Performance Matters

By Mike Myatt, Chief Strategy Officer, N2growth 

I’m going old-school with today’s message – it’s going to be direct, and to the point…focus on performance. One of my pet peeves is the voluminous amount of management speak and self-help propaganda currently in circulation designed to codify a lack of performance. I’m an individual that believes in clear and direct communication, so I’ll spare you the rhetoric and just do what I do best…cut to the chase. Put simply, the formula for success, what truly differentiates you, is that you either PERFORM or your don’t.

The text that follows is not going to nurture you, nor will it serve as a disingenuous pat on the back…I’m not going to tell you what a nice person you are, but I am going to ask you to lose the excuses, rationalizations, justifications, platitudes, theories, and spin and just get the job done. This message is about zeroing-in on the main difference between the impact players and the wannabes…its called delivering a certainty of execution. Don’t give me excuses…give me results.

See if this rings true…have you ever noticed that it seems to be those soothsayers who can wax eloquent in the planning stages, that always just seem to fall flat on their face when it comes to the implementation? Again, in an effort to keep it simple, don’t tell me; show me! A great strategy that cannot be executed is not a great strategy at all…it is a failed strategy. Let me put it this way…It’s pretty darn hard to look smart if you cannot deliver the goods. 

Think of any successful leader and you’ll find they consistently get the job done. They accomplish the mission; they find a way to win; they execute. Sadly, all it really takes to stand out in today’s business world is to follow through on your commitments. It doesn’t matter where you went to school, how smart you are, what your title is, or any number of other considerations…if you want to succeed, learn to honor your commitments and execute. 

The best advice I can give you is to immediately cease and desist from majoring in minors, learn to harness your passion, leverage your resources, be disciplined in your approach, and always focus on performance. Contrasted with an earlier statement above, it’s hard to appear as anything other than smart when you are a master of execution and performance. Few things speak to a leader’s ability like consistently putting points on the scoreboard…

Now What?

By Mike Myatt, Chief Strategy Officer, N2growth

When things don’t go as expected, what do you do? The best leaders always have a back-up plan, so my question to you is: what’s your Plan B? My experience with most executives & entrepreneurs is that they are totally committed to and focused on success. As a result, many of them tend to have a major blind-spot (translation: weakness) when it comes to the anticipation of set-backs.  While this is understandable, it is nonetheless naive, and it constitutes a major flaw in the business logic of most strategic plans. This is so much the case that the most often overlooked aspect of strategic planning is adequately addressing contingencies as part of the planning process. In the text that follows, I’ll take a closer look at the value of contingency planning…

The reality surrounding the success of any implementation is found by understanding that no matter how smart you are, things rarely go as planned. Those that plan in advance for changes in circumstances can adroitly address issues when they occur, while those who must deal with “unforeseen” circumstances don’t tend to fare as well. Smart leaders view obstacles as a constant rather than a variable, and incorporate that thinking into their planning.  Any well crafted strategy anticipates obstacles and factors in multiple “what if” scenarios.  Leaders that wait until a problem occurs to deal with it place themselves and their organization at a huge strategic disadvantage.

The two most common outcomes created by a lack of contingency planning are: 1.) watching things grind to a halt as you scramble to evaluate options, and; 2.) having fewer options to assess based upon the new found time constraint. Speed is your friend and should be leveraged to your advantage. Speed is aided by anticipation and slowed by a lack thereof. Smart leaders will do everything in their power to keep a decreae in velocity from becoming a self imposed adversary due to a lack of contingency planning.

It is important to remember that contingency planning is a key to avoiding costly mistakes. In most cases your wins won’t put you out of business, but your losses most certainly can. The three most critical items to focus on when conducting your planning are:

1. Insure that personal accountability is present on any major benchmark, milestone or deliverable.  
2. Make sure that someone has identified the 5 worst things that could happen with any initiative, what steps can be taken to prevent their occurrence, and what measures will be taken to overcome them if they happen?
3. Make sure that advance warning signs for potential failures are identified and understood so that you have plenty of runway in front of you to implement your contingency plans.

My final suggestion is that you take the time to review all mission critical plans to insure that the proper contingency plans have been put into place.  

Sidebar: This post was inspired by a conversation I had last month Mark Oakes (@MarkOOakes) about the historical origin of the term” Plan B.” As told by Mark, the story goes like this: Baron Von Bismark was tasked with unifying the axis powers in WW1. He had his aids work for months preparing the perfect unification plan. Upon completion they wanted to immediately put it into action. Bismark said “NO…prepare a second plan in the event the first doesn’t work.” It became knows as ‘Plan B’ (B)ismark Plan = Plan ‘B’

Are Leaders Born or Made?

By Mike Myatt, Chief Strategy Officer, N2growth

So the question that many seem to want to debate to the death is: Are leaders born or made? While there is a very simple answer to this question, most people are so entrenched in their beliefs that no amount of reason or logic will alter their opinions. But that’s never stopped me before…so for my part, I would actually like to put this useless debate to bed once and for all. So, what’s the answer? Both – some people are born with innate qualities that predispose them to being leaders, and other people while not naturally gifted with leadership ability can acquire it. Moreover, all leaders, born or made, can improve their ability with desire, experience and effort. 

If we’re to be honest with ourselves, as opposed to defending a particular position to suit our needs, we’ve all known born leaders…They are those affable individuals that posses charisma and presence combined with the ability to make good decisions that people have flocked to since an early age. They were your class presidents, homecoming and prom court members, team captains, club leaders, and the people who held virtually all the available leadership positions you can imagine early in life. They were those unflappable individuals that seemed to just have that “it” factor. They were the born leaders we all grew up with.

Before we move on, and as a caution to those who are natural leaders, natural ability will only take you so far. Leaders who rest on their laurels without making the effort to develop their skills will eventually be overtaken by those who view leadership as a professional skill to be developed and refined. As they old saying goes, “it’s not what you’ve been given, but what you do with it that matters.” Every person has to decide for themselves whether they’ll be an underachiever or a person who excels, and since you’ll be judged for your choice, my suggestion would be to choose wisely.  

Moving on, we’ve all also known individuals who while perhaps not naturally gifted leaders, either fell into, or accepted leadership responsibility, and worked diligently to develop themselves into highly effective leaders. Leadership acumen can most certainly be taught, and it can also be ingrained in those willing to put forth the effort. You see, the only things that keep someone from becoming a sound leader are a lack of character, effort and desire. If those three qualities are present, everything else can be developed. I’ve personally witnessed the shy and introverted develop presence, the greedy become giving, the arrogant develop an authentic sense of humility, the foolish become discerning and wise, people who struggled with decision making learn solid decisioning skills, individuals who lacked domain expertise acquire it, people who were ego centric transition into servant leaders and the list could go on…

Bottom line: It is not how a leader comes by their skill that is relevant. It only matters that they possess the requisite skills for the job, and that they are willing to apply those skills for the benefit of those they lead. Remember that there is no perfect leader, no single right way to lead, and no one-size-fits-all formula for leadership. Let’s stop wasting time debating whether leaders are born or made, and focus on how to help them be better leaders regardless of how they arrived.

Do First Impressions Really Matter?

By Mike Myatt, Chief Strategy Officer, N2growth

So my question to you is this: do first impressions really matter? While they shouldn’t, the reality is that they most certainly do. As the old saying goes “you only get one chance to make a first impression,” and often times it is the perception of appearance that determines whether or not you are even afforded the opportunity to get up to bat. The truth is that most people when first meeting someone will quickly attempt to size them up. Whether consciously, or unconsciously, they will make quick value judgments in an effort to assess your credibility and flesh out your agenda. In today’s post I’ll examine how managing appearances can have a substantial impact on your personal brand and your success. 

In a perfect world professionals would only be judged solely on their character, skill sets, competencies, and performance. But alas, we do not live in a perfect world…While appearances shouldn’t matter, the reality is that the car you drive, where you office, the clothes you wear, whether you’re in good physical shape, the vocabulary that flows from your lips, the company you work for, the publicity and PR you put out, whom you choose to associate with, how you appear online (social networking platforms, search engine results, etc.), and any number of other appearance specific issues can add to, or detract from, the strength of your personal brand.

I want to be clear that I’m not advocating for form over substance, extreme self-indulgence, narcissism, or masking insecurity by the trappings you surround yourself with. Rather, I am a proponent of paying attention to detail and facing reality. Even the most discerning people make value judgments at the subconscious level as it’s only human nature to use the power of observation in an attempt to validate perception. We want those with whom we work to not only be competent, but there is also an innate desire to have them look the part as well, as those individuals we choose to associate with will often times influence other’s perceptions of us.

Let me be transparent and use my personal situation as an example. I’m a professional advisor that works with a very high-end clientele. My job is to take very successful professionals and to help them become very significant human beings. While I would like to believe that I would be judged solely on the merits of my qualifications, the reality is that I know I’m judged on EVERYTHING my clients see and hear that relates to their perception of my ability.

For instance, if I drove-up to your office in a beat-up Honda, wearing old tattered clothes, with a generally disheveled appearance and a very laid-back attitude, would that first impression color your opinion of my ability? Sure it would…Likewise, if I drove up in a new Bentley, wearing a $3,000 custom tailored suit, sporting a fresh manicure, a GQ hair-cut, and with an attitude of arrogance, wouldn’t that also color your opinion of my ability? If not, it should…The overly slick professional always makes me want to grab my wallet and run…I actually prefer to play to the middle in that I am neither understated nor overstated, but I am comfortable with who I am and my approach to the market.  

The advice I give to my clients is to be true to yourself, and authentic in your approach to creating a great first impression. As an example, I don’t really care what someone pays for their clothing or automobile, or even how expensive their office accoutrements are, but I do notice whether or not they are well maintained and appropriate for the given situation. We’ve all witnessed the shallow attempts made by insecure people who are living large in an attempt to impress others, as opposed to creating a lifestyle that is authentic, within their means, and personally satisfying. The bottom line is that your appearance should be one that both you and your clients/customers/stakeholders are comfortable with. You should manage appearances on creating a feeling of comfort and engendering confidence…not on trying to impress.

While much is often said about “first impressions,” this phrase in and of itself implies subsequent impressions are made as well. Professionals must be just as diligent in their management of future appearances and impressions. I am a huge proponent of being consistent and having a high degree of continuity of impressions/appearances. If you happen to be someone who makes a great first impression, but cannot execute and/or deliver up to expectations you are just setting yourself up for failure and your clients will be even more frustrated than if they had never engaged you to begin with. A negative experience is worse for your personal and corporate brand than no experience at all.  

At the end of the day, it is not about how much you spend or spin, but the authenticity, integrity, and appropriateness of how you manage your appearance that matters. Disingenuous and insincere positioning may get your foot in the door, but when the door slams into your backside as your engagement or relationship blows-up, don’t say I didn’t warn you…

Good Leaders Don’t Go Backwards

By Mike Myatt, Chief Strategy Officer, N2growth

While the text that follows will be brief, it truly merits the attention of anyone still grappling with 2010 budget concerns. I’m going to share something with you that you might not want to hear, and quite frankly, something that will likely send your CFO straight into apoplexy.  You don’t grow a business by shrinking it. The key to corporate growth is not to fall into decline; hopefully not by default, but certainly not by design. If your 2010 plan is one that involves constriction, contraction, shrinkage or retraction, you should note that this is not what your clients and prospects are looking for.

Do you think your clients will be impressed that you’re cutting staff, shrinking marketing budgets, eliminating service lines or any other item that they perceive as a limiting factor in your ability to help or add value? Know this: your clients and prospects will never see any form of bunker mentality as being beneficial to them. One of the great business myths is the theory of “remaining flat” – it simply is not possible. A business grows or shrinks – it gains ground on competitors, or loses ground to them. So my question to you is this: What are you specifically going to do in 2010 to better serve your clients, to continue acquiring and developing talent, to build your brand, and to grow your business? General George C. Patton said it best: “Never defend, always attack.”

Dealing with Conflict

By Mike Myatt, Chief Strategy Officer, N2growth

The issues surrounding conflict resolution can be best summed-up in three words…”Deal With It“. Conflict Resolution is a skill set necessary for survival in today’s business world. While you can try and avoid conflict (bad idea), you cannot escape conflict…The fact of the matter is that conflict in the workplace is unavoidable. It will find you whether you look for it (good idea) or not. The ability to recognize conflict, understand the nature of conflict, and to be able to bring swift and fair resolution to conflict will serve you well as a senior executive or entrepreneur. In today’s blog post I’ll share my perspective on the art and science of conflict resolution.

How many times over the years have you witnessed otherwise savvy professionals self-destruct because they wouldn’t engage out of a fear of conflict? Putting one’s head in the sand and hoping that conflict will pass you by is not the most effective methodology for problem solving. Conflict rarely resolves itself…In fact, conflict normally escalates if not dealt with proactively and properly. It is not at all uncommon to see what might have been a non-event manifest itself into a monumental problem if not resolved early on. Remember that sleeping dogs all wake-up at some point in time.

Developing effective conflict resolution skill sets are an essential component of a building a sustainable business model. Unresolved conflict often results in a loss of productivity, stifles creativity, and creates barriers to cooperation. While conflict is a normal part of any social and organizational setting, the challenge of conflict lies in how one chooses to deal with it. Concealed or avoided, conflict will likely fester only to grow into resentment, create withdrawal or cause factional infighting within an organization.

So, what creates conflict in the workplace? Opposing positions, competitive tensions, power struggles, ego, pride, jealousy, performance discrepancies, compensation issues, just someone having a bad day, etc. While the answer to the previous question would appear to lead to the conclusion that just about anything and everything creates conflict, the reality is that the root of most conflict is either born out of poor communication or the inability to control one’s emotions. Let’s examine these 2 major causes of conflict:

Communication: I’ve heard it said that 90% of all problems in business could be avoided with better communication. My personal opinion is the number is closer to 50% (with the remaining 50% being caused by unmanaged emotions). If you reflect back upon conflicts you have encountered over the years you’ll quickly recognize that many of them resulted from a lack of information, poor information, no information, or misinformation. Let’s assume for a moment that you were lucky enough to have received good information but didn’t know what to do with it…That is still a communication problem, which can in turn lead to conflict. Clear, concise, accurate, and timely communication of information will help to ease both the number and severity of conflicts.

Emotions: Another common mistake made in workplace communications that leads to conflict is letting emotions drive decisions. I have observed countless examples of people who jeopardize their future to indulge their emotions, when what they should have done was protect their future by exhibiting control over their emotions. I have witnessed otherwise savvy executives place the need for emotional superiority ahead of achieving their mission (not that they always understood this at the time). Case in point…have you ever witnessed an employee throw a fit of rage and resign their position in the heat of the moment? If you have, what you really watched was a person indulging their emotions rather than protecting their future.

The very bane of human existence, which is in fact human nature itself, will always create gaps in thinking and philosophy and no matter how much we all wish it wasn’t so…it is. So the question then becomes how to effectively deal with conflict when it arises.

It is essential for organizational health and performance that conflict be accepted and addressed through effective conflict resolution processes. While having a conflict resolution structure is important, effective utilization of conflict resolution processes is ultimately dependant upon the ability of all parties to understand the benefits of conflict resolution, and perhaps more importantly, their desire to resolve the matter. The following tips will help to more effective handle conflicts in the workplace:

1. Define Acceptable Behavior: You know what they say about assuming…Just having a definition for what constitutes acceptable behavior is a positive step in avoiding conflict. Creating a framework for decisioning, using a published delegation of authority statement, encouraging sound business practices in collaboration, team building, leadership development, and talent management will all help avoid conflicts. Having clearly defined job descriptions so that people know what’s expected of them and a well articulated chain of command to allow for effective communication will also help avoid conflicts.
2. Hit Conflict Head-on: While you can’t always prevent conflicts, it has been my experience that the secret to conflict resolution is in fact conflict prevention where possible. By actually seeking out areas of potential conflict and proactively intervening in a fair and decisive fashion you will likely prevent certain conflicts from ever arising. If a conflict does flair up, you will likely minimize its severity by dealing with it quickly.
3. Understanding the WIIFM Factor: Understanding the other professionals WIIFM (What’s In It For Me) position is critical. It is absolutely essential to understand other’s motivations prior to weighing in. The way to avoid conflict is to help those around you achieve their objectives. If you approach conflict from the perspective of taking the action that will help others best achieve their goals you will find few obstacles will stand in your way with regard to resolving conflict.
4. The Importance Factor: Pick your battles and avoid conflict for the sake of conflict. However if the issue is important enough to create a conflict then it is surely important enough to resolve. If the issue, circumstance, or situation is important enough, and there is enough at stake, people will do what is necessary to open lines of communication and close positional gaps.
5. View Conflict as Opportunity: Hidden within virtually every conflict is the potential for a tremendous teaching/learning opportunity. Where there is disagreement there is an inherent potential for growth and development. If you’re a CEO who doesn’t leverage conflict for team building and leadership development purposes you’re missing a great opportunity. 

Bottom line…I believe resolution can normally be found with conflicts where there is a sincere desire to do so. Turning the other cheek, compromise, forgiveness, compassion, empathy, finding common ground, being an active listener, service above self, and numerous other approaches will always allow one to be successful in building rapport if the underlying desire is strong enough.

Leading Change

By Mike Myatt, Chief Strategy Officer, N2growth

Is leading change difficult? Only if you don’t know what you’re doing. As much as some people want to create complexity around the topic of leading change for personal gain, the reality is that creating, managing and leading change is really quite simple. In fact, catalyzing and leading change isn’t very daunting at all if you understand a few key principles. To prove my point, I’ll not only explain the entire change life-cycle in three short paragraphs, but I’ll do it in simple terms that anyone can understand…

Identifying the Need for Change: The need for change exists in every organization. Other than irrational change solely for the sake of change, every corporation must change to survive. If your entity doesn’t innovate and change with market driven needs and demands it will fail…it’s just that simple. The most complex area surrounding change is focusing your efforts in the right areas, for the right reasons, and at the right times. The ambiguity and risk can be taken out of the change agenda by simply focusing on three areas: 1) your current customers…what needs to change to better serve your customers? 2) potential customers…what needs to change to profitably create new customers? and; 3) your talent and resources…what changes need to occur to better leverage existing talent and resources? 

Leading Change: You cannot effectively lead change without understanding the landscape of change. There are four typical responses to change: The Victim…those that view change as a personal attack on their persona, their role, their job, or their area of responsibility. They view everything at an atomic level based upon how they perceive change will directly and indirectly impact them. The Neutral Bystander…This group is neither for nor against change. They will not directly or vocally oppose change, but neither will they proactively get behind change. The Neutral Bystander will just go with the flow not wanting to make any waves hoping to perpetually fly under the radar. The Critic…The Critic opposes any and all change. Keep in mind that not all critics are overt in their resistance. Many critics remain in stealth mode trying to derail change behind the scenes by using their influence on others. Whether overt or covert, you must identify critics of change early in the process if you hope to succeed. The Advocate…The Advocate not only embraces change, they will evangelize the change initiative. Like The Critics, it is important to identify The Advocates early in the process to not only build the power base for change, but to give momentum and enthusiasm to the change initiative. Once you’ve identified these change constituencies you must involve all of them, message properly to each of them, and don’t let up. With the proper messaging and involvement even adversaries can be converted into allies.

Managing Change: Manging change requires that key players have control over 4 critical elements: 1) Vision Alignment…those that understand and agree with your vision must be leveraged in the change process. Those that disagree must be converted or have their influence neutralized; 2) Responsibility…your change agents must have a sufficient level of responsibility to achieve the necessary results; 3) Accountability…your change agents must be accountable for reaching their objectives, and; 4) Authority…if the first three items are in place, yet your change agents have not been given the needed authority to get the job done the first three items won’t mean much…you must set your change agents up for success and not failure by giving them the proper tools, talent, resources, responsibility and authority necessary for finishing the race.

There you have it; in three short paragraphs I’ve given you the formula for change, and the question now becomes what will you do with it?

The Death of Sales

By Mike Myatt, Chief Strategy Officer, N2growth

The thoughts that follow are building off of last week’s post entitled “Shut-up & Listen.” If you thouht I took it too far last week, then what I’m about to espouse below will quite probably cause many of you to think “Myatt has finally lost it.” That said, I truly believe that the practice of sales as a business discipline has become at best ineffective, and in many cases flat out obsolete. You see, good business practices are not static. Stale methodologies and disciplines simply die a slow and very painful death, and it is my contention that the overwhelming majority of sales processes I see in today’s marketplace are just that…stale. If you want to create revenue, increase customer satisfaction, and drive brand equity, stop selling and start adding value. In the text that follows I’ll share my thoughts on how the practice of sales must change in order to survive.

Lest you think I’ve lost my mind, I want to be clear that I’m not advocating taking your eye off the revenue creation ball. Rather what I’m recommending will help you generate more revenue, with greater velocity by simply doing the right thing in putting your client’s needs first. I hear a lot of noise about the tough economy, and revenue being down for many companies. I hear complaint upon complaint that capital is frozen, and that nobody is closing deals. If you’re experiencing this type of reaction from your client, it’s not because they don’t have money to spend, it’s because you’re selling and not adding value. It’s because you’re talking and not listening. It’s because you don’t get it…It’s not about you, your company, your products or your services. It’s about meeting client needs and adding value.  The simple truth of the matter is that the economy hasn’t killed nearly the amount of sales that arrogant and unprofessional sales people have.

The problem with many sales organizations is that they still operate with the same principles and techniques they were using in the 60’s, 70’s and 80’s. While the technology supporting sales process have clearly evolved, the traditional sales strategies proffered by sales gurus 20 or 30 years ago have not kept pace with market needs. They are not nearly as effective as they once were, and as I’ve eluded to, in most cases they are obsolete. Trust me when I tell you that your prospects and clients have heard it all before. They can see the worn-out, old school closes coming a mile away. They can sniff antiquated selling strategies, and will immediately tune out on presentations not deemed relevant. If your sales force is still FAB-selling, spin-selling, soft-selling or using any number of outdated, one size fits all selling methodologies, your sales are suffering whether you realize it or not.

Call me crazy, but I don’t want to talk to someone who wants to broker my deal, manage my relationship, develop my business, or engineer my sale. I want to communicate with someone who wants to service my needs or solve my problems. Any organization that still has “sales” titles on their org charts and business cards is living in another time and place while attempting to do business in a world that’s already passed them by. It’s time for companies to realize that consumers have become very savvy and very demanding. Today’s consumer does their homework, is well informed, and buys…they are not sold.

Engage me, communicate with me, add value to my business, solve my problems, create opportunity for me, educate me, inform me, but don’t try and sell me…it won’t work. An attempt to sell me insults my intelligence and wastes my time. Think about it…do you like to be sold? News flash…nobody does. Now ask yourself this question, do you like to be helped? Most reasonable people do. The difference between the two positions while subtle, are very meaningful and powerful. If customer centricity is a buzzword as opposed to the foundation of your corporate culture then you have some work to do. The reality is that until I know that you care more about meeting my needs than yours, you’ll remain on the outside looking in. By the way, in order to understand my needs you have to actually know something about me…

The first thing to do when assessing your sales model is to take a giant step back, and critically examine the current landscape. You can’t fix a problem that you don’t understand, and implementing change for the sake of change will likely only make matters worse. If what you’ve read thus far even remotely resonates with you, then I would suggest reading “Don’t Negotiate…Facilitate.” Teach your sales force to become true professionals focused on helping their clients for all the right reasons vs. closing the big deal for personal benefit. Otherwise you will likely miss substantial opportunities without even being aware of it.

The bottom line is that the most important factor in creating revenue and building brand equity is the client/customer/end-user. If you don’t build everything around the client, your client relationships will vanish before your very eyes.

Shut-up and Listen

By Mike Myatt, Chief Strategy Officer, N2growth

Shut-up and listen…While  my message today is very direct, it’s also very simple: talk less and listen more. The best leaders are proactive strategic listeners. They recognize that knowledge and wisdom are not gained by talking, but by listening. Take a moment and reflect back on any great leader that comes to mind…you’ll find that they are very adept at reading between the lines. They have the uncanny ability to understand what is not said, witnessed, or heard. Being a leader should not be viewed as a license to increase the volume of rhetoric. Rather astute leaders know that there is far more to be gained by surrendering the floor than by commanding it. In this age of instant communication, everyone seems to be in such a rush to communicate what’s on their mind that they fail to realize everything to be gained from the minds of others. In today’s post I’ll quickly examine the merits of developing your listen skills.

Simply broadcasting your message ad nauseum will not have the same result as engaging in meaningful conversation, but this assumes that you understand that the greatest form of discourse takes place within a conversation, and not a lecture or a monologue. When you reach that point in your life where the light bulb goes off, and you begin to understand that knowledge is not gained by flapping your lips, but by removing your ear wax, you have taken the first step to becoming a skilled communicator.

The next step in the process is learning where to apply your new found listening skills. Listen to your customers, competitors, your peers, your subordinates, and to those that care about you. Ask people how you can become a better leader and then LISTEN. Take your listening skills online, and don’t just push out Tweets and Facebook messages, but ask questions and elicit feedback. Use your vast array of social media platforms, toolsets and connections to listen. If you follow this advice not only will you become better informed, but you’ll also become more popular with those whom you interact with. 

And finally, if you’re ready for advanced listening skills, don’t just listen to those who agree with you, but actively seek out dissenting opinions and thoughts. Listen to those that confront you, challenge you, stretch you, and develop you. Good luck and good listening.

Interview: Jeffrey Rogers, President, Integra Realty Resources

By Mike Myatt, Chief Strategy Officer, N2growth

Jeffrey Rogers, President, Integra Realty Resources

This week’s interview features Jeffrey Rogers, President and COO, of Integra Realty Resources (IRR). Jeffrey is the senior operating executive and a board member of IRR, the nation’s largest commercial valuation firm with more than 55 offices and 750 employees. I had the pleasure of first meeting Jeffrey several years ago at an industry conference and developed an immediate respect for his intellectual acuity and business acumen. Jeffrey is a phenomenal leader with one of the most well rounded executive backgrounds you’ll find in the commercial real estate space. On with the interview…

Mike Myatt: Jeffrey, for our readers who may not be familiar with your background, would you please share a brief summary of your career history?

Jeffrey Rogers: I have had the fortune of approaching real estate from a number of different disciplines. My background includes Investment Banking, Technology and Law. In my past positions, I was charged with assessing risk, deploying capital to its highest use, and significantly increasing shareholder value. Integra has been a great fit for me because it has allowed me to combine all of my skills to assist in doubling the size of Integra over a 5 year span. In addition to Integra, I sit on various boards including TNP Strategic Retail Trust, Inc., which is a non-traded public REIT.

Mike Myatt: As President of the nation’s largest valuation firm, you’re at ground zero on one of the industry’s biggest issues…what are assets really worth? Please describe where you see cap rates and values trending in 2010.

Jeffrey Rogers: We are still in a declining market. More than $2 trillion in commercial mortgages are expected to come due between now and 2013. However, due to the declining values and lack of financing, many property owners will have a very difficult time refinancing. Even the money sitting on the sidelines, which is about $300 billion, will not be enough to bridge the gap. In such an environment, values will continue to fall and cap rates will continue to rise in 2010.

Compounding the problem, foreclosures of commercial properties carrying mortgages are starting to surge. The CMBS sector is experiencing delinquency rates of more than six times the level a year ago. The economy continues to sag with increasing unemployment, falling income and consumer pessimism. Without the demand for commercial real estate increasing anytime soon, it will take us a while to recover.

Mike Myatt: What do you see as your primary role as IRR’s President?

Jeffrey Rogers: My primary role is to provide the overall strategic vision and direction for the company and oversee its implementation. During my tenure at Integra, we have made shifts in strategic direction in line with the external environment and stage of the company’s growth. So the process of strategic visioning is iterative and a job that is never done. At the same time, we have had significant accomplishments on the operational side. We have built processes and technology to capture the best data in the industry so that our employees can do their job better and faster than our competitors. We also expanded our product offerings such as valuation for financial reporting and distressed asset analysis.

Mike Myatt: Do you have a mentor, and how important was that person to you in term of your professional development?

Jeffrey Rogers: I have been very fortunate to have many mentors in my life, including pioneers in the real estate industry. I cannot mention them all, but would like to mention one, our late Chairman Kevin Nunnink, who passed away unexpectedly in August. Kevin’s professional life touched every aspect of real estate. Kevin saw the industry changing and the need for a large national valuation firm and, thus, formulated the vision to found Integra. He was key to my development as we experienced rapid growth. I encourage everyone to seek a mentor. In many cases, a mentor has already seen the challenges ahead of you and can assist you in making the best decisions while learning in the process.

Mike Myatt: What books are you currently reading?

Jeffrey Rogers: For balance, I always read a non-fiction and fiction book simultaneously. On the fiction side, I am close to finishing The Black Swan which theorizes that it is impossible to predict rare events outside of the realm of normal expectations. I love this book considering the times we are in now. The book also discussed how we attempt to rationalize black swan events as if we could have expected them.

On the fiction side, I am reading The Road which is a post-apocalyptic novel about the journey of a man and his son after the US was devastated by an unnamed cataclysm. Although the novel leaves you with hope, it is a warning of how bad the human condition can become if we do not change some critical aspects of our world.

Mike Myatt: What would you say was your “defining moment” as an executive?

Jeffrey Rogers: When Integra experienced a spike in assignments from the CMBS industry a few years ago, it was tempting to direct a disporportionate amount of company resources to that sector of the market. However, I made sure we remained diversified and invested in building our Litigation, Valuation for Financial Reporting and Government practice groups. At the same time, I took our brand international resulting in assignments which originated abroad. We never had that before to the levels we are seeing today. When the CMBS work dried up, our competitors experienced severe downturns resulting in layoffs. Integra is still growing today with our employee count now at 750, which has increased every year.

Mike Myatt: What do you see as your greatest leadership strength?

Jeffrey Rogers: My greatest strength is to analyze an industry and formulate a vision to become a market leader. I accomplish this by clearly communicating the vision and inspiring other leaders in the organization to take action. The ability to move seamlessly between strategy and execution, and knowing when to focus on which, has been key to my success.

Mike Myatt: What is the toughest leadership decision you have had to make thus far in 2009?

Jeffrey Rogers: In this environment, most companies are slashing budgets and cutting investment. We made the decision to invest heavily in enhancing our technology and product offerings. I went against the convention because not only do I see opportunity in this downturn, but because we are a value-added player in the type of turmoil.

Mike Myatt: If you could give one piece of advice to our readers what would that be?

Jeffrey Rogers: Everyone is going through a very difficult time right now. However, in difficulty there is opportunity. One should spend time searching for the opportunity and not worrying about the past. This is a time to stay positive, get creative, and make an impact. Our industry and the economy run in cycles. This period will end and we will get through this. When this cycle is over, think about how you want to answer the question, “What did you do?”

Conclusion
After reading this interview it should be no wonder as to why IRR has become the nation’s leading commercial real estate valuation firm. Jeffrey’s integrity, leadership ability, and intellect even have the firm growing in the worst commercial real estate market this generation.