Inside America’s Oldest Real Estate Company with Steve Baird

In this episode of Real Estate Unscripted™, Darryl Davis sits down with Steve Baird, President & CEO of Baird & Warner, for a powerful conversation about leadership, culture, longevity, and what it takes to build a company that endures through generations of change.

As the fifth-generation owner of the oldest independent family-owned real estate company in the United States, Steve shares the leadership principles and long-term vision that have helped Baird & Warner remain independent, relevant, and successful for more than 170 years.

But this conversation goes far beyond brokerage history.

Steve offers candid insights on company culture, industry disruption, mergers and acquisitions, artificial intelligence, consumer behavior, and the importance of preserving relationships in an increasingly technology-driven world.

From succession planning and leadership development to market shifts and the future of independent brokerages, Steve shares lessons learned from leading one of the most respected real estate organizations in the country.

Topics include:

• Building a brokerage designed to last for generations
• Leadership lessons from a fifth-generation family business
• Maintaining culture while growing and evolving
• Why some brokerages thrive while others struggle
• The future of independent real estate companies
• How technology and AI are impacting real estate
• Why consumers still want trusted advisors
• Creating a collaborative company culture
• The importance of long-term thinking in leadership
• Preparing the next generation of industry leaders

Whether you're an agent, broker, team leader, or business owner, this episode offers valuable insights on leadership, stewardship, and building something that lasts.

TIMESTAMPS

00:00 – Introduction & Meet Steve Baird

02:09 – The History of Baird & Warner

06:20 – Growing Up in a Multi-Generation Real Estate Family

10:05 – Leadership, Legacy & Succession Planning

14:12 – Why Steve Never Focused on Selling the Company

18:45 – Building a Business for the Long Term

22:13 – Company Culture & Leadership Philosophy

26:04 – Recruiting, Retention & Agent Relationships

30:38 – Independent Brokerages vs Industry Consolidation

35:20 – Why Some Companies Thrive While Others Struggle

39:41 – Leadership During Market Change

44:08 – The Future of Real Estate Brokerage

48:53 – Consumer Expectations & Industry Evolution

53:58 – Artificial Intelligence & Real Estate

56:11 – Why People Still Want People

59:18 – Building Trust at Scale

01:03:02 – The Next Generation of Leadership

01:07:14 – Rapid Fire Questions

01:11:22 – Final Thoughts & Closing

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:04

And good morning, everybody. Welcome. Steve, we are so honored to have you here and for you to share your wisdom with all of us. Um, I just want to share some logistics with everybody before we get started. So if everyone can use the chat to be chatting and my comments throughout the session, that is perfect. But as you think of any questions throughout the session, please do put them in the QA panel. Um we'll ask those towards the end of the session so that'll be easier to find if they're all in one place. But Daryl and Steve, take it away.

SPEAKER_02 0:34

All right, thank you very much, Sarah. Good morning. Uh, good afternoon, where everybody is. Welcome to this incredibly important. This is an important uh interview for me because uh Steve Baird of Baird ⁇ Warner is a company that I hold dear in my heart. When I first started my training program, the Power Agent Coaching Program back in the 90s, uh Baird ⁇ Warner was one of the first companies to give me a shot at something that was still in its creation stages. And uh we had a long relationship after that. But again, Steve, as I said earlier, thanks for making a difference in my life uh by giving me that chance. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 1:13

Well, it was a great program. So we were uh happy to do it.

SPEAKER_02 1:17

Thank you, sir. So I wanted for people who uh may not be aware of you, like this is this is huge who who Barrett and Warner is in the industry. So I want to give everybody a an uh just a little intro. First of all, you're fifth generation owner, Steve, of the company. You are the oldest real estate company in Illinois, founded in 1855. But my newest research found that before it was Barrett and Warner was called LD Olmsted and Company. And uh that your company, plus I think another one helped was create the Chicago Real Estate Board, which was the beginning of NAR. So that's like I I just found that out and I think that's incredible.

SPEAKER_01 2:04

So a couple of uh clarifications there. We are the oldest real estate company in the United States, and we are also the oldest family-owned business in Chicago.

SPEAKER_02 2:15

Okay, thanks for clarifying that. And and where I I think in in generations, I I don't have my facts of this, but being that you're fifth generation, like that puts you in a whole other category of generational, not just real estate companies, but companies in general. And uh I can't remember my stats. I remember doing it for uh the Kai's company, Mike Pappas, but it was impressive. And I think you've got one more generation on him, so you're in that special group. Um let's see, you're chairman of the Realty Alliance, uh educated at Harvard, which is very intimidating to me because I only went to CW post-college and I was a thesbian and it was only for a year. So uh so um let's see, you survived the civil war, the great Chicago fire, just incredible background. And and how many agents and offices do are do you have at this point?

SPEAKER_01 3:15

So we have about 2,500 agents. Um in terms of brokerage offices, about 30. Okay, and then we have about 10 other offices, which are uh mortgage, title, closing offices, corporate headquarters, that kind of thing. So total of 40, and they're all almost all of them are in Chicago. We actually have one in Green Bay uh and one in Florida.

SPEAKER_02 3:40

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 3:40

For all sorts of odd reasons.

SPEAKER_02 3:42

You know what? You're not the only uh company that I talk to that they're they're here and here, and then by the way, we have one in Florida. I don't know why that is. I think every owner wants to like maybe think about retiring, or I think it's a lot of states. New York is an example. If it wasn't for our states, uh Florida would still be swamp land because that's where everybody moves to retire from. Um okay, so uh let me just do one thing before I get to our questions. So on this call today, which is happening live, we've got two groups of people. We have brokers and managers and leaders associations, so we are glad that they're here listening in. But we also have real estate agents, and what I want to say just to the agents that are on the call is that even though this is a leadership interview about being a broker and what it what that means and visions and all that stuff, I want you to still listen through the ears that you're your own business within your brokerage. So a lot of what will share, what Steve will share, will apply to you if you think of yourself as your own business owner. So with that said, Steve, um so I wrote these questions down, so I don't want to get them wrong. When you first stepped into the leadership, did that history, because given that it's been around so long, did it feel more like a foundation or a weight on your shoulders?

SPEAKER_01 5:13

Uh well, you know, the way I thought about it at the time was, you know, what what is the name? What does it mean? You know, we're very proud of the history, obviously, but um, you know, I think about it as looking forward. So um, you know, we're very proud of that history and everything, but you know, you got to be looking forward. So what does that name mean? It's both a legacy and it, you know, we have a great name, but it's also a little bit of a burden because it, you know, there is a connotation that we're old and we're you know not progressive and all that kind of thing. So it's actually both. Um, so there are times when I think, wow, it'd be great to just start from scratch. Um, and then there are other times when you know I was handed a really great asset um and it needed work at the time. And um so, you know, you take what you get and you work on it and build on it, and you know, that's been the focus.

SPEAKER_02 6:21

Um, I I've got to ask this. This wasn't in my original questions to ask you, but uh it just popped in my mind. Uh you've had to have had offers over the years, over the generations from other companies or franchises. And um with why why not? Why why not sell um um and have a payday? Why not why not join uh merge with another company that wanted to take over or or franchise?

SPEAKER_01 6:52

Well, a couple things. Um, you know, I've had offers to buy the company, I've had offers for me to run parts of bigger companies, all that sort of thing. And you know, I made a couple of decisions. One was I didn't want to manage a company that where I walked into an office and I didn't know anybody. Um, and I didn't really want to, you know, I'm I'm a tried and true Chicagoan, I love Chicago. Um I don't I don't want to be hopping on a plane and flying to wherever. Uh that just wasn't that interesting to me. And it and it uh is one of the reasons we developed a strategy of horizontal expansion more than vertical. Uh so that was one thing. And the other thing is that I've tried to describe to people, and it's really hard unless you understand kind of the long-term legacy of the company, which is you know, we're building something that's multi-generational and have been building it, and the company has evolved over a long period of time, very different what my dad ran and my grandfather ran. Um, and so we're interested in um building it and making some changes and really how do we make things better? Um, and so um selling is never was never really an issue for us. And it's really hard in today's world where you know we live in this very capitalistic society where everybody thinks you build it and then you sell it, you know. And I have lots of friends who have done that and very successfully, and they talk to me and they actually come to me and say, Oh, you should sell your company. And and it's hard for me to describe to them whether that's not really ever been um a thought process. Um, you know, I'm in a lucky position, I think, that I don't, you know, I don't want to say I don't need the money because, you know, I whether the company survives or doesn't survive isn't gonna really change my life. So it's not about you know bigging doing a bigger pile. I'm more interested in what we can do to actually change the business, to really have an impact on the business. And so my focus really has been, you know, and I I I made a decision when we first started the company, when I first took over the company in the early 90s, we were in the commercial businesses. We were in the commercial mortgage business, commercial um brokerage business, commercial management business, and we were a player in those businesses, but they were all consolidating. And I made a decision to get out of those businesses. I sold those businesses. Oh, okay. Um mostly to our employees. Um, and because I just felt that and in at that time we were a very unusual company to be in both businesses, and people talk about the real estate business, but there's really two real estate businesses there's the real residential brokers business and related businesses, which we're in right now, and there's commercial. And they're totally different businesses, yes, different people, different capital structures, different everything. We're kind of in both, and so I decided we're gonna move out of the commercial business, which ironically was the original business of the company going way back.

SPEAKER_02 10:18

So I sol really okay.

SPEAKER_01 10:20

I sold our our commercial mortgage business to two guys who worked for me, and at that time we had been in that business for 140 years, and my grandfather probably rolled over in his grave in 1997 when I did sell that business. So, um, you know, we have sold, you know, um uh businesses. So uh, and then I I decided to double down on the brokerage business. And my thing was at that point, I looked at the real estate transaction and said, you know what, this is a crazy complicated, stressful transaction. And at that time there was a lot of evolution going on and making things simpler. So, how do we do that in the residential transaction? Um, because so people, you know, our customers really don't understand what we're doing, they don't understand all the paperwork, they have to sign everything, they don't, you know, I'm I'm sure they all read everything, you know. Um, and it's super complicated. It's super complicated. And um, how do we make that simpler? And the the model that I kind of um got onto at that time was what happened in the auto industry at that time. Now, people don't even remember it so long ago, but um, at that time, when you went and buy a car, you went to a bank to get financing, you went to somebody else who cut a hole in your roof to put in a sunroof, you had aftermarket stereo systems, yeah. Z Bart, if you remember Z Bart.

SPEAKER_02 11:53

Yes, yes, we're showing our age now. Some people don't know what the heck we're talking about.

SPEAKER_01 11:57

Yeah, exactly, exactly. But what happened was um the auto industry, you know, sort of led by Lexus, but um there were a bunch of Japanese companies that basically came in and said, No, we're gonna put that all together. So, what do you have today? Today, when you drive into a dealership, your expectation is when you get out of your car and you go inside, you're gonna buy a new car and you're gonna walk outside and you're gonna get in the new car and you're gonna drive away. And they're gonna do everything. They even take all the crap that's in your trunk and put it in your new car. Okay, and they do the you expect them to do the financing, to do the title work, to do everything. Right. Uh, and you want them, and and by the way, you want them to do it fast, right? You just want to screw it, and you don't, you know, so uh, and that's the standard that's there today. Uh, so why can't we do that in the brokerage business? Why do we have to make it so difficult for customers? Because really, all buyers want to do, they just want to buy a house. They don't they don't care about attorneys or title or mortgage or anything. What do I need to do to get my house? And the seller's the same thing. What do I need to do to sell my house? I want to make it as easy as possible. And just for historical reasons, and I can get into philosophy around this, why it's evolved this way. Um, we as an industry have done a terrible job of doing this. Now, we filled in all the holes and we make the transaction happen. And it is a little better today than it was 10 years ago, 20 years ago, but it's still not where it should be. Um so that I guess has been my bigger goal. Uh, my goal is, and that's why I got in these other businesses. That's why I decided, you know, we need to expand horizontally and we need to control these businesses.

SPEAKER_02 13:56

So you you sold the other you sold the other businesses uh because it was perhaps more of a distraction um from where you wanted to put the focus of the company?

SPEAKER_01 14:08

Well, two things. Yes, a distraction, and for a while I did it. You know, I would spend part of my day working on the commercial mortgage business and part of my day working on the residential brokerage business. And what I realized was there were people on both sides of that business. Uh, you know, in the on the commercial mortgage business, there were people that worked a hundred percent of their time, and I was only able to put 50% of my time. And the same thing on the other side. And so I really they were and they weren't, even though they both had the name real estate or mortgage in them, they were totally different businesses. And so there wasn't really any crossover. So I just decided, you know, it was too hard to do that. Got it, you know, standing on two pontoons of going up and down, you know, let's focus on what we're doing. At that time, we were not in the residential brokerage business, we were not in the title business, we were not in the insurance business. Um, so I I stripped us down to at that point, we were only in the residential brokerage business.

SPEAKER_03 15:17

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 15:17

Um, and then we started building it up from there. Um so that was the thought process about it. Maybe it was because it made my life easier, I don't know. But um, it was just too hard to like think on these two parallel planes. Maybe I'm not smart enough or something. I don't know.

SPEAKER_02 15:34

Oh, yeah, I doubt that. Now, I you did say something uh before we got into this, uh, you know, going back to the question about selling it, or um, you know, why didn't you sell it, have a payday, or join a franchise. And you before we started this, you you talked about the generation of even the the um the agents that work for the company that that you don't see this as uh uh you have a connection to to the agents that work with work for you with you. Um talk a little bit about that.

SPEAKER_01 16:08

Well, we're a family business, and people think about the family business as only at the ownership level. But that's not the case. You know, we have a lot of um multi-generational people who uh families who have worked for the business, some of them three generations, um, that worked with my father and me, and the and the uh just yesterday uh one of our people brought in her daughter who is you know working there for the summer, but um uh it's the same idea, and it's part of the ideals of the company that we are a family business. And so, you know, I I don't know other businesses because I really haven't worked there, you know. I read about them and stuff, but um no, I'm I'm you know, that's part of our thought process is that we're a family and you know, people are important to us, and so that's why, for example, we have a lot of people who have worked for us for a really long time. You know, I get a list every month of the people that you know have their anniversaries, and we always have every month we have 15 to 20 people who have worked for us for 10 years or more.

SPEAKER_02 17:26

Wow.

SPEAKER_01 17:27

Um, and you know, last month there was a person who's been working for us for 33 years, you know. So, um, and that's not unusual. Um, and again, like what you asked the question, I view that as both good and bad. Um, it's good because people are loyal and they love the company and they're committed to the company, but also we need to also continually regenerate. We need to, you know, continue to innovate, to bring new people, new ideas in. So it's a combination of those two things.

SPEAKER_02 17:59

Now, when it comes to that that family feel, is there something that that strategy how does that show up in the management style? Um as far as strategies, perhaps? Like, is there acknowledgements uh of people uh based on their tenure or family events, anything like that?

SPEAKER_01 18:21

Uh not really. I mean, um, you know, there people are committed to the building, you know. I the way I say it, and and we have this, um, we talk about it as the Baird Warner way, or they are Baird Warner people. And so that's something we talk about internally, and it's about how you treat other people, that you're fair and you're nice, and it's a friendly environment, and it's positive, and um, all those kind of things. And I have had I had a really unique experience um many years ago, maybe 20 years ago, where a group of senior people came to me. Um, there was maybe 10 of them, and they wanted a meeting with me. And so I met with them, and they basically called out a senior executive for that for several of them, a senior boss. Okay, and they said to me, and this is a quote, he is not a Baron Warner person. Wow, and I thought, wow, you know, first of all, a bunch of these people were literally risking their job to do this, and two, they had such a feeling about what we were, yes, that and this person, and you know, as I got into it, what I realized was this person was really good at one thing, and that was convincing me that they were really good. And and the the company, it the the and these employees came to me and said, No, this person is not that kind of, and as I investigated, they were right, right? They were right, and over a period of time I made a change. So um there is, you know, people talk about that, and you know, here's another weird stat that I mentioned. I have four times fired the number one agent in the company, um, because same idea. They were not a Baron Warner person, they were not um uh supportive of the company, they were they were, you know, there's lots of reasons, but um, and uh I also realized that I had to do that because a manager that's really hard for them to do because those people are producing a lot of revenue and it puts a hole in their budget, and uh they're very reluctant to do that. But um it's the same thing. I remember one of them came, one of them came to me and said, basically it's me or the manager, and I said, fine, clean out your desk.

unknown 20:55

Wow.

SPEAKER_01 20:55

Um, because the manager was a really good manager and been with us a long time, and and there wasn't a question there. So um I think it's about setting the now. Those standards are not as simplistic as just it's a warm feeling and we everybody's happy and all that. No, it's it is it it is a positive environment, but it's also a competitive environment. And it and it's a you know, we want to be good, we want to win, we want to be successful. That's important to that too. Um, you have to have both of those things. Um, and one of the things I do is I go around to offices on a regular basis, and you know, I can walk in, and within five minutes of walking in the office, you can feel it. And you've had the same experience where you walked into a place and you, you know, hey, you feel the positive energy. Yep, and you also note the other the opposite where you walk in a store or a or office or something and it's Just dead.

SPEAKER_02 22:01

Yes.

SPEAKER_01 22:02

No energy.

SPEAKER_02 22:03

Yep.

SPEAKER_01 22:04

And I describe it as positive energy where people are upbeat and they like each other and they're talking to each other. There's just a positive energy. And when I go into an office, and this is almost all of our offices, we have a positive energy. And when there's a positive energy there, there is a huge high correlation that that's a successful office. That people want to be there. Because I I also think, and this is, you know, I don't know why other companies don't think this, but I've heard they don't. Um I want it, I want it not only to be a successful company, but I want this to be a place where people want to be here. I want them to want to work here. Um, and that's why if somebody comes to me and it does happen, and they come and say, I want to go to somewhere, I say, listen, I if you don't want to be here, then you should not be here. Um that that's your choice. And you know, we're a big company, that happens. Sure, it happens to everybody. Yeah. It's not every it's not for everybody. And and and uh, you know, some people just don't like that kind of environment. Um uh so you know, for example, it's like why we've never purchased a remax company because of the culture. There's such a culture. Um, and uh, you know, there are really successful real estate uh remax companies, but it's such an individualistic, you go into a remax office, they're all closed doors. You know, we don't have any closed doors in our company.

SPEAKER_02 23:38

Um it's interesting you said that because uh uh carpenter realtors, uh uh David, when I interviewed him, the same thing is that they they pay attention to the culture if they're gonna uh absorb a company or purchase a company their fur their and oh and another one too. Uh re uh it's actually a Remax broker, but he has 55 offices. Same thing. He looks at the character of the people uh as the first priority and whether to buy that company or not.

SPEAKER_01 24:09

Well, and and uh you know just some little things like we I I'm sure we have a few of them, but we have almost no offices where they we put a glass panel next to every office. So even if you're in there, and there are times when you need to be in there and close the door, but people can see in there. And uh that's just you know, I don't want to have a closed door, you don't know what's going on in there. Now, we do have that for HR issues and stuff like that. We have occasionally, but you know, we design our offices so that um because I also don't want to have uh you know the agents in that office on either side of that door feel like they're not part of the office.

SPEAKER_02 24:59

Yes.

SPEAKER_01 25:00

And that's a physical thing. Um, but you know, we've tried to design that into our office.

SPEAKER_02 25:06

Nice, nice. Let me ask you, when you were who who was it that groomed you, was it your was it your dad? Like who groomed you to take them the mantle over? And and my uh the question with that is during those early years, what would you say is a characteristic that you were taught a leadership principle that helped you in in stepping into this position?

SPEAKER_01 25:33

Well, that's an interesting question. I was thinking about that. And uh when I came back to the company, uh my dad and I sat down and we kind of roughly designed a 10-year program of me to work in different businesses and learn the business. Okay, um, and which I did, I didn't quite make the 10 years, I got to about eight before I moved into a leadership position. And I moved around in and the first business I worked in was uh managing shopping centers, actually. Um so and I learned from those different people. Um and uh my father was a wonderful guy, I was very close to my father. We worked together for um uh 35 years, and he would I would still consider him one of my best friends. He was not he was very much uh interested in different things, he wasn't really um as much focused on building the business. I was more interested in that than he was. So we had a little bit different, not a negative thing. Um, he he um was very interested in um what he referred to as urban renewal, uh, but historical rehabs and changing neighborhoods, and he did a lot of that kind of stuff. He sat on the Chicago Landmarks Commission for 45 years.

SPEAKER_02 27:02

Nice.

SPEAKER_01 27:02

Um, he was very interested in that kind of stuff, and um not particularly that interested in he had hired a guy named Bob Walters, who I think you may know had knew, who ran our brokerage operation, and he just let him run it. Okay, and um, I was more focused on building the business than he was, so it was interesting because he was when I started getting more involved, he was delighted about that because he didn't really want to do that. Okay, now my dad was an iconic figure, everybody loved my dad, he was a wonderful man, and um people still miss him. He's been gone for quite a while now, but um uh so it was an it was a number of different people in a number of different areas. Um and then the other question was what what did I what was the one thing I learned? Yeah, well, I you know, listen, there's a lot of things, but uh one of the ones I learned was even good people don't fit. And meaning that I hired some people who are really good, you know, great reputations or whatever, but they just didn't fit into our culture. Okay, and um one of the things one of the characteristics that I have in terms of managing the company is generally speaking, I like to hire really good people and let them do their job. And so I don't, I'm not a micromanager at all. And one of the things I've realized is everybody wants that kind of relationship, but very few people can actually do it. Um, and I learned that that you know, good people, everybody comes in and says, Oh, I don't want to be micromanaged. And but the reality is most people want um, most management people, they want to know, okay, what's the program? Where am I going? Am I on the right track? And then they'll go. But if you leave them with a blank sheet of paper and say, go build this business, very few people can do that. Um, and I learned that, and um so some good people came and they kept looking to me to you know, which way do you want to go?

SPEAKER_03 29:22

Right, right.

SPEAKER_01 29:24

And I was saying, no, I because I I you know what I tell people also is I am the least experienced person in our company, in any part of the company. Okay, so there is somebody, no matter what part of the company it is, whether it's an agent or in the mortgage business or whatever, there's there are multiple people who know more about the business than I do. I'm a generalist, I've never sold residential real estate. I I did do a little bit in the commercial mortgage area, but I've never done any of that stuff, which is an unusual thing for somebody like me. In a lot of cases, people came up and they were an agent and then they were a manager. Right. Yeah, I never did that. I never did that, and I actually view that as a positive because I don't have the baggage of, oh, that's the way we did it, and we always need to do it. And today, more than ever, the business is changing. Yeah, and and the people that are really struggling or will struggle going forward are are the older agents because they're been successful at doing it a certain way, and it's not so much that way anymore. And right they're having problems. The younger agents, um, they usually they can adapt to new technologies or new way of doing business or social media or whatever it is, uh, much easier.

SPEAKER_02 30:50

Yeah, I'm seeing I'm seeing more of the mature uh agents in our industry that you know they get worried comparing themselves to the younger kids thinking I gotta do TikTok video and I don't know that. And so they they get intimidated by it. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 31:06

Oh yeah.

SPEAKER_01 31:07

Um and and and it's not their thing. Their clients are just like them, you know, exactly. Yes, aren't doing TikTok videos or watching TikTok videos? They just need to realize, you know, what do my clients want? How do they want to communicate? And they're it's probably not TikTok, right? Five years old. Um, you know, that's I tell agents, you know, when I talk to them, you need to figure out how to relate to your clients.

SPEAKER_02 31:36

Right.

SPEAKER_01 31:37

You know, what do you want to meet in person? Do you want to do TikTok videos? Do you want texting? Do you want you know, there's so many ways today. Do you want me to call you on the phone if I do call you on the phone? Should I not call after six o'clock at whatever?

SPEAKER_02 31:50

You know, there's something that the mature agent has that the younger kids don't have, and and I'm trying to get them to hear that message more and more so they get the confidence they should have. And that is they have life experience. I mean, they've they had the kids or even the grandkids or the jobs and the COVID, like they can they have something that younger agents don't have where they can relate and bring that experience to the relationship with their buyers and sellers. So yeah.

SPEAKER_01 32:32

Understand people, they understand how to communicate, they understand how to read them, all that stuff. Okay, and that's that is a lot of learned experience. Um, and I would take an agent who had good interpersonal skills and knew nothing about real estate over some high-tech, I can do great searches, you know, blah, blah, blah. Right. Who can't really relate to people. Right. Because it's it this is a people business.

SPEAKER_02 33:01

Yes.

SPEAKER_01 33:02

We are we're in and it's about reading people and understanding people, and uh interpersonal skills are everything in this business. Um, and the best agent, you know, I remember years ago I had an a wonderful agent, she's passed away now, but who she could not do um a search on the MLS. Okay, she didn't know how to do that. Now, she was in a particular town in a suburb here. She owned this town, she knew every property, every person, and everybody wanted to deal with her. But she hired somebody who did the searches for her, but she already knew what properties were on the market and when they'd been sold. She already knew the three people who owned them before.

SPEAKER_02 33:49

She was her own walking CMA of the town.

SPEAKER_01 33:52

Right, yeah. Right. And and um, you know, so she and she figured it out by hiring somebody who's actually now one of our top agents, um uh to do it for her, to do that part for her. Um, but she had the relationships, she understood that the she knew the community cold. Everybody knew, you know, if you're in that community, you need to talk to Sandy. She was she was the person.

SPEAKER_02 34:18

Now, Steve, that's a really important con uh thing that you just said that I want everybody to make sure watching this and hearing this, that they get that, that sometimes we think, oh, I need a better script, or I need a better website, or I need a better app, or I need to learn AI. But you tell me somebody that has all of that, but they don't know how to talk to people or build a relationship with people or get connected with people, they're gonna be a failure. So that's the most important piece. It's not the tools, but it's the person and the connection because we're in a people business, as you said.

SPEAKER_01 34:53

So I I had an interesting thing uh coming out of COVID. I was approached by 20 of our top agents who were doing business in Florida. They'd figured out a way because they're clients, and and a couple things I found really interesting about it. One was they wanted to be Bairdon Warner in Florida, which I liked. And the second thing was their clients were more interested in the relationship with them and going to Florida, even though some of them said to their clients, I don't know anything about Florida, or I don't know about Palm Beach or Miami or wherever they were going. But the client said, No, I want you to go down there and help me find a house. As opposed to them, the the person going down there and finding the expert in Palm Beach, right, and not having a personal relationship with them. Um, but that was the expert. And it was just interesting to me that that just reinforced that. That and it and it happens in in Chicago. You know, somebody will be working in a submarket and they'll go, Oh, I'm going to buy a house in this market, which is totally in a different part of the city. And the agent says, I don't know anything about that. And the and the client says, I don't care. I want you to represent me.

SPEAKER_02 36:14

See, now that's another real you've said a lot of important things, but for the agents, I want them to hear that, you know, I want to highlight it. Because that's the other thing. Agents sometimes they get intimidated by I'm not that top agent in my marketplace, I don't, I don't have the success, whatever. But the truth is, is that people list with people, people buy with people, and and if if if a if a buyer had a choice between this top successful agent, but they don't like it, they're arrogant, whatever, and they have another agent, they can trust their integrity, especially. Um, they're gonna choose the agent with the integrity um over the successful or the agent. So let me ask you a question.

SPEAKER_01 36:56

It's about the client being comfortable. You know, they feel comfortable with that person.

SPEAKER_02 37:02

Absolutely.

SPEAKER_01 37:03

And uh that that's really the key.

SPEAKER_02 37:06

And it's about trust and you know, so I'm gonna I want to jump to the Realty Alliance. Uh are you currently the chairman of the Realty Alliance?

SPEAKER_01 37:14

No, I'm not I'm not currently. I was, I don't know, maybe I don't know, 10 years ago or something. Yeah, okay. Do you but I've been I'm a member and I've been very involved for a long time. Great organization.

SPEAKER_02 37:24

It's awesome organization. Let me ask you because for people that don't know, the Realty Alliance is uh all these independent firms coming together. And have you seen uh a common leadership thread in these other brokerages, these successful CEOs um that you would point to, that you that you relate to?

SPEAKER_01 37:48

Yeah, I you know the the key for me is the I would I would focus on the word independent. Um and they the ones that are successful, they have a vision, they know what they want to do in their marketplace, um, and they stick to that. And all the craziness that's going on, mergers or whatever, they're still doing their thing. And because they are committed to it, they know what they're doing, they adjust to the marketplace. Um, the ones that have trouble are the ones that keep bouncing around, you know, oh, I need to react to this or I need to react to that. And they don't have a solid view of what am I doing with my business? What am I doing in terms of building my business? Um, no, listen, I've been through that, and there have been times when I sit down and go, like, are we on the right track here or not? I think you got to do that all the time. But um, you know, you got to stick to your your knitting, so to speak, and and be clear about that. And my uh my other view about that is these are the people who are making it happen. They're the most progressive in terms of understanding what's going on in the market because they're in that market every day. They have their finger on the pulse of the marketplace and what needs to happen and what they need to do. Um, those are the people who are really making it happen and and um are the most progressive in terms of thinking about um, you know, how do we change the business? That's where a lot of the new ideas and new ways of doing business. That's what I like about the Realty Alliance, because when you go there, uh we just came back in April. Every time I go, I hear, you know, something about somebody's doing something in somewhere, and I go, whoa, that's interesting. Maybe we should think about doing that. You know, so there's all these different ideas, some of them work, some of them don't, but it makes you think about different ideas. Um and uh I think that it's a you know it's a real training ground or place for that.

SPEAKER_02 40:02

That was uh I I love what you just said about staying staying committed to your path, not having the noise on the outside. It's good to listen to it, to assess it, to see if there's some value, but but don't let it derail um your vision, your own vision or your own path. Um all right, so does any I uh so Frank gang that um this I want to give you guys an opportunity to ask questions. Um and I know we have the QA um and I see somebody we answered one already, but if you guys have any questions for Steve, what I'd like you to do is open up the QA as opposed to the chat and write your question in there while they're starting to think of a question to ask you, Steve. Um I don't have this on my list of questions, but uh I feel like maybe you want to comment, and if not, that's fine as well about what's happening in the industry with national MLS, private listing, CCP. There's a lot of noise there, but I think it's starting to become less of just noise where it's actually uh impacting people, you know. And of course, you being in Chicago, this whole MRED uh compass and Zillow thing. Um you want to share any thoughts on that?

SPEAKER_01 41:26

Well, how much time do you have? But I you know, uh here's what I would say. Um and is really um the most disturbing part to me is I feel we're regressing as an industry in how we're approaching our clients. And the times when we've gotten into problems are when we stop thinking about um buyers and sellers. And today, you know, this whole thing about private networks and the MLS and all that stuff, nobody's thinking about the consumer there. They're thinking about what's good for the MLS, what's good for the brokerage, whatever. And a bunch of these things are not good for the consumer. Um, and listen, when this this craziness last week that came out with Zillow and everything, you know who we heard from? Consumers. They called us and said, Why are you doing this? And that's how we got into that, you know, now over billion dollar settlement um with NAR and all that company because we weren't focused on the consumers. And it's always been really interesting to me how the industry gets so internal and thinking about their own things and not thinking about what's best for buyers and sellers.

SPEAKER_02 42:53

Did you have any any of uh any of your listings, any of this? Uh anybody, buyers or sellers, contact you when Emred pulled the feed from Zillow. Um yeah, you did.

SPEAKER_01 43:06

The phones lit up, you know, like why aren't we on Zillow? Because you know, the consumer, they don't understand all this this stuff, okay? Uh they don't understand why is this going off? And and the other thing is, you know, we we you can have your opinion about Zillow, plus or minus, like it, good or bad, but the consumer, the consumer is on Zillow, they're using Zillow, they're looking at Zillow, okay? Right. So we get mixed up with what is the right thing versus where is the consumer at. Okay. So the consumer, even though you can make you know, you can make a good argument, and it's true in Chicago because the estimate is not particularly accurate here because of the way we do real estate taxes here. Uh um, but the consumer thinks it is, you know. So let's let's We need to go where the consumer is and explain why it isn't good or whatever. Um, and we're not doing that. And the other thing, and you know, I think about this whole thing with the private listing networks, there is there is a reason why you would want to put a property on the market while you're preparing it to put it on the public market. But we have had an ethic in the business that once you once you're putting it out on the market, it goes out everywhere. It's it's available to everybody. And that goes back to a long history of discrimination that we've had in our industry and had a lot of things. And my father was a big um uh fighter for what at that time was called open occupancy, but it's basically um non-discrimination for buyers and sellers. Um, and we're going backwards. And if he was around today, I can, you know, he would be very upset about the fact that you know these private networks by their nature are discriminatory. They're keeping certain people from seeing all the properties. Um, and so you know, we'll work our way through this, but the part I don't like is that we're not really thinking of what's good for our clients. And that should be the that should be the bottom line.

SPEAKER_02 45:21

That, you know, it's I'm glad that I asked you that because uh when I uh I I actually I had a a 45-minute uh Zoom meeting with uh Robert Refkin um yesterday or two days ago, and uh and I brought this up to him because you know I called him out on this, and so he wanted to talk to me. And and he told me he said not one homeowner complained uh in in Chicago because all the brokers had a direct fee to Zillow. So that didn't sound right to me. So no, it's not right. So I'm glad I asked you. I'm glad I asked you.

SPEAKER_01 45:58

Oh, it is not correct. That is not correct, and listen, Robert is a great marketer, and but he's not being straight. You know, there's no quote there's no question, he's trying to corner the market. Yep, and he's listening I I guess I give him some credit, but he's done a really good job of convincing buyers and sellers that private networks are good, and yeah, actually, for a buyer, they're great because you you know, if you're in the private network, you got less people competing with. Right. You're a seller, they're not good, right? Um, and I've I've had people come up to me, oh, I sold this my property in this private network and it was great. And I I just ask them one question how do you know you got the best price? And they look at me, I look at me like, what are you talking about? And I said, Well, you didn't you weren't exposed to the whole market, and often the person who's gonna give you the best price is somebody outside the market, you know, who comes in and whatever. You don't you and there's no way to know. There's no way to really know because we don't have a comparison of one to the other. But um so I'm I'm uh uh it's interesting to me because I was thinking about, you know, if you actually accomplish what you want, he's playing right into a significant antitrust issue, you know. So, you know, uh we'll we'll see how it evolves.

SPEAKER_02 47:26

Yeah, I I've never been so disappointed in um or worried or concerned about our industry than I am right now because of this whole private listing thing. And and I've written um um pro private when it's appropriate. A homeowner should have the choice if they want to just, you know, if I want to just give it to Steve, I blah they should have that choice, but they need to be told I can do that for you, but you're gonna sell for less money.

SPEAKER_01 47:54

Because you just explain to them really what the situation is. And I I don't disagree with you. That exists um in every MLS, some form or another. You know, pocket listings, there's all been different names. And actually, the number of people who want that situation, you're talking about less than one percent.

SPEAKER_02 48:18

Right.

SPEAKER_01 48:18

Very small people, you know. Um, you know, we marketed Michael Jordan's house for a while. Um, he would potentially be someone, except every you know, you know, when you drew over to the house on the front gate was a big 23. So it's kind of hard to keep that private. It's kind of hard to miss it, but and everybody knew where he lived and it was on the market and blah blah blah. But no, I you know, there are there are some people, but those are very few people, right? It's really very few, and they've taken that and said, and before there was a private network, there was a real way to deal with that. You could have exempt listings, you know. It's all different, a little different in in different marketplaces, but there was a way to do that, and we did that. Now he's taken that and said, Okay, well, that's what everybody wants. Well, no, not really.

SPEAKER_02 49:12

No, I said I and I did call him out on it, and he didn't like it. I said, You you can't tell me that 55% of your sellers chose to sell for less money because that's that's what he said on his his his uh stock meeting uh call uh with investors that 55% of all of their listings started off as private listings in the compass network. Well, you know, I can't believe 55% homeowners choose to sell for less money and have less exposure.

SPEAKER_01 49:40

So something's not being well, you know, it goes back to one of the very first things that I dealt with um when I took over the company was this uh there was a tradition in the business where if you sold an in-house listing, you got a higher commission. I don't know if you remember this. Oh yeah.

unknown 49:58

Sure.

SPEAKER_01 49:59

It's a premium. If you sold an in-house listing, you got a premium.

SPEAKER_03 50:02

Yep.

SPEAKER_01 50:02

And I looked at this and I said, We're not doing that. That how can you go to a seller or buyer and say, that's fair, I get more if I push this listing over that listing.

SPEAKER_02 50:16

Right.

SPEAKER_01 50:16

And so I eliminated it. Awesome. I got an incredible amount of crap from everybody in the market um uh about that and the company, people in the company said that's you know, that's terrible. And at that time, 20 or 25 percent of our listings were that way. And it was only through, you know, that went on to now finally with this lawsuit that we had that we had to put in buyer brokerage, which I thought we should have done 30 years ago. You know, somebody represents the buyer, somebody represents the seller. If you're representing both parties, you know, you can't do that.

SPEAKER_02 50:56

It's like it's like an attorney representing both the plaintiff and the defendant. So it's kind of hard to do.

SPEAKER_01 51:01

Right. No, you can't, you can't, you can't do that.

SPEAKER_03 51:04

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 51:04

And people say, oh, well, I'm the best person to do that. I said, well, okay, then you need to tell both parties that I can't fully represent you. And literally, you should get less on each side. You'll get more overall, but you should get because you're not fully representing them. Hmm, interesting. Um, you know, so but now that is finally changing. Now we have separate broker agreements and everything nationally. Um but that you know, that was another thing that the you know, there was the industry.

SPEAKER_02 51:34

All right. Let me uh I got a few of these questions from some of our uh people here. So uh what's one leadership decision? So this is an anonymous attendee. Hello, anonymous. Uh what's one leadership decision Barron Warner made during a difficult market shift that you believe helped preserve the company's culture long term, even if it wasn't the easiest financial decision in the short term? Well, that's a brilliant question.

SPEAKER_01 52:02

Well, you know, that's always the lens uh that I look at. Because as I run the company longer, culture is the most important thing. Um, it's the most important in terms of how we run the company, when we buy companies, all that kind of stuff. So we always look through that lens, but also how do we make it better? I was uh um thinking about 2008 when the market was there, and I look at um the downturns in markets a little bit right now, but certainly back at that time. Those are great opportunities because it's much easier to change in a down market than it is in an up market. Um, first of all, agents are much more willing to listen to you. When things are good, they don't want to change stuff. When things are bad, they go, okay, I understand we got to do that. So it's easier to change. Um, also, it's generally cheaper. It's also harder to do because you don't usually have the same resources as you had before. Uh, but to do 2008, we used that as an opportunity. We completely redesigned all our offices, the physical facilities made them smaller and changed from what before then that was just a big sea of desks when you walked in the door, okay, having work areas and conference rooms and all sorts of different things. So creating more light and all sorts of things. Um, so um, but that's the lens. The lens is always about how does it affect our culture.

SPEAKER_02 53:46

That's brilliant, very great. Larry Atwell asks, how is AI transforming the real estate industry now? And what do you see its effect five years from now?

SPEAKER_01 53:56

So um my general view about AI is it's a positive thing. It right now we're in kind of the AI, what I call the AI Wild West. Um, the the products are good, they're not always right or correct or whatever, so you got to be careful. They are going to revolutionize behind the scenes, the back office, the processing, and they're gonna make it better. We're already working on this. We're, you know, uh I think a lot of companies are doing that, taking away a lot of the menial stuff, making the the way you do business better, okay, easier, simpler. How you process a transaction, how you process a mortgage, etc. What they are not going to affect um much is what we talked about before that interpersonal relationship. You aren't going to be able to use AI to replace your relationship with your buyer or seller. Absolutely. That relationship is still there. Now, will AI help you write the description or of or help the search process or whatever, but it'll help you, but it will not replace the one-on-one. And that's an interesting thing because there have been many attempts over the years to break the relationship between the agent and the client. And we could do a whole session on that. And they haven't been successful. And the reason they haven't been successful is people want to transact with other people. Over 90% of buyers and sellers use an agent. Why is that? They don't need it today. They could go to the internet, they could go to AI, whatever, and buy a house. The technology is there, but they don't do it. Now they do that for cars, they do it for washing machines, they do it for all sorts of other stuff. Why don't they do it in real estate? Okay, the reason they don't want to do it as real estate is because of this relationship. Um, and so I feel very strongly that this relationship is the key to our business, and we're we look at building around that. How can we help agents be better at doing that? Give them tools, but we can't replace that interpersonal stuff, the connection. Beautiful.

SPEAKER_02 56:19

Beautiful. Um, Janet Living uh Livingston, one of our longtime power agents, said broker in Atlanta and would like to know how to make it easier for buyers and sellers to sell their home and buy a new one. The seller always has to has so much work to do getting a house ready to put it on the market. So I think that's a big question with a big answer, but you know, quick thoughts on that.

SPEAKER_01 56:44

Well, listen, there's the way people live, and there's the way people sell. Okay. And and and we all know that the way people live is not a very saleable thing to buy. And so, you know, you're gonna have to come in and you're gonna have to talk to that seller and say, yeah, I mean, you know what it is. You gotta remove furniture, you gotta take out that carpet, you gotta change the color, whatever. You gotta take all your crap out of here because people don't want, and here's the thing you could have the greatest house, but if somebody walks in and it's dark and too much stuff, they just don't get a good feeling about it. What I say is we sell an emotional connection when somebody connects to a property. We all, you know, agents know that, they can see that in their buyer, that the buyer goes, and the buyer can be anywhere. They can be in the front yard, they can be in the front hall, they can be in the master bedroom, wherever it is. But if you have the the house doesn't feel right inside or whatever, or outside, you're gonna miss that opportunity. They're gonna go, oh no, this doesn't feel right. Right because they most buyers can't project, oh, I can take this out, I can repaint it. Right. They don't think about it that way. They want to see it. That's why new construction sells so well. Because they they know it, they can see it, it's right there. I don't have to do anything. You know, most people don't want to do anything.

SPEAKER_02 58:18

And speaking of that brightness and airiness, I mean, builders will put like 50 hi-hats in one room just to give it that bounce, and of course they decorate it beautifully. Yeah, um, it's similar to what you said about going into any office and you feel the office or any business where it feels dead or feel that energy is not there. It's the same thing with a house that a buyer walks in and they feel it speaks to their heart, is the way I say it.

SPEAKER_01 58:44

So well, that's where they're gonna live. Yeah. That's where they're gonna live. So they need they need to have a connection to that. They want to live at a place where you kind of go, eh, this is not that nice, and it's dark, and what you know, they they want to have that feel. They want to have a positive feel. This is where they live.

SPEAKER_02 59:01

I think I I like the way you say it better about this the house we live in and then the house we sell. I uh how I've always said it is there's two houses we live in. It's the house day in and day out, and then there's the house that we live in when companies coming over. You know, it's like a holiday event you clean up and make it nice.

SPEAKER_01 59:19

Exactly. But even even then, there's probably too much stuff in your house for selling.

SPEAKER_03 59:25

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 59:25

Yeah, we know that. I mean, almost all the time, the first thing you do is okay, we got to move all this stuff out of here. Right. You got too much stuff in here.

SPEAKER_02 59:33

Yeah. All right. Carol, Carol, oh, Carol was just making a comment. Carol Piefrom, she said, This is the best conversation I've heard. I love your experience and wisdom. Thank you. I can listen to you for hours. I I think she's talking about you, by the way, uh Steve. Um uh Jackie wants to know is there a telephone number uh for for for Steve? Um, so I don't know if people wanted to reach out to you uh somehow. Is there a way to do that?

SPEAKER_01 1:00:06

Yeah, I I would not, I don't like giving out my personal telephone number, but I wouldn't uh but if they want to uh send me an email and we can connect, it's Steve, it's real simple. It's steve.baird at bairdwarner.com.

SPEAKER_02 1:00:20

Great. And and gang, just uh remind Steve if you do reach out to him that either are a power agent or you are on this interview with me, so that way it'll trigger for him. Um Andrew Quinn, another one of our longtime power agents, said, What is the primary way that your agents are getting leads? Are they given leads from your company or is it completely up to them? Um, you know, or is there a combo?

SPEAKER_01 1:00:47

Um there the the answer is twofold. I I believe most agents develop their own leads, okay, however that is. Um, but we we are always looking for ways to what get what I call wholesale business and then you know delivered on a retail basis. Um, relocation is an example like that. Um, we have been in and out of a relationship with Zillow. We are currently out with them, but we have been in their flex program. That's another example. There are, you know, years ago as American Airlines and their point program. There's always programs, and we deliver those leads. And um, but uh you know, we have an e-business element too, but the great majority develop their own. That's really about you know developing your contact list.

SPEAKER_02 1:01:41

Yep.

SPEAKER_01 1:01:42

You know, your sphere of influence. Um, and you know, that's where you get. But we have top Asians who are big users of Flex, or you know, there's lots of different ones that they use.

SPEAKER_02 1:01:54

Gotcha. All right. Um, and uh yeah, Janet, uh Janet Livesley was going back to that question about um uh uh the opening about how to make it like you uh what are your visions and passion was how do we make the industry easier for buyers and sellers? And and so I think she was referencing that as well. But Janet, that's a that's a really big uh probably generational type of commitment uh that just moves the needle uh a little bit every every year or so. But um all right, well listen, I just realized at time, oh my gosh, it went so quick. Is there anything that you would like to add? You know what? I I I do have really quick uh I'm geez, I have so many questions that we we could have gotten to, and but this was so awesome. Uh I'm gonna rapid fire some some things really quick. One early habit that made the biggest difference in your career as a leader.

SPEAKER_01 1:02:49

So um I would say it's I guess I don't know how to describe it, stick to itness or not. I I was a competitive swimmer um in in high school and college, and what it taught me was uh to work really hard, and you didn't always get results, but you kept working, and eventually you'd get there. Um, and that sort of hard work ethic has something that's you know, so I don't give up on stuff very easily. Maybe it's a negative. Um, but I learned that from uh from competitive swimming.

SPEAKER_02 1:03:29

Awesome, awesome. One leadership belief that you had that you had to unlearn.

SPEAKER_01 1:03:36

Well, I think I talked to you about that before, that not everybody uh you need to get the right person in the right job, and they need to match your culture, and and you can have really good, well-intentioned people that just don't fit, they're not good for your company or your your management style. And that was a hard one to learn. I always thought good person, they're gonna work. And I found some good people that just didn't fit.

SPEAKER_02 1:04:02

And and you know, I found also the opposite is true too. If I find somebody who aligns with our culture and they're great, uh, but they may not seem like they have the talent. Well, we'll develop the talent. Yeah, and um, and that works for us as well. So um, favorite book that you've read.

SPEAKER_01 1:04:22

So this is an interesting one because I don't read. I I've always had problems with reading since I was a little kid. I was really yes, I read very little, and my company knows if you want to communicate with me and if you write something that's more than one page, it won't get read. Wow. And so I read generally one book a year. Jeez. Well, whoever, whoever the that's a developmental issue. I just I I'm just a slow reader processor. My now I married a woman, my wife is a voracious reader. She reads five books a week.

SPEAKER_02 1:05:03

Well, then she's your Google synapse.

SPEAKER_01 1:05:06

Uh yeah, if I want to have a book, I give it to her, I have her read it, and I then she tells me.

SPEAKER_02 1:05:13

Well, I'm sure all the professors at Harvard just rolled over and assumed to be great.

SPEAKER_01 1:05:18

You know what? I I selected, it's why I didn't I love history, but I knew that I couldn't do history because it was too much reading. So I selected courses based on that that variable, how much I could do.

SPEAKER_02 1:05:30

Wow. That's fascinating. Well, there's a there's a motivational message there as well. Um, favorite movie?

SPEAKER_01 1:05:38

That's easy. Doctor Strangelove.

SPEAKER_02 1:05:40

Okay. All right, good.

SPEAKER_01 1:05:43

Old movie, but well, no, just my classic favorite.

SPEAKER_02 1:05:46

Awesome. Favorite expression or motto?

SPEAKER_01 1:05:50

Well, it's what we have in the company, which is do the right thing. Um, and do the right thing is rarely about money.

SPEAKER_02 1:05:59

Absolutely, love that. And that's actually that was my uh that's my uncle's uh do the right th he would always say do the right thing. So with that little you know, Italian uh push on it.

SPEAKER_01 1:06:12

And my my wife says to me, Well, how do you know? And I said, if you don't know, that's a problem.

SPEAKER_02 1:06:18

Mmm. Wow. If you don't know. Well, look at you. Unless you'd written the five books a year. All right. All right. Well, Steve, this is if there is one thing that you could give people now, like because of all the challenges that we're experiencing, and like if you were gonna say one thing to agents uh who are questioning the industry or questioning themselves or concerned about where we're heading, what would you say to them?

SPEAKER_01 1:06:53

You know, it's the same. I say the same thing to them all the time. You need to focus on your clients. You know, your clients are gonna tell you what they need and what they want, and you know, talk to them. I sometimes we're afraid to talk to our clients, talk to them about what they like and don't like, how they want to communicate, all that kind of stuff. If you're developing relationships with your clients, you're gonna develop that in that connection, that trust. And they will, you know, if you're not really good at what at some of the other stuff, they will be fine with that as long as they trust you. That's the key part. And and often we get agents get all in this other stuff and TikTok and social media and all that stuff, and they don't do this part. And if they just did this part, they're gonna be successful.

SPEAKER_02 1:07:45

Awesome. And and uh Sarah, thanks for doing that. I I forgot to mention that before we sign off. Gang, if you wouldn't, uh Steve carved out his time to do this for us. Could you just tell him what you thought and if you got some value from this? That because I'd like to send him your comments in the in the chat, um, so that way he knows the difference that he made. I I want to thank you again, um Steve, for uh for uh contributing to my career and uh but more importantly, doing this. I know how busy you are, and um, and this was great. You made a difference today. So thank you so so very much. Appreciate it.

SPEAKER_01 1:08:23

Good. Well, this was fun. Enjoyed it.

SPEAKER_02 1:08:25

All right, well, thank you, sir. I will let you go. Everybody, please stay safe, stay focused, and don't forget to keep smiling. Bye, everybody.

SPEAKER_01 1:08:33

Okay, thanks.