[...]... helps drive the success of all others The network itself grows because other agents see the success of RE/ MAX agents and join the team And the agent’s success is ultimately predicated on the home buyer’s satisfaction It only makes sense, therefore, to provide agents with everything they need to perform at the highest level Everybody wins is really about giving people the space and the care to grow When... the other side of the seesaw is the energy devoted to “managing the dream.” The three critical success factors on the “growing the dream” side of the equation are: Preface xxi GROWING MANAGING Sharing the Dream • A Brand-Focused Culture • Unwavering Focus on Top-Line Measures • Honors Princes and The Dream Princesses • Creating a Learning/ Training Machine • Project Leadership • Operations Belief The. .. nevertheless, they weren’t motivated only by money As a breed, real estate agents were primarily success- and growth-driven They wanted to build up their lives and become something better If they couldn’t get there on their own, they wanted help to learn how They needed teachers, coaches, and motivational speakers to champion them Essentially, they wanted the tools to succeed and the independence and freedom... the RE/ MAX story At the end of this book, you will find an analysis of key conclusions from our growth companies study and the parallels we discovered with RE/ MAX The six companies that we studied are remarkably consistent in their formulas with that of RE/ MAX They focus on a critical few measures to reach their goals They have achieved a dynamic balance between driving growth and managing growth They... Schaack had the most market share, represented the best listings, and attracted the top agents—those Van Schaack men They were college educated, sophisticated, well-dressed, 1 2 EVERYBODY WINS and highly polished They were all white, in their forties, fifties, or sixties; and they were, of course, all men They lived in beautiful homes, drove expensive cars, and belonged to country clubs Their wives... understand the short- and long-term correlation between brand and growth They are all strong innovators that understand the importance of honing their products and services without losing the dream And they all have charismatic leadership A big “aha” for us in this regard is the nature of that charisma As Jim Collins in his book Good to Great (HarperCollins, 2001) has noted, humility is prevalent among the. .. book that Preface xix would be written to explain the lessons of HG/HI companies I could see RE/ MAX serving as a cultural and leadership case study that would illustrate the lessons we were obtaining in the financial and employment data of our six comparison companies “We’ll tell the RE/ MAX story, ” I suggested to Dave, “uncover specific leadership lessons, and expand from there to show the parallels... organization, saw huge positives in what it accomplished, and uncovered valuable lessons about how it did it Here are some of the big-picture elements of the RE/ MAX story and the fascinating real estate industry: • In North America alone, real estate is big business; and increasingly around the world, more families own their own homes than ever before—75 percent of an average family’s net worth is locked... privately held firm that grew agent by agent over 30 years So, how did RE/ MAX do it? I believe that RE/ MAX is organized around a dream The outward goal of that dream is to become the largest and best real estate network in the world The participants in that dream believe that it can only be achieved if everybody wins As cofounder and top leader, Dave Liniger created the dream and gave it life by sharing... who bring their children to watch turn into children themselves Everyone loves a balloon The RE/ MAX balloon got its start at the Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta in 1978 the brain child of regional owners Bill Echols and Darrel Stilwell, who wanted to make a big impression on their local customers Adopted worldwide, the RE/ MAX balloon with its red, white, and blue colors and its “Above the Crowd!” . to. We began to describe it as the everybody wins principle at the heart of the RE/ MAX dream. The deeper we looked and the more we learned about RE/ MAX, the more convinced we became that it was. accomplished, and uncovered valuable lessons about how it did it. Here are some of the big-picture elements of the RE/ MAX story and the fascinating real estate industry: • In North America alone, real. more about the RE/ MAX culture. My admiration and respect for the accomplishments of the senior team con- tinued unabated. I talked to Dave about why I believed the RE/ MAX story would be of great