I’m at a leadership conference the other day and the speaker says this:
“Knowledge is knowing that a tomato is a fruit and not a vegetable.
Wisdom is knowing not to put it in a fruit salad.”
… I stop drinking my coffee my pen hangs over my notepaper dead-stopped still.
Wow! That was one of the coolest observations I’ve heard this year.
Here’s the rationale for his comment: The Internet was supposed to give every man and woman and child the ultimate in knowledge. It was promised to give you knowledge at your fingertips immediately and completely. The Great Equalizer for small businesses and individuals. The end game being.….”wisdom”.
Before I ask you the question below, I must beg your forgiveness. As my friend Roy frequently says, “The Risk of Insult is the Price of Clarity.” So if the rest of this story insults you, sorry. But at least you’ll have some clarity.
Here goes….
Question for you: Is it just me or have you noticed that people have gotten, dare I say it, stupider? {Sigh….}
Real estate professionals experience this Internet phenomenon more frequently than other professionals.
Our customers try to outshine us with the amount of knowledge they have from the Internet. There’s Zillow. There’s Trulia. There’s 1.5 million “Jane REALTOR©” and “Bob REALTOR©” with a FREE market analysis button. There’s a ga-billion FREE websites where Buyers and Sellers and Investors can look up information for FREE.
(ADA Moment: “ga-billion” is a financial term that you’ll soon see used by the Treasury Department courtesy of Tim Geitner. You can vote on a petition at www.WhiteHouse.gov to make it happen.*)
They can look up FREE forms, FREE analysis, FREE everything. They no longer need us to help them….
Until the proverbial brown stuff hits the oscillating fixture and splatters everywhere as a result of their decisions and actions.
Our Leasing and Property Management staff witness this demonstration weekly when we have to unwind things and mitigate the damage done from transactions that are initiated prior to our involvement. Sometimes it ends up fine, sometimes it’s painful for the Client.
Take Away here:
Our Leasing and Property Management staff has the high level of deal flow experience (better known as “wisdom”) to guide you.
(*Ok, I made that part up about the White House petition….but it sounded good, didn’t it?)
