How many times in your life have you been the first?
Our advisor, Pam O’Connor was one of those firsts. And, if you have ever been a “first,” you know how hard that can really be.
Pam O’Connor was the first woman to lead a national agent network in real estate. Now she is an advisor (including at The Helm) and sought-out speaker and writer on all things real estate and leadership. She shares some of her best wisdom from her time at the helm.
On facing challenges in her career and the role of optimism:
At least three times in my career, I ended up at the helm of companies that were either suffering financially or were being targeted by better-financed, more established competitors. In every case, we managed to either build back and sell the company with a favorable outcome, or overtake competitors by doing a better job with our strengths than anyone else, building loyal relationships, and “finding the voids and filling them”. Optimism is the most important trait we can have…and best of all, it can be contagious!
On practicing candor with her teams:
I worked to build a culture of supportive, open relationships that encouraged feedback and initiative. That builds confidence in everyone and also fosters an environment where the boss doesn’t hear only what he or she wants to hear. My bosses were board members during most of my career and they were type A owners of mostly large brokerage companies who had no qualms about being direct! I actually thrived on that candor, as it helped me course-correct when necessary and provided a blueprint for what I needed to accomplish to reach our objectives. Having a mindset that is open to constructive criticism is super important to not only performance improvements but also to healthy relationships that help you grow both personally and professionally.
On mentoring and creating opportunities for others:
I assigned my second-in-command to develop our global network even though I would have enjoyed the travel associated with it. She was able to build something she took pride in, I was free to focus on other things, and we all benefitted from the end product. Also, I opted to retire a few years earlier than was necessary in order to give my COO an opportunity for my job while he was still in his early 50s. In retrospect, it was good for him but also opened new opportunities for me to contribute in other ways and “smell the roses” in ways that would have otherwise been delayed. It taught me the advantages of succession planning, which I’ve been able to pass along to others struggling with when to stay and when to go.
On leveraging her zone of genius:
Relationships were always my strength. Using the phone or talking in person to address a problem is something I don’t think we do enough. I used to wish I could make two or three “check in” calls every day to different colleagues just because something good always resulted, but I couldn’t make that happen as often as I liked. If you can exercise the discipline to schedule time for whatever your special gift is, do it! It always pays off.
Two books she’d recommend:
Boys in the Boat remains one of her favorites and I Used to Like You Until which has great commentary on how to address the divisiveness in society today and the limitation of binary thinking.
One woman she loves to hype:
There are several women I love and admire in our business, but right at the top is Michael Saunders of Michael Saunders & Company in Sarasota, FL. Michael started her company nearly 50 years ago and has been wildly successful by any measure – ranking, size, volume, reputation, etc. She started as a single mother who had been a parole officer but whose family had deep ties to early Sarasota, and she has become a top ambassador for the community. This inspiring, elegant, impressive, smart, quick, energetic lady has been one of the country’s top luxury real estate icons and she is also an amazing leader.
Pam O’Connor is an Advisor of The Helm. You can learn more about her here.