3 Things to Support Greater Gender Balance in Real Estate

By Kathleen Black

We need more women carving out leadership positions so that we are able to model them, and see that we are capable of doing this, so that we don’t have to apologize for being our personal best versions of parents if we choose to be, or spouses or friends, in order to do what is needed to have the business we want.

The more that we show and highlight women in these professions and positions, more women will follow them to lead successful careers.

We can have a landslide of valuable women, but if we don’t learn to listen to and respect their voices as valuable, then is it going to matter in the end? Women leaders are only as valuable as the people they serve are open to hearing value from them and other different perspectives.

Look for Value

One of the most important things that we can do is encourage our ears to listen for value and find data driven tangible results.

In Real Estate we build our businesses by being outgoing and networking with others, but we expand our businesses into actual efficient, productive, profitable models based on data, strategies and results.

If we look more at what's working and what’s making a difference, and put that on our stages, instead of what’s political and who’s your friend, I think we’ll be able to encourage a lot more women into sharing their leadership.

Support, Empower and Highlight ALL Voices

We need to mirror strength and capability to those around us, and that includes women, and diverse backgrounds.

For example, a score report from 2018 showed entrepreneurs with mentors are 5 times more likely to launch a business. It is extremely important to mentor and promote excellence and advancement in all people around us.

Sometimes leadership is going to look different in a woman or a man, the purpose is to have multifaceted leadership, so that we’re always moving forward, while encouraging those walking beside us.

We can’t just look to mentor those who look, think and sound like us, we need to mentor everyone who shows they have that entrepreneurial spirit and grit. Mentor everyone with a will to expand. Mentorship can be as simple as your sharing the potential you see in that person. I believe we must plant seeds for others to see what they can achieve and step into. This is a core responsibility of leaders: to build more leaders.

Those who have it in them are going to see that vision, and be more encouraged to step forward and take on new roles.

Mentoring those around us is a part of the leadership in our industry, and it can make a massive difference.

Investing in Personal Development

Continuing to invest in our own personal development, I can only see as far as I know, and if I have inherent bias, whether that’s in gender, culture, background or colour, I’m going to continue to make choices based on those biases.

The more that I can invest in expanding myself, and in asking myself why I’m choosing to do what I do or what my responsibilities are in making sure my decisions are coming from a place of abundance, love, evolution and capability, instead of out of fear, scarcity or competition.

Those last three have been the motivators in our industry for a long, long time so it’s important to have new motivators that allow us to be advocates, not only for our clients, but also for our colleagues and the leaders around us, to remove biases and barriers.

At the end of the day you have to be committed to getting there, and even though the disparity is there, in most industries, the top 10 percent of performers or skill sets, the disparity is almost invisible. You have to be so good that people can’t ignore you, and that is what I choose. I wanted it to cost others more by ignoring me. I chose to build and offer results so good that they spoke for themselves.

We all have a simple choice, to plant and nurture seeds with our focus and determination, or to attempt to will ourselves through ceilings and obstacles. I built my own stages to house our message, network, and results. we do not need to play in broken houses, when you can build your own.

Source: Kathleen Black