Leadership Lessons from Owning Manhattan

Have you watched this show on Netflix? I only turned it on because my sister was raving about the highest residential apartment in the world in NYC, and that I should watch the show to see this apartment (Google: Central Park Towers Penthouse).? But beyond the amazing views of gorgeous homes in Manhattan, I found myself intrigued by CEO Ryan Serhant 's leadership style and the culture he’s built for his team.

Start watching for the views, stay for the leadership lessons.

Six leadership lessons from Season 1

1. Create Stretch Opportunities For Your Team: We say this all the time, that its important for leaders to stretch their team members and think of development opportunities. But it doesn't always happen, and then employees feel that they have to leave the company to continue to grow. In Episode 6 , Tricia tells the CEO that she wants a new challenge. Without missing a beat, the CEO proposed an opportunity for Tricia to meet with a developer of an entire high rise as a way for her to build credibility and show that she can take on more than just selling brownstones in Brooklyn. It was a win/win as she crushed the goal, and seemed more engaged and most importantly, she felt heard by her leader that she wanted more.
2. Reward and Recognize High Performers In A Personalized Manner: Rewarding high performers with money is one thing, but rewarding high performers in a manner that appeals to them is more important. In Episode 7 the CEO invited a handful of his top performers to dinner and then gifted them with Cartier watches. He let the team know that dinner was on him, and that he wanted them to feel engaged and that they had a future with the company. Now, if only you could buy your top performers Cartier watches and an epic dinner but the lesson learned is to personalize the value you’re bestowing on your team. Sometimes it's just taking your team to dinner and letting them know that they're appreciated.
3. Hold People Accountable in a Timely Manner: Throughout Season 1 there was an employee who came across as entitled (Jonathan). During one episode Jonathan and Jessica are seen recording a podcast on company property, and during the podcast they were calling out their peers by name in a demeaning way. When the podcast went live, other employees were notified by their connections and eventually the CEO found out and immediately told Jonathan "You don't use company resources and then trash talk about your peers. This reflects on all of us". Later the CEO received more negative feedback about Jonathan from others within the industry and ultimately made the decision to let Jonathan go. When the team learned the news they immediately celebrated, highlighting the importance of one "bad" person and the impact on the culture and company reputation.
4. Apologize, and take Ownership: in Episode 8 we see the CEO get feedback about Jonathan and how as a result a massive deal fell through and the client no longer wants to work with the organization. The CEO apologizes profusely and asks how he can make things right, even offering to buy the client a couch, or "whatever it takes". This is such a great lesson that when things go wrong, rather than belabor the past; it's important to quickly look to the future. How can you fix things? How can you salvage the relationship?
5. Help Close The Deal: One thing that I really enjoyed seeing throughout Season 1 was the number of times that employees came to the CEO asking for help in getting a deal across the finish line and he always said yes. He never pushed back that it was their responsibility; he truly saw it as a team accomplishment for everyone to work together to close deals.
6. Celebrate! Throughout Season 1 we see parties for open houses, we see parties for team members being recognized within the industry and we see a party for the 3rd anniversary of the company. Make the celebrations meaningful to your team/department/organization. But the important lesson is to celebrate the milestones along the journey.

I'm hooked and can't wait for Season 2!