Start With a Win

Tools and Lessons to Create Personal and Business Success

Adam Contos

• Publisher: Wiley
• Year: 2021
• ISBN:
  9781119807087
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Personal Development
• Subtopic: Personal Success

Strengthen your leadership skills and achieve success at work and at home with advice from a proven business leader

In Start with a Win: Tools and Lessons to Create Personal and Business Success, CEO of RE/MAX Holdings Adam Contos delivers a powerful exploration of how leaders process information and lead boldly, especially (or even) during times of crisis. Packed with the practical lessons he learned as the leader of one of the most recognized real estate brands in the world, the book shows you how leaders recognize emotion, chaos, and fear and transform those negatives into opportunity.

Whether you lead a team of one—yourself—ten, or 10, 000 and up, you'll also find actionable advice on:

• How to develop effective leadership skills by seeking out situations that require you to practice leading
• Avoiding the experience of becoming overwhelmed by relying on time-tested frameworks to organize your thinking during stressful situations
• Overcoming fear and self-doubt by recognizing that your doubts are only as powerful as you think they are

Perfect for executives, managers, and other business leaders, Start with a Win is an indispensable resource for entrepreneurs seeking to clarify and accomplish their goals.

PART I
IT'S YOUR CHOICE

CHAPTER 1
Attitude: You Can!

“A rut is nothing more than a shallow grave.”¹

Look in the mirror and make the decision to say, “I can.” Congratulations, you're on your way to win No. 1.

Whatever you want to accomplish in life, no matter the naysayers or the doubters, the roadblocks or the fears, the uncertainties or the challenges, the first step to achievement is believing in yourself. In business and your personal life, you make the conscious choice to win—to succeed—every day. It's the decision to commit to taking control of your life and your happiness.

That's not motivational-speak; it's the truth from a real-ologist. Your success depends on believing the “I can” instead of coming up with excuses to justify the “I don't have to.”

I know; I changed my own attitude and approach and went from being a street cop in a sleepy suburb of Denver, Colorado, to being a deputy sheriff, SWAT tactical commander, and now CEO of a large multinational public holding company, the real estate industry giant RE/MAX.

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The first step to a win is to make your latest excuse your last one.

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UNDERSTANDING A WIN

A win isn't defined by dollars and cents or a destination; it's a journey—a series of missions or experiences—that, done right, bring happiness along the way. No matter the business or the situation, a win is simply a set of answers to these questions:

• What is the challenge?
• What is the necessary attitude to get started?
• What action or actions are necessary to overcome the challenge?

Whoever you are and whatever your business or circumstances, you have the power to transform your life and the lives of those around you. Each of us can choose to lead by overcoming challenges, creating solutions that help others, and then turning those solutions into consistent actions. The framework is the same whether the challenge is to win a football game, close a sale, or build a business. Leaders create a plan, include great people, turn the plan into actionable steps, and influence the execution of the plan. Leaders create opportunities and grow businesses, too, because other people recognize leaders who solve problems and get things done.

A win really is that simple—challenge, attitude, actions. So often we complicate winning and make it overwhelming. Instead, step back and understand the simplicity. We can win, and you can, too.

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Lack of action = lack of results (always)

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We can learn to lead and strive to win in all we do, or we can take the easy way—follow the herd, accept our circumstances, and never achieve our potential. The choice is ours.

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“There are two types of people who will tell you that you cannot make a difference in this world: those who are afraid to try and those who are afraid you will succeed.”

—Ray Goforth, executive director of the Society of Professional Engineering Employees in Aerospace

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Your Opportunities

Every day is a new opportunity, a new choice to start again. Faced with challenges, you can choose to turn that day into a win. Or you can opt to excuse yourself, embrace fear, and think instead, “I can't,” “no way,” “but,” “impossible.” Of note: The word “but” is the beginning of a rationalized excuse. Don't use it.

Go for the Win

It's like the bison and the cow. Bison instinctively know that charging into a storm gets them through and out of the weather more quickly, while cows turn away and drift with the wind, sometimes dying in the process.²

In business it's no different. Think positively, embrace your inner bison, and head into the storm—face the problem head on and go for the win. The true test of leadership—your own and others’—is how you respond when you get punched in the face. Do you step up, stay present, deploy kindness and gratitude, and face the challenges with confidence and transparency? Or do you hide?

THE WINNING APPROACH

In the face of a challenge, winners:

• Step up.
• Stay present.
• Deploy kindness and gratitude.
• Face the challenges with confidence and transparency.

MAKING THE RIGHT CHOICE

With the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic in early 2020, many companies questioned their survivability. The real estate industry came to a grinding halt. We couldn't physically go into other people's homes; transactions stopped abruptly. Some homebuyers in the middle of the purchase process even found themselves homeless.

But the lockdown presented new opportunity for those people, companies, and leaders willing to dig deeply into the challenges and find ways to progress, accelerate, and adapt. RE/MAX recognized that our business had taken on a life-essential urgency for some people. We had two choices: do nothing or devise new ways to address the roadblocks, take action, and overcome the problems.

We locked our physical doors and went virtual March 13, 2020. Our executive team's first virtual meetings were scary—all gloom and doom because we knew our cash would last less than a year. We also recognized that, as a public company, we had to maintain value for our shareholders and keep our franchisees’ companies solvent.

We resolved to refocus our leadership and solve the problems because hundreds of thousands of people were looking to us for solutions. Among the questions we faced:

• How do we reopen for business when we can no longer follow our usual procedures?
• How do we reconnect with our customers when their new mindset is “closed for business”?
• How do we manage a public company's budget when cash flow stops?

The fear and stress facing our leadership team—and so many tens of thousands of other companies—turned into action as we explored our opportunities. After all, when faced with challenges, leaders create opportunities. We stepped up and provided answers for our company, our franchisees, our shareholders, and ourselves.

LEADERS LEAD

Leading is not only about making decisions and taking actions; it's also about creating positive motion—physical, emotional, and professional—in the lives of others.

E-CONNECTIONS

As the franchisor and holding company, we turned to virtual connections. We offered guidance and technical assistance, video tutorials and training, and step-by-step suggestions for how to address remote sales and marketing. Most importantly, though, we were present and ready to help.

Our franchisees quickly adapted with us because we were all aligned through our culture of a business that builds businesses—even in challenging times. Leveraging our great relationships, we headed into the storm together and pursued opportunities. We all moved quickly. Many of our franchisees and agents turned to the artificial intelligence (AI) data we provided to assess the marketplace. They then used virtual tours and video connections to work with clients, and all with COVID-safe protocols in mind.

Despite the complexities in what at the time was uncharted territory, we sought and embraced the opportunities and came away with a big win, helping plenty of people in the process. Despite advice from many to do so, RE/MAX didn't lay off anyone in 2020. In fact, we saw opportunities and acquired two new companies: Gadbery Group, a geospatial data provider, and Wemlo, a loan processor. The year 2020 was one of our company's best because we consciously chose to assess the situation, face the challenges, and take the necessary actions to solve the problems.

SPA FOR THE WIN

The formula for the win is simple. Whether a business involves real estate, sales, marketing, banking, negotiating, creating, or almost anything else, problems can be solved with SPA. That's an acronym for Stress, Planning, Action—the three steps to results. It works in your personal life, too.

Stress is created when a problem surfaces. It's an energy that, if harnessed, can be used for benefit or, if left to stew uncontrolled, ends up a detriment. It's a tension each of us creates within ourselves. To use the stress wisely takes planning to assess the problem and create solutions. And it takes action to carry out the plan to solve the problem.

Try approaching a problem with SPA. Follow through on every step, and you'll be closer to starting with a w...