Top 6 Ways To Become a Great Team Leader

In today’s episode of The No Limits Selling Podcast, we have Keoki & Stephanie McCarthys, Broker/ Owner at Corcoran Lifestyle Properties. 

Guest Bio:

Keoki McCarthy is a dedicated Realtor with over 20 years of experience guiding both buyers and sellers with their home needs. He is known for providing top-level service and treating each client as a priority. Keoki is currently serving as the President/Designated Broker for Real Living Northwest Realtors, a full-service brokerage representing residential and commercial real estate transactions.

Since 1973, thousands of Corcoran real estate agents have been earning ― and keeping ― their clients' trust with an unwavering commitment to service, market expertise, neighborhood fluency, and professional integrity. And with every buyer, seller, and renter we assist, in every market we serve, we are guided by one inspired principle: live who you are.

Find The McCarthy’s: Website,YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn

[EDITOR’S NOTE: This podcast is sponsored by No Limits Selling. It is a fun, fast-paced podcast that delivers hard-fought business advice that you can implement today to improve your sales and performance]

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[Podcast Transcript Using Artificial Intelligence]

Umar Hameed 0:01
Are you ready to become awesomer? Hello everyone! My name is Umar Hameed, I'm your host on The No Limits Selling Podcast, where industry leaders share their tips, strategies and advice on how you can become better, stronger, faster. Just before we get started, I've got a question for you, do you have a negative voice inside your head? We all do, right? I'm gonna help you remove that voice and under 30 days guaranteed, not only remove it, but transform it. So instead of the voice that sabotages you, there's one that propels you to much higher levels of performance and success. There's a link in the show notes, click on it to find out more. All right! Let's get started.

Umar Hameed 0:42
Hey, everyone, welcome to another episode of the No Limits Selling Podcast. Today we have Stephanie and Keoki. Here, they're outside of Seattle. Hey, guys, how's it going?

Stephanie 0:52
It's terrific. And you?

Umar Hameed 0:55
In Toronto, it's just snowing here. So it's like, oh my god, I'm back in Canada, and it's the great white north for a reason.

Stephanie 1:02
Very nice. I'm looking forward to some snow actually.

Keoki 1:07
It actually looks sunny where you are. I was, I was thinking you're in California or something.

The McCarrthys 1:11
Yeah, it kind of looks it but it's a deceiving. It's like a one degree out now. And it's a pretty.. but it's a nice day in Toronto, what can I say? So for you guys is you know, just up the street, so to speak to Whistler. And there's some great skiing, not too far away. It was like 2-3 hours from you guys.

Keoki 1:28
I'd say maybe 4?

Stephanie 1:30
Yeah, whistlers, about four and a half, maybe five hours from what I hear. We actually even we have teenagers. So we've been talking about getting out there actually this year. But we're right in between two passes. Stevens Pass, and Snoqualmie. So we're pretty close to skiing right around here too.

Keoki 1:49
For me, I just looked at the prices, it's like $2,000 a night to go to Whistler or $500 a night to go skiing here. So maybe we're gonna stay closer to home.

Umar Hameed 2:03
Oh, brilliant. So yeah, that's just pricing location, location and location. So right now, if either one of you want to handle it, if you were putting your finger on the pulse of how you feel the market is from a scale of 1 to 10 right now, what's that number? And what's the public confidence number? Like? How would the public see it? So what first for you guys, 1out of 10, how's the market?

Keoki 2:25
It's hard to put a number on the whole market in general, but maybe we'll call it, we'll call it a 7 just because there are parts that are pretty bad. So we just put out a video that had some statistics that King County, which is where we are, which has Seattle and Bellevue and a lot of the the bigger, you know, bigger parts of the greater Seattle area, the year over year change in solds is down 40%. So, you know, as a real estate agent, you would rather have almost prices be down by 40% versus closings down 40%, right? Because if you maintain your number of sales, you're at least your cash flow is doing fine. And maybe you make less per transaction. But when, when the market literally puts its brakes on almost overnight. That that's hard to imagine. But what's fascinating is that we still only have two months worth of inventory. The median price is still up year over year by like 8%. And so if I had one median price in King County is 950-ish.

Umar Hameed 2:42
Okay.

Keoki 2:42
And so if I had to guess, I would say what's kind of happening is interest rates have have just literally shut buyers down. But sellers are having a hard time imagining not getting the money they were seeing. And so they're not lowering their prices. And so that combination, the demand being pulled out from under you, but the pricing not moving is causing just sort of stagnation. Yeah, just a lot happening.

Umar Hameed 4:16
Brilliant. So you're saying that you as professionals see this as a 7 out of 10? Oh, how's the public seeing?

Keoki 4:22
See it as a five or a four or two depending on who you ask, you know, buyers are, are stung by interest rates and sellers are stung by dropping prices. So depending on who you ask, they have different issues.

Umar Hameed 4:37
Brilliant. So how long have you guys been working together?

Stephanie 4:39
Hmm. We've been working together about 25 years.

Umar Hameed 4:43
Interesting. And part of the team. Do you guys have a team?

Stephanie 4:47
We do have a team and we basically have been we were working independently of one another and then came together about 25 years ago and we started our own real estate company.He really started it. And then I joined him. And then it's been going on ever since..

Umar Hameed 5:07
...he really started it and you made it better.

Stephanie 5:10
Yeah, well, I don't know...

Keoki 5:11
Listen, if I were still running the show, we might be in a garage.

Umar Hameed 5:15
When you have employees, so how many agents work with you? And how many admin folks?

Stephanie 5:20
We have 20 realtors. And then we have 4 admin, actually.

Umar Hameed 5:27
Brilliant when people come with issues, do some of them go to mommy and some go to daddy, like, do they? Have you guys figured out like, where do we go to get a yes?

Keoki 5:36
For sure. I am probably the, I've got a contract problem. Some maybe creativity on winning a listing or dealing with that kind of thing. And anything else is probably stuff. She's, she's the, she's the one who attracted all the agents. She's the one who takes care of them.

Umar Hameed 5:59
Nice. So part of the job of a leader is to lend your confidence to the people you're leading. Because especially in challenging times, so like there's panic sets in, and they can leverage the trust of the leader to get through those times and continue doing the activities they need to do. So how do you guys lend people your confidence?

Stephanie 6:24
That's a terrific question because I think that is a very powerful thing at a time like this. Because you certainly don't want to come across like everything's all roses, because we are having a shift comparatively speaking to what was just taking place. And so that's the really cool thing about our group is that they've all been really involved in leadership, at a professional level, if it's within their community, if it's within, you know, we our office is a realtor office, which is a higher level of professionalism. There's, you know, 13 level of ethics that we follow that are that we really educate ourselves on. And so they have all been like presidents, or governors or secretaries of part of the some realtor organization, which I think lends a lot to taking us through times like this, because when instead of freaking out they're educating themselves, they're going out and networking, and there's a great power to that.

Umar Hameed 7:31
Absolutely. So as you look at, you've probably been in organizations where it's been great leadership and not so great leadership. So what would be the 5 things that you guys doing? And you guys can go back and forth, if you want to provide the leadership that your team needs? Like, we'll be the who'd like to kick it off with number one, what's one of the things you really need to be good at to be a great leader?

Keoki 7:53
Are you pointing at me?

Stephanie 7:54
Oh, yeah, you can go ahead.

Keoki 7:56
Okay, well, I was gonna say one of the...

Stephanie 7:58
..two chefs in the kitchen right there, go ahead.

Keoki 8:02
One of the best things that we have is we have a weekly meeting. And, and even before Zoom was a thing, we've always had agents come to meetings via Zoom or come into the office. And in that time, we really go through what's happening in the world, and we break it down. And we point out, okay, here, here's some of the things we need to work with. But here are the opportunities, there's always opportunities available and in a changing market. And so if you aren't careful, and you sit by yourself, you know, imagine an agent who doesn't have a place where, where they're talking about these things, it's really easy to find yourself in a hole. But we take that away, because we're talking about these opportunities. And we're, we're showing them different ideas. The other day, we had an attorney come in and talk about lease options, lease, purchase wraparound mortgages, you know, these are all things that I haven't done since the 90s. It's, you know, but there things that you can do today, when someone's really paralyzed by a giant interest rate. And so that kind of thing...

Stephanie 9:13
...staying up with the latest trends of what's taking place.

Umar Hameed 9:16
So let me kind of add to that just for a second, forget number two is, a lot of times when things go sideways, people kind of hide from the information. I don't want to know what's my bank account level, I don't want to know and I think one of the things you pointed out there is not only giving them opportunities that are open to them, which would be an eye opener. But more importantly this is what's going on this is the reality and here the and that gives a sense of confidence. And it makes it more real and it becomes information that they can actually use to move their career forward as opposed to hiding from it. So I love that number two, Stephanie? You're going to go for number two?

Stephanie 9:58
Absolutely. I think, you know that coupled with our culture, our culture is so incredibly strong. We have a group of people that have come in, and they've been with us for 10 years plus, I mean, that's what I think is so exciting. But we get together. And when there are tough times, and we've been through tough times together, we've been through highs and lows. But we can come together in a real conversation and say, Okay, this is really kind of, I'm struggling right now. And our true culture is such an uplifting group. We're all going to Mexico in January to do our business planning and get 15 clock, our credits, and pretty much our entire office is going because we all thrive so much on learning from one another.

Umar Hameed 10:49
...and tequila. So just going back to..

Stephanie 10:52
And tequilla!

Umar Hameed 10:56
Stephanie Why don't you define what you mean by culture? Like, what is culture in an organization?

Stephanie 11:01
Well, I think culture is a little bit of vulnerability, it's trust, its knowledge, its reliability. It's, you know, understanding that it's okay to fail, because you have to in order to learn.

Umar Hameed 11:17
So that culture, you're describing this your culture but if you were giving a deaf culture viewing, giving a different definition of what culture is, what would that be? By the way, I love your culture. Awesome.

Stephanie 11:28
Hey, thank you, thank you. I think culture is how you surround yourself with you know, it's kind of how, what you surround yourself with. And how from that, how you want to grow from that..

Keoki 11:45
..or it's the personality of your company. I mean, really, when I think a culture, it's, it's the personality of your company, are you young, hip, vibrant company, are you you know, are you, whatever it is, and culture is so important. So I feel like, when you're asking for a definition, at first, I was like, point! That is an interesting question..

Stephanie 12:07
That was a fantastic question by the way. Because you're right, I'm just like, it's like your family.

Umar Hameed 12:14
So I think the way you described it is probably a good definition. Here's how I define it, is if you think of having a sheet of paper. And you think of having a magnet. So this is a patent, obviously, and you put this magnet down and you put the piece of paper on top of it, and you get iron filings, and you sprinkle them on the paper, they move with lines of flux to show you way, those magnetic lines are anything that the iron filings are the behaviors and the mindset of the people that work in that organization. The magnet are the set of beliefs they hold that dictate what the culture is, and the piece of paper is your company. And so if you have a great culture that Stephanie described, that people that align with it stay for 10 years plus, and people that go, you guys are nuts, you know, I want a place where there's like backbiting and I can be the top dog, then they leave. And so what happens oftentimes, as people come in and say, okay, these behaviors and mindset pieces, we need to change those and they go and pick up the iron falling and move it. What happens is unless you change the magnet underneath, they go back to where they used to be a day later, a week later, or a month later. And so yeah, so that's culture. So brilliant. One of the things you said Stephanie was vulnerability, when people have a problem, they come to you, and in a lot of organizations, that is not their culture, I cannot show weakness. So I have to hide my mistakes and my inactive inadequacies, because that's not what real people do. And the reality is strength comes from vulnerability, Hey, I'm having a problem. Can you help me and in most organizations, people like, I'll help you, and so brilliant. So that's number two. Number three, going back to you Keoki. What is number three in the leadership quest?

Keoki 14:17
I think it's setting up an infrastructure for success within your organization. And one of the things we have found is that agents, the best agents are out, getting out there and being rainmakers bring, you know, meeting people getting in front of people, so how can you design a system for them to succeed and what we have done is we built a program where we call it the STAR program, and within the STAR program, we literally do everything from your marketing to your putting your signs up. From the moment you get a listing where we're meeting, sending mess Searching to your seller about what we're doing and asking them questions to help us build the listing, we literally have designed everything because agents get too busy doing what makes them money. And they forget to do the simple things. And so we do all the simple things for them. And I think that that is another way to help help your agents be successful.

Umar Hameed 15:24
So there's two things I like about that, number one, you have a proven system that works. And even if your system is imperfect, because you're doing it consistently, you can figure out which piece needs fixing and tweak it. And sometimes a tweak is going to make it better or worse, but you can improve it as time goes on. And the second reason I like it is, oftentimes what realtors will do is stop prospecting, and start getting caught up in Oh, I have to do this, I have to do that. And it's a distraction. And it's also a way to kind of think you're busy when you're actually not. So, I love that right. All right, Stephanie. Number four comes to you.

Stephanie 16:06
Okay, culture leadership quest. What is that? Another one that I can. Ask the question one more time.

Umar Hameed 16:13
So what are the five elements of being, being great leaders? Like what do you need to provide do to create great leadership?

Keoki 16:21
I'm gonna say one of them for Stephanie, because while she was, she's thinking, I think, and it's Stephanie, that is the great leader in this and it's empathy. I can tell you that there is not an agent in our office that wouldn't drop everything to help Stephanie, if she asked, because she is the most giving, caring person. If they have a problem, it's her problem. She, you know, she, she cares so much about the people, it's, it's mind blowing. I, I can only watch on the side because I, I will be honest, I am not that empathetic as I am way more of the come to me with your contract issues. Stephanie is the glue. And and probably the number one reason that we have the culture that we have.

Umar Hameed 17:13
And I suspect and this is just a guess, on my part is, if you were Mr. Empathy as well, the company wouldn't work as well. And it's all about results, it wouldn't work as well either said that combination, and trying to be something you're not, is inauthentic. So I'll toss one into the, into the mix, and then it's coming back to you, Stephanie. For, for number 6 is you need to be who you are, you need to be authentic, because the most powerful version of yourself is you. And most people don't know who they are. So they try and pretend to be the person they think people want them to be. And when you do that, it gets you ahead in life, but only so far, but when you are authentically who you are. And that still means, you know, having respect for others and doing the right thing. But when you're who you are, you're at your strongest self, and that allows other people to trust you more. Because there's a sense when somebody's you get a vibe from somebody, and you get to see what they're doing. When there's a disconnect, you kind of go oh, wait a minute, I'm not sure what's wrong here. But something's wrong here. So this power being you.

Stephanie 18:24
Oh, absolutely.

Keoki 18:26
Okay, I have to I have to tell you that live who you are, is Corcoran motto. And so I love that you threw out there, you have to be who you are. Because literally we have lived who you are all over our outfits. And, you know, we've only been a part of Corcoran now for maybe five months. But it's it's so aligned with our culture, that it's been such a great match.

Umar Hameed 18:51
And Stephanie was saying she's gonna get that tattooed. She didn't say wherever. So that's okay.

Stephanie 18:56
Who says I didn't already?

Umar Hameed 19:00
So any, what would you like to add to the list of leadership traits that, that help?

Stephanie 19:07
Well, I think you hit on all of them. I mean, it's just like really being able to have a mixture of, you know, driven this, of knowing that you're surrounded by people that have the knowledge that you can go to you don't have to have all of the answers. And you know, in order to do that, you need to be able to trust and then you just have a happier life..

Umar Hameed 19:33
Absolutely.

Stephanie 19:34
I mean, that's it. So, just kind of finding some harmony with all of that, I think is a very powerful.

Umar Hameed 19:43
Cool. One more definition into the mix. I think a great leader has three responsibilities. One is to have a kick ass amazing vision that people go, yeah, that's worth doing. And I think if you can, you can only do that. If you are fully authentic and who you are, because from that foundation, you can dream big dreams. So one having a kick ass amazing vision. Number two, you guys are already doing really, really well, is to make sure you have a great culture, where it's not about my glory, it's about our glory. And it's all about, you know, how do we get help each other become better than we are is if that's how you decide to define it. And the third one is how do we grow the value of the organization that we have, and when leaders start getting caught up in the weeds and not doing those three primary things, and I think that's where organizations kind of get derailed a little bit. So..

Stephanie 20:39
..you know, it's your leadership I just wanted to throw in.

Umar Hameed 20:43
Sure.

Stephanie 20:44
..is leadership is not really about the eyes so much anymore. It's about how to grow the next leader.

Umar Hameed 20:52
Yeah. And that's so interesting in terms of still today, it's a lot of it's like, I want to be in charge, and I don't want anybody to know my tricks.

Umar Hameed 21:05
Hey, guys, so before we part company, I've got two questions for each of you. So why don't we start with you, Keoki. What brings you happiness in your work?

Keoki 21:16
Oh, happiness. This is a good question for Stephanie. Um, I don't know. I, I like doing new things. I like being creative. I'm gonna say those are probably the two things that make me the happiest. I get bored, if it's the same thing over and over. And so I tend to be always looking for that next best thing. And so those two things, creativity and noon.

Umar Hameed 21:45
So I'm gonna guess one of your things. It may not be true. So let me know I would suspect if there is a tough problem that you'd like to sink your teeth into. And once you solve that, that brings great joy. You save a deal or a contract.

Keoki 21:59
Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah, I can actually deal doctoring. Some you hear some brokers who own companies. I've literally been at management retreats, or you know, with different franchises where they're talking about how how to stop your agents from calling you with problems. And I sit there thinking, when that's kind of my favorite part, I love when agents call me with problems. I love figuring out what what it is that they're needing to do. I just had, I had one this morning, where she was trying to figure out how to get around an obstacle. And when we're done, she's like, ah, that's so good. Okay, thanks. Bye. And I was like great.

Umar Hameed 22:39
Yep, that's, um, brings joy. You lit up there. How about you, Stephanie, what brings you joy in your work?

Stephanie 22:46
You know, I guess it is like sharing the bit. It's sharing the vision to those that you're around and being so fired up about it, that when they chew on to the vision to and they succeed, that excitement, just really, I don't know, if it just really feeds me, it does, probably feeds me when they're kind of in a broken spot. Because I know that in the future here, they're going to it's going to flip around, and they're going to succeed. And we all have these different spots. But I love that it does fire you up. So like being a cheerleader, I guess.

Umar Hameed 23:24
Love that.

Keoki 23:25
There's a little joke that sometimes some of the agents that come to us come to us broken, and they get healed at our office. And it has a lot to do with that..

Stephanie 23:34
..that's all of us because we have a lot of women in our group too. We're almost all women, we have two men, really three men..

Umar Hameed 23:42
I kind of guessed that because Keoki has a lot of hair loss, you know, that would do it.

Keoki 23:50
I have two teen daughters and a wife. So Wow. Yeah, there's a lot a lot of stress, stress in this hair, lack of hair.

Umar Hameed 24:00
So Stephanie, I'm going to add to one thing, if I may, to your, you know, sharing your vision. Just this one phrase that I think is like so powerful. And here's what it means for you. Because sometimes kind of people you hear the vision and when you say here's what it means for you, and you can articulate that for them. And I think sometimes people are gonna go, Oh my god. So brilliant. So you get the next question stuff.

Stephanie 24:23
Here's my vision...

Umar Hameed 24:24
What is a mind hack for you?

Stephanie 24:25
..and what it means to you?

Umar Hameed 24:26
Yes. Here's what it means for you. Here's our...Oh, so yeah, so basically, it would go something like this, you know, you describe your vision of the company, and it's super exciting. And then just saying, Here's what it means for you. Sometimes people go really need to hear that because some people aren't visionary. It's just like, oh, that sounds nice. When you explain it, this is why it's for you. They kind of go home.

Keoki 24:49
Yeah, I'm sorry. Go ahead. I was I was just gonna say it's so instead of just explaining the vision, it's it's being excited about the vision but then personalizing it. Here's what it means to you.

Umar Hameed 25:00
Put them, here's what it means for you. And sometimes people gotta go light up because you you take that vision and bring some insight into it and they go, Oh my god, I found home.

Stephanie 25:11
Right, right. Okay. Here's the perfect thing, but my Go ahead.

Umar Hameed 25:19
No, you, you've heard, You're gonna say something smart.

Stephanie 25:24
I'm stopping.

Umar Hameed 25:26
Okay, here's my question to you the second question, Stephanie, what is one mind hack or trick that you use to be more productive, sleep better, be sexier, like what's something you'd like to share with our listeners that they could implement right away to just be better?

Stephanie 25:43
Taking a little time out for myself, I put little headphones on, that has nice melting loving music and I color for at least 30 minutes and it just kind of relieves everything out of my brain. To kind of..

Umar Hameed 25:56
So your mind hack would be find your thing?

Stephanie 25:59
Right.

Umar Hameed 25:59
Yeah, that's brilliant. I love that. For you Keoki? What's one line that you'd like to share with our listeners and viewers?

Keoki 26:07
I, I have...

Stephanie 26:09
Xbox!

Keoki 26:10
Yeah, no.

Stephanie 26:10
Let's get real.

Keoki 26:12
I have a, I have a funny one. Because I'm so, my mind is so weird. Sometimes. I tell myself when I go on a walk. I tell myself, just walk as far as you can. And you can Uber home. Because what I have found is if, if I think if I think that I'm going to walk in one direction, and then I have to walk back that literally drives my mind crazy. The whole time I'm walking, all I'm thinking is I have to turn around and walk back and forth. You know, there's a, I don't want to call it lazy or something. But it gets in the way.

Stephanie 26:51
It's Hawaiian relaxation.

Keoki 26:54
But if I tell myself, I am going to Uber home, what invariably happens is I leave happy. I'm all excited. I'm gonna go do my walk. And then when I get somewhere, I just think, Oh, hey, I could save money if I just turn around here. And oh, and somehow even it just makes the whole walk better. It's the dumbest thing.

Umar Hameed 27:16
I love that.

Keoki 27:16
It works so well for me.

Umar Hameed 27:17
No, I think I think that's totally genius. So, did you guys ever watch this movie called Gattaca?

Keoki 27:24
Yeah. But it's been a long time..

Umar Hameed 27:26
It has Ethan Hawke in it. And the basic plot is this people on earth that are like, have the perfect DNA and they just superhuman practically. And then his brother is deemed to be one of those superhuman people, and he is not, but when they were kids, he beat him in a swimming race. And his brother who was like perfect says, I can't believe you beat me. How did you beat me and he said, You were swimming to get to a point where you could get back to shore. I was swimming to beat you him if I drowned. And so kind of remind me of that. So I love your one. I can always Uber her home so just walk and just you get further ahead and get more fitter. Love that. Thanks, guys for being on the show. I really appreciate, learnt a lot. And I'm looking forward to our next conversation.

Keoki 28:11
Thanks a lot.

Stephanie 28:11
Thank you.

Umar Hameed 28:17
If you enjoyed this episode, please go to iTunes and leave a five-star rating. And if you're looking for more tools, go to my website at nolimitsselling.com. I've got a free mind training course there, that's going to teach you some insights from the world of Neuro-Linguistic Programming and that is the fastest way to get better results.