers. I know you are, and so am I. But, yeah, and I started freaking out a little bit. I started walking really fast. This coyote was just staring at me out on the Greenway. And there's snakes out there. And not to scare people. They don't come around because they're swampy areas to the left and right. But when I saw that coyote, boy, I was nervous. I was out there by myself. It was a brisk day. I probably just walked by you, but that's my wimp story. Little did I know it's not. You know, they don't go after people. My luck, they're coming after me that day. But what your wife has done and what you have done for the city is just incredible. And you should be very proud. You both are great leaders. You both influence many. And, Bob, I'm not just saying this. I watch you in the morning and, you know, you have your dog outside and you're sewing. You're so engaging with people. And that's what leadership is all about. I've met companies here, which I never say names, and it's always about them and not about their team or not about their people. And I get kind of turned off. I do work with them still. But just being around you is always a positive, and I just want to thank you for that. Thank you for doing this and looking forward to maybe seeing you tomorrow.

Yeah. Well, you're very kind with your remarks, Mike. I mean, I enjoy people. You know, the walking the Greenway in the morning is a great start to my day. And again, I get. I get lifted by people like you and the folks you and I have mutually gotten to know out at Starbucks. It's a nice gathering. The employees at Starbucks. It's a wonderful experience, and what a better way to start the day. And it's interesting, Mike. Since the pandemic struck, I think I can count on one hand the number of mornings that I have not been able to walk that green way with my dog because of weather. We've been blessed that the mornings have been very good for a very long time, and so I'm very thankful for that.

Yep. And I hope people took notes. And thank you so much for doing this.

Thank you, Mike. I appreciate this opportunity.

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