A management company CEO turns down a conference keynote because the person sharing the stage runs a practice they can’t stand behind.
Despite the overwhelmingly positive exposure, they passed anyway.
Charlie Munger built a fortune on one idea that maps straight onto reputation: the best way to get what you want is to deserve what you want. You earn a reputation by being worth it, and you protect it by guarding it with your life!
Multifamily is a relationship business, so your name travels with the company you keep. Stand consistently alongside operators who work with integrity, and you attract a certain grade of ownership group, team member, and supplier partner. Attach your name to anyone with a checkbook and your reputation shifts in an instant.
You have to get comfortable with the fact that the long view costs you in the present. It might mean declining revenue, recognition, and association that pay this quarter. Reputation is the most durable competitive asset in this industry and the slowest to build. It’s also very hard to rebuild if you make risky decisions.
Five years after passing on that stage, the CEO was still on the speaking circuit. The person they declined to stand next to was nowhere to be found.
In a relationship business, who you stand next to is part of your reputation. Be deliberate about it. — Mike Brewer
Discussion Prompt: Which current association, a partnership, a stage, a public affiliation that least reflects the reputation you want in ten years, and what would stepping away from it require?