Innovation Isn't About Intelligence

The smartphone you have in your pocket is smarter, faster, and retains information better than any human. Innovation has become much less about new ideas because those are accessible to almost anybody. Now we've learned that, in leadership, when we are evolving and innovating, it's much more about human relationships.

As we barrel through the 4th quarter of the year and look ahead at what's to come in 2022, we have time to reflect on our growth and challenges and plan for our evolution. Leaders are constantly making big goals that take time and a lot of man-hours to complete. There's a saying that you eat an elephant one bite at a time. The same goes for setting and meeting our goals. We focus on the small steps that we take to achieve massive goals and the people and relationships that will help make it possible along the way.

Innovation is about People

As we grow our teams, we lean into the things that will help our consumer. How do we grow vertically by improving our industry for the better? What technology efficiency and automation can we build to make things more accessible for people? It's about conceptualizing new ways to save our home buyers money and make homeownership achievable and sustainable for more people. 

When we look for ways to make the industry function better, we are really serving our communities to the people who will grow them. In turn, those people will continue to contribute back to our industry and help it thrive over the long term.

Innovation is about the Mission

Staying focused on our mission and vision keeps us on the right path as we learn and grow. EPM has grown to nearly 500 employees, and it's the job of our leaders to make sure that our teams are buying into the mission. The power behind 500 perspectives can be harnessed into something amazing when we have an inclusive environment that makes room for new ideas and creativity. 

There is huge room for an opportunity there when we are focused on a common goal. In our case, it's empowering people more. We experience huge development within the industry when we focus on what we have to offer others- essentially saving people money and contributing positive experiences for our consumers. We have and will continue to experience profound positive effects when we lean in to strengthen our relationships with the community. 

Innovation is about giving Back

Whether it's about moving towards improving our employee experience so they feel inspired and have the space and voice within the company to take us to the next level and remain at the top of our game, or the way we set up our loans to give back directly into our community by taking a portion of every loan we close and donating them to foundations that inspire us and protect and empower our communities; Innovation is about recognizing that we are better together, and we are better when everybody wins.

Innovation isn't about being the smartest and fastest in the room anymore. It's about building connections, so together, your power to evolve and grow is exponentially higher. The leaders who get there first are the leaders who trust in their teams, who work together to achieve big goals, and who evolve and are flexible enough to recognize that the path ahead won't be a straight one. It probably won't look like we envision it when we set out. It will be better.