I'm Not Making This Up! Part 5 of 6

Nuggets For The Noggin

I’m Not Making This Up!  Part 5

Article by: Jim “Gymbeaux” Brown, 9/16/2005

It’s late; it’s been a long drive home from the Mega Management Camp conducted by Keller Williams Realty University in Austin, Texas.  Before I tell you my story, let me preface it with a follow up on the series of articles of “After Katrina” and “What Is Important Here.”

I did not want to miss this opportunity to learn more about Keller Williams Realty so even though my Market Center was recovering from Katrina, I decided to attend Mega Camp if for no other reason than to demonstrate that life goes on and we need to get back to “normal” whatever “normal” really is.  So I went.  As I sit here at midnight I am not sure it was the right thing to do.  The training and presentations were great, no they were magnificent.  I had the opportunity to listen to Dr. Fred Grosse who I had the pleasure of meeting and hearing almost 15 years ago.  I could not believe how many of his principles and sayings I have been using over the years and had forgotten from where they came – he was worth the trip!

The real reason I wanted to attend is that if you want to walk the walk, you must first learn to talk the talk and there is no better place to learn the talk than where it is taught – at Keller Williams University.  Reading about it simply is not the same.  Hearing it, hearing others describe how they use it and how it benefits them and their market centers, how it has not only helped to retain great associates, it also has improved production and profitability.  What is IT?

It is the culture of Keller Williams.  It is not simply memorizing the WI4C2TS or the Mission, Vision and Values of the company, it is literally becoming those things in everything you do.  Walking the walk!  One of the most unique results of this session was the development of a Keller Williams Agent (I prefer Associate) Bill of Rights/Declaration of Distinction.  Everyone is going to applaud this effort when it is published.

OK, so what’s my story?  From the moment I first arrived in Austin, I quickly became overwhelmed with emotion from the outpouring of support from our Keller Williams Family Members from all parts of North America including Canada.  I cannot begin to tell you how many people said they had been praying for us.  I cannot tell you how many people said they had read my Nuggets For The Noggin and used them in their Market Centers and had not had a chance to say thank you.  One Team Leader told me that for two days she thought she would never get the opportunity to say thank you and that since we all survived, she would never let an opportunity to say thank you to anyone ever pass again.  I think that was the beginning of the end for me; emotionally speaking.

Mo Anderson asked several of us from the Gulf States Region to have lunch with her and some very special guests who donated thousands and thousands of dollars to Keller Cares.  Everyone had a chance to talk and we talked about Keller Cares and the stories from the Gulf Coast.  It was not an easy conversation.  Everyone was crying.

Then at the beginning of each session after a break, Mark Willis would ask people to come to the microphone and tell everyone their Big Aha or their Action Plan for when they get back to their Market Centers.  I wanted to use that opportunity to say thank you on behalf of my crew and the rest of the Gulf States Market Centers.  Easier said than done!  I just couldn’t get the words out.  Words simply did not do justice to what 52,000 of our team mates have been doing for the Gulf States Region.  I wanted to say just two words, thank you and they just wouldn’t come out of my mouth.  I got some semblance of “thank you” out and said that I wanted to dedicate the recovery of the Slidell Market Center to Mo Anderson.  I have learned a great deal from Dr. John C. Maxwell and he advocates that if you want to succeed at anything, dedicate the outcome to someone special and at this moment in time there is no one more special than Mo Anderson and her team of angels!

OK, I made it through that ordeal, on a scale of 1 to 10, I probably hit a minus 4 for being suave and debonair, and in fact I was more like Art Carney.  Then as if I needed it, Mo asked me to sit on a panel in front of 400+ fellow team leaders and operating partners and talk about Keller Cares and Katrina.  I sat there but I could not talk.  The entire time Mo stood beside me and rubbed my back – that was the good part – wanted to tell her she had about two hours to stop it!  Driving home I tried to remember what I said but whatever I said I am not sure people understood it.  I was a complete mess, not an easy thing to admit.

Just for the record, the attendees at this conference donated well over $200,000 for Keller Cares and they announced that our agent count is now over 52,000 – large round of applause please.

Now for those who read this and who were in attendance, let me say what I really wanted to say but couldn’t.

Thank you from the bottom of my heart and the hearts of over 700 of your Keller Williams Realty Associates most of whom you have never met but did not let that stand in the way of your contribution to their recovery.

Yes, I was emotional, OK, VERY emotional but it was not for what you think.  Yes, the stories are sad and they took their toll on me over the past couple of weeks.  I was emotional because it was just so hard to believe the emotional support, the support in supplies and the financial support that everyone was so eager to provide.  It was just overwhelming and I did not deal with it very well and for that I am truly sorry.  I wanted to tell you just how much it means to my crew as I am sure it means to the other Market Centers affected and their crews.

Because there were so many Team Leaders in the room, I wanted to tell them how helpless I felt when I heard the horror stories of my crew and that I had not prepared myself very well for. 

I wanted to tell them not to wait for a disaster to hit to get prepared.  Create a plan.  Grab your TL and MCA computers and take them with you.  Make sure you have a list of everyone and their contact numbers.  Make sure you enter everyone in the member section of your Market Center Intranet Site so you can access it from any computer with internet access.  Create a contact phone number away from the afflicted area were everyone knows to call to report in.  These are the lessons I wanted to talk about but couldn’t and it was an opportunity lost and for that I am really very sorry.

I called one of my crew who I knew was in trouble with her home to see if she had heard from Keller Cares and she said yes but that she COULD NOT TALK ABOUT IT!  She simply said, “I am sure glad I am with Keller Williams!”

So back to my story.  I am driving home; not feeling very good about myself and my behavior.  Did not listen to Gary Keller, Dave Jenks or John Maxwell on this trip home, I listened to my XM Radio tuned to Watercolors and smooth jazz.  As Dr. Fred suggested, I also put the windows down and let the wind blow my hair.  You may or may not believe the rest of this story but I swear to you that it is true.

I remember telling Mo at lunch that my concern and I am sure the concern of everyone in the Gulf States Region was the uncertainty of the future.  What will the future bring?  How many of my crew will decide to go elsewhere or pack it in?  What will the market be like?

Then I remember Joe Tye who said, “Adversity is a quiet teacher.  You must probe it for the meaning it contains, and interpret the subtle answers with which it will respond.”  He also said, “Courage is to stop worrying about all the possible tomorrows and the trouble they MIGHT bring, and to give your whole attention to the one today in which you always live.”   If there is a more powerful statement I am not sure I have heard it.  The emphasis should be on MIGHT BRING, not WILL BRING!  No one knows what tomorrow will bring but if you expect the best you stand a much better chance of achieving it than if you expect the worst.

So onward I go toward Louisiana.  As I approach the Sabine River, the river that separates Louisiana and Texas, I started to think; wouldn’t it be nice to have some sort of sign that everything will be OK?  That we all will recover from Katrina and while things will never be the same, they will also not be that bad either.  Shortly after that thought what should appear in the window of my mobile university?  A beautiful and perfect rainbow – no kidding – it was there right in front of me as if it were creating an arch into the State of Louisiana.  But it did not stop there!  No sir, on the radio Richard Elliott was playing a song entitled “People make the world go round!”

So I counted my blessings:

• My wife was safe.
• My kids were safe.
• My dog was safe.
• My golf clubs were safe (I didn’t dare put that number one)
• My KW crew was safe
• Our Market Center was safe
• Keller Cares was on our side in a massive turnout
• I got a couple of hugs and kisses from Mo Anderson and that is never a bad thing
• People all over the world prayed for our safety – prayers are always welcomed
• Mo said we need 7 hugs a day, I had enough hugs over the last two days to take me through Christmas – 2006

Looking ahead, the storm was the easy part; it was over in a short period of time.  Now comes the recovery and there will be achievements and there will be setbacks but we will succeed, all of us in the Gulf States Region.  More importantly, every member of the Keller Williams Realty Family will be proud of their contribution to that recovery and keeping the Keller Williams family INTACT!  There is however, one daunting and impossible task that lies ahead for everyone in the Gulf States Region and that is how do you adequately say thank you?  You might as well try to get toothpaste back into the tube, you would be more successful!

Thank you!  ;-)