The most important color in business is green. I think that is the primary color that has driven much of the efforts in Diversity and Inclusion on a national level recently. What Diversity looks like in this industry has a lot to do with the updated “standard” of governance that is passed down from our larger enterprise-level clients. When the business community had a desire to see more women and minorities as vendors, these requirements made their way into RFPs which then translated into a notional increase in women and minorities within the industry.

So you see, our industry will be as diverse as our clients desire them to be because, to be frank, most firms will simply find the right person to check the box to get the gig. I don’t know how you feel about it, but this is the truth of the matter. Now I didn’t say that I wanted it to be this way, this is just how it is. As a veteran in this industry who happens to be black, I have watched people leverage the color of their skin or gender to help move them along to get deals, and I have had mixed feelings.

I love the opportunity, and I truly think that the pie is big enough to welcome all the diversity that we could ever hope for, but something else happens when you have a top-down push to re-create an environment of diversity. Commercial Real Estate is one of the most traditional, old-school cultures in any industry. There are secrets here, secret relationships, billions of dollars in deals, closed-door, cigar-filled rooms, and nepotism that is out of this world. 

 We all know it, and deal with it by trying to work around it the best that we can. I don’t know if you can ever remove that element from the process. Relationships currently rule the day, and will always for the foreseeable future.

So how do you truly cultivate an environment of diversity within this industry? What does real diversity actually look like? Well, to answer your question, it looks messy. Let me explain.

The primary drive has to move from “checking a box” on an RFP to being focused exclusively on what is in the client’s best interest. Recruitment must be focused on hiring the best talent for the job, training them up, so that they can truly compete with other brokers in the community. Teams have to be ready to have brokers coming in with an entirely different point of view, a different way of selling and doing deals, because when you introduce new communities, you are introducing new networks and relationships as well, and the differences between them can be just as significant culturally as doing a deal with someone from England versus China.

There needs to be an abundance of grace, understanding, patience, and a sincere desire to grow together instead of using each other. Yes, diversity looks messy because it emulates family. My “family” is authentic (and messy), but what keeps our focus is doing what is best for the client and having partnerships based on our experience and ability to contribute, versus the ability for someone to just check a box.

There are more and more firms like that out there, but I am proud to tell you that my family is real, far from perfect, and working to get better every day to serve our clients and the greater Houston community.