Partner Away Your Weakness, Then Polish Your Strengths…

In my last article, I admitted that in the past, my passion for helping others often turned to anger and frustration when people made mistakes. I talked about taking responsibility for my actions and setting clear expectations, but that’s only part of the equation. 

Sometimes, training and setting clear expectations alone can’t fix the problem… what then?

Even though I've always prided myself on being a great delegator, I realize now that I was naive to think that I could single-handedly teach my entire team everything they had to know to perform at the level I needed them to for the stuff that I delegated. 

Don't get me wrong—delegation is incredibly important—but delegating isn’t enough. It’s about partnering with the right people.

This brings me to the second lesson I eluded to last week… 

2. Leadership isn’t only about nurturing others, it’s about partnering with the right people who can help nurture your vision.

Let me clarify: when I use the term partner, I’m not referring to an equity partner, I’m referring to an employee that acts as a “partner without equity.” When you delegate, you think for your team and tell them how to build your vision. When you partner, you are trusting your team to help you carry the vision. There’s an important difference.

I’ve always been passionate about equitable access, even before GPARENCY. That’s why I used to hire people with zero experience. Here’s where I had a big problem: 

If you’re responsible to come up with the vision, integrate it, and try to build up a team from scratch, you’re going to have a lot of frustrations.

EOS™, an entrepreneurial coaching system that helps you clarify and act on your vision, transformed my mindset on building teams. They taught me how critical it is to:

• Have a capable integrator to help bring the vision to life. Instead of trying to teach a visionary to manage (or vice versa), it’s about strategic partnerships. If you’re a visionary, you need to partner with someone who is gifted at taking things off your plate.
• Partner with experienced people on your executive team who can help nurture less experienced team members. This model actually empowers you to create more equitable access in the long term!

Recently I read a book recommended by Joel Kahn, our COO, called Rocket Fuel by Gino Wickman and Mark C. Winters. It confirmed and reiterated those same guidelines EOS taught me. According to Gino Wickman, the difference between a visionary and an integrator is simple: “One sees the future, and the other makes it happen.”

When I started GPARENCY, I knew the only way to bring it to fruition was with the right people backing the idea. I couldn’t rely on my years of experience alone—God willing, we would need a team of experts working together at their crafts to disrupt the CRE industry.

For the first time in my life, I partnered and hired an entire executive team right from the start to work with me, share in my vision, and implement it as they take GPARENCY to the next level. I started by bringing on a co-founder from Freddie Mac, Ben Schweitzer, as Head of Product. From there, I brought on my partner, Abrar Qureshi (CTO), and then hired Jeff Chaitoff (Head of People and Culture), Bryan Bork (CMO), Christina Leitner (CRO), Joel Kahn (COO), and several equally talented executive positions. We are also in the process of hiring a CFO now.

Joel Kahn is our integrator that oversees the day-to-day implementation, and as much as I find coming up with the vision is my gift, implementing it is certainly his. I am watching the power of this model at work right now: I prompted the idea of doing a summer internship this summer, and Joel is now working with the rest of our team to map out the details. Joel takes my ideas, pushes back on the ones that don’t make sense, and delegates responsibilities to the rest of our stellar team to ensure my ideas come to fruition. 

If you want to stay focused on the high-level vision, you need an integrator on your team. 

Instead of teaching our executive team my way of doing things, I can now give them the freedom to do what they do best however they see fit. They know their business and their jobs better than I ever will, and that’s the whole point. 

In just a short amount of time, our team has blown my expectations out of the water. In fact, every month since we started, thank God, we’ve had over 50% increase of signed contracts!

"Don't tell people how to do things, tell them what to do, and let them surprise you with their results." —George Patton

In the start-up world, there’s a stigma around asking for help. I’ve realized, however, that the only way to achieve true greatness is by learning from others and pulling on the God-given strengths of those around us.

My advice? 

Surround yourself with experts in your field. Hire the best. Recognize the difference between Visionaries and Integrators. Be your team’s visionary, champion, and advisor, and trust that they will take your business to greater heights than you ever thought possible.

I know it sounds simple, but there will still be a lot of people who don't take my advice. As the saying goes, do what others won't, so that you can do what others can't.

My dad, alav hashalom, always told me that if you want to have a company, you need to know how to do every step of the process. Then, as you grow, hire people to cover your weakest areas or the things you don’t want to do anymore. That’s exactly what I do today. I can do everything on our team, but my team can do it better than I ever dreamed. I’m a general practitioner; they’re the specialists.

So, let me ask the golden question… Are you more of a Visionary or an Integrator?