August 8, 2024 • 32 mins
Ever wondered how an unexpected start can lead to a thriving career in leadership? Join us as we sit down with Laura Khouri, president of Western National Property Management, who began her remarkable journey in 1985 as a "gal Friday" and rose to the top by 2010.
Laura shares her inspiring story, emphasizing the vital role mentorship and continuous learning played in her ascent. She provides invaluable insights into leadership, navigating responsibilities across human resources, risk management, and training, and the critical importance of supporting her team during challenging times like the pandemic.
In this episode, we also explore the forward-thinking strategies that have modernized Western National Property Management (WMPM). Laura discusses the company's transition to a new learning management system, their ambitious rebranding efforts, and the importance of cross-department collaboration.
She highlights the value of participating in industry councils and shares her excitement for her upcoming keynote at the Women's Summit, which focuses on innovation and leadership. Laura's insights demonstrate how WMPM is staying ahead of the curve by embracing change and fostering a culture of continuous improvement.
Lastly, we delve into the lessons learned from leadership mistakes and the power of vulnerability. Laura recounts a pivotal early-career mistake that led to significant company policy changes, illustrating the importance of owning errors and learning from them. We highlight the company's successful employee retention strategies during the pandemic and their dynamic marketing partnership with the NHL's Anaheim Ducks, showcasing how creative approaches can drive both business success and community impact. Listen in to discover how fostering innovation and collaboration can build resilient, thriving careers and businesses.
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Multifamily Women® Leadership Series: https://apps.multifamilywomen.com/join
Multifamily Innovation® Council: https://multifamilyinnovation.com/council/
Multifamily Innovation® Summit: https://multifamilyinnovation.com/
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome back.
We are so excited to have anamazing guest here today, Laura
Corey.
She is the president of WesternNational Property Management.
She is a Multifamily InnovationCouncil member, as well as a
Women's Summit speaker, and shewill be our keynote this year.
We are so excited to have youhere today, Laura.
Speaker 2 (00:19):
Absolutely my pleasure, Lauren.
Thank you for inviting me.
Speaker 1 (00:21):
Of course.
And so what got you intomultifamily?
Speaker 2 (00:36):
I fell into it.
I answered a three-line ad inthe local newspaper in 1985.
The internet hadn't beeninvented yet, right, and so the
way that you found jobs wasthrough the classified ads.
And I answered the ad, I got aninterview and I was hired 20
minutes into it as a gal Friday.
That was my job title.
I know they don't have thoseanymore.
What is that?
It was a fancy name for gopherfile clerk.
(00:56):
Just do whatever is asked of me.
You go to the bank, you makedeposits, you type a letter on
an IBM Selectric typewriter andif you want copies you had to
put carbon paper in.
If you made a mistake, god helpyou.
And so that was what I washired to do.
As a gal Friday, I was workingfor the office manager, and
(01:17):
three months into my employment,the secretary because that's
what they were called in thosedays was let go for the then
president and he decided hewanted me and he called me Linda
.
For the next three months Ijust answered to anything you
know, and I was his secretary.
(01:39):
Fast forward, I don't know,about a year or so and I become
the office manager and I'm theworst boss you could ever ever
imagine.
You know, I've got three people.
I've got no leadershipexperience and I've got the mail
clerk and I've got thereceptionist right and I've got
the I think the loan payment galright was working for me and so
long and short of it I've had alot of people help me along the
(02:01):
way, a lot of mentors.
I didn't recognize it at thetime but I became a vice
president in 1996 overoperations, and so I come from
the inside out of propertymanagement, corporate office,
that sort of a thing, and thentook on all kinds of
responsibilities.
Human resources, riskmanagement created the risk
(02:22):
management department originallybecause it didn't exist back
then.
We were a small firm at thetime we had about 5,000 units,
maybe 500 people maybe, andtoday we've grown to about a
thousand people and 23,000 unitsall in.
But again, I fell into it andeverything I learned I learned
(02:45):
on the job, Sought educationwhen I needed to right.
And sometimes in your career,when you're with a company for
so long and in case you werecalculating that'd be 39 years,
you have that written you haveto stop and reflect and if your
(03:06):
path is going down a path thatyou're not happy with, you go
out and you get extra education,and I did that in California
and I'm sure it is with everystate.
But you have to become a brokerif you want to manage for third
parties and that sort of thing,and I had applied for a
position that I didn't getinternally and that just
propelled me to go out and getmy education.
And, of course, today,companies utilizing my broker's
(03:27):
license right.
Never knew that at the time,wow, but I became the president
in 2010.
And that was after running ourmultifamily ancillary division
where we sold renter's insurance.
I've been an insurance agent,we did utility billing, so I've
had this expansive experiencewith Western and again I fell
(03:49):
into it.
But it wasn't until later on inmy career that I was exposed to
all these different people,these different ways of
leadership, and I am a productof bad bosses, right.
I just know that I was notgoing to do what was done to me,
if that makes any sense at all,absolutely.
Speaker 1 (04:06):
That's how we learn, isn't it?
Yes, true, I mean, we're alljust kind of fumbling our way
through, trying to.
You know, we talked about this.
I did the same thing.
I jumped around HR, training,when do I fit?
What's my skillset?
And that's how we learn.
It's just trial and error.
Speaker 2 (04:22):
It is, and what I loved best about that career
climb was the HR, the training,the risk management, the dealing
with people.
We have a joke If it weren'tfor people we wouldn't have any
problems.
But working with people wasprobably the best blessing I've
ever had at Western.
Speaker 1 (04:40):
Yeah, yeah.
And obviously you're probably amentor to many now, I would
imagine, because, having beengiven mentorship which to me in
my career, that was the bestthing that could have happened
was somebody to mentor methrough a lot of that.
I think you are the perfectperson to be mentoring people.
So do you mentor people?
I do.
Speaker 2 (04:59):
Yes, I do, and I think it is incumbent upon any
leader that has gained any typeof status, even as you're
starting out, if you have thatfirst title or that first
responsibility, that it isimportant that you impart that
wisdom on anyone who wants tolearn.
You can't do it for everybodybecause they don't, but, yes, my
door is always open to whoeverwants to come in and mentor with
(05:21):
me.
We'll take an hour that kind ofa thing and our CEO does the
same thing.
We mentor all of the officers.
And again, the mentoring is notyou need to do it this way.
Mentoring is about askingquestions.
So how do you see it?
What do you think is the rightthing to do?
It's so funny you say that itis.
I know that nobody really wantsto talk about the pandemic
(05:42):
anymore.
We're kind of done with that,but it was during the pandemic
that the mentorship really cameout for us.
We're all segregated.
We are an essential business.
I have my site teams out there,and how do you stay connected
to them?
Right, I started sending out adaily email to each and every
(06:03):
one of them, right, sending outa daily email to each and every
one of them.
And it started out with.
Here's the new evictionmoratorium law for Ventura
County and here's the one forSanta Ana, and here's the
frequently asked questions thatwe have now uploaded on our
intranet.
But then, after a while, therewas no more legislation to talk
about, and that's when Idiscovered memes.
I didn't know what a meme wasbefore 2020.
(06:26):
I, you know, I didn't know.
Yeah, and then, every day, for587 days, I sent out an email to
the entire team about life,about here, funny memes, you
know, and they were all likethemed.
Right yeah, it was.
It was great, because whathappened was the team members
(06:47):
all the way down to ourentry-level porters, would email
me back about what I said, thatsort of a thing.
The CEO, mike Cate, who alsohappens to be my husband, wasn't
about to be undone and he wouldsend out a daily video to
everybody.
He would go search in theinternet and find videos, and
he's kind of an old rock androller, right yeah, I love that
kind of a thing.
(07:07):
And so that's how we kept ourculture and still mentored with
people, even though it wasthrough Zoom, but that's how we
kept our culture.
Speaker 1 (07:16):
That's incredible.
I mean.
I think a lot of people had toget creative at that time.
Really, I mean, you think aboutit.
We talk about this a lot.
Where you're, we're verysuccessful, Our companies are
very successful, so we haven'treally felt the need to
necessarily innovate very muchuntil you're forced to.
Yes, and COVID was the perfectexample of that right For the
pandemic, everybody's kind ofscrambling to innovate all of a
(07:38):
sudden because we have to.
So one of the things I likeabout about your company is that
you guys seem very innovativealready without having to have a
pandemic to be able to makethose changes.
You're part of the council andyou're also attending the
summits this year, which isamazing.
So what innovations is WesternNational Property Management
(08:03):
doing that you're excited about?
Speaker 2 (08:06):
So I think we have three major strategies for this
year.
The first is that we'reactually replacing our LMS.
So we've had a learningmanagement system in place for a
while and it's grown antiquatedand hasn't kept up with our
needs, and so we're literallygoing to flip that switch next
week on a new system which ismore intuitive and much easier
(08:30):
to utilize.
I'm trying to think I can'trecall the exact number, but
something close to 20,000classes a year between all of
our associates and what theytake.
It can be live.
It could be online learning attheir own pace.
It could be via Teams or Zoomfor orientation it depends but
we've got all those modalitiesin this new system.
(08:51):
That's a big deal, because thatrequires collaboration from I
can't tell you how manydepartments are working on that.
It's a team effort, groupeffort, Absolutely.
The next thing that we areworking on is the fact that we
are actually rebranding ourimage.
Western has been around for 65years and while we're proud of
(09:11):
that number you hear that numberyou go, wow, you're really old.
You're old.
Thank God the company is olderthan I am, but we've had a very
conservative look and you couldalways count on it.
And now it's time to take afresh look at that, Because we
have grown with the times.
But you can't tell by ourwebsite.
So we're working on that.
(09:32):
It'll come out probably in thenext, maybe 30 days or so.
That's another one thatrequires a ton of collaboration
between all departments torepresent them and what they
want to share with everyone.
Speaker 1 (09:43):
I love.
You really want to be in thatroom.
I love rebrand.
I get all excited about it.
Speaker 2 (09:48):
Yes, yes, and we've got.
You know, we have our.
We have colors or like aPantone 34, blue and you know,
and a gray, and like no, no, no,no.
There's no reason we can'tutilize colors like these.
And, you know, get a little bitimaginative, maybe we'll be
your inspiration.
You are absolutely myinspiration.
Speaker 1 (10:04):
Feel free to run it by me, because this is totally
my thing, I love it Well,amazing.
And being part of the counciltoo, do you feel like there's a
lot of innovations that youbring to your team, or that
you're kind of getting out ofthat that you're bringing back
to your group?
Speaker 2 (10:20):
Right now, because I'm fairly new to the council, I
love sitting back and watchingothers.
Again, as a mature organization, we've been through some of
this.
I never want to come across asyou know.
I know what I'm doing and youdon't, right, so I just listen
to the dialogue and what's beingsaid and I'll pop in if I feel
I can be helpful.
Having said that, though, whatI've taken back't see it, um, on
(10:45):
the board, but it was the normstorm reform.
We were talking about it acouple of weeks ago, and if I've
misquoted I apologize, but I'mwriting it down.
You know furiously and I mean Ilove that, um, I love about
hearing what other people aredoing.
Right, and because you knowwhat, you take a little bit from
everyone that you meet, um andmake it your own.
Speaker 1 (11:07):
That's totally right, and every company is different.
Yes, we respect that.
We, you know, we own that, andwe pick the pieces that work for
us and we breeze by the piecesthat don't.
I love that, and so you are nowalso going to be our keynote at
the Women's Summit this year.
Speaker 2 (11:22):
So very excited.
Speaker 1 (11:24):
What are you going to be talking about, or what gets
you excited about, being a partof the Women's Summit this year,
so very excited.
What are you going to betalking about, or what gets you
excited about, being a part ofthe Women's Summit this?
Speaker 2 (11:28):
year.
So I said earlier that when Ifirst learned about this I
didn't know that it existed, andsince that time I actually
attended a women's conferencejust a couple of weeks ago.
What I loved about it was theenergy and the vibe in the room.
And I didn't.
I just didn't know that thatexisted.
But for this particular one, notonly am I honored to be
(11:50):
presenting a keynote, but again,it goes back to when you reach
a certain level to impart whatyou've learned on others who
want to learn it, and I'm happyto share that story.
And that story is full of a tonof stumbles and falls and
mistakes and embarrassments.
Is full of a ton of stumblesand falls and mistakes and
embarrassments.
And I think people can relateto someone who's vulnerable and
willing to say, yeah, I totallyscrewed up.
(12:12):
I was the worst boss ever backin 1987.
You would not have wanted towork for me.
Because what I think makespeople want more out of their
lives is to see what otherpeople have done and to say, oh,
wow, they're human, that we'reall human, we all make mistakes
and you know what?
There's hope for all of us.
Speaker 1 (12:32):
I love that.
If you don't mind me askingwhat are some of those mistakes
that you've learned from as aleader or rising leaders right
now?
What would they want to hear?
That maybe learn from mistakesyou've made or wins you've had?
Speaker 2 (12:47):
I think when the first ones I've ever made and
it's so old and every singleperson in the company knows this
three months into my employment, so back in 1985, there's no
orientation period, there's nopre-employment testing, there's
no HR department, there'snothing right.
And it was the Friday beforeFourth of of July weekend and,
(13:07):
um, the boyfriend I was seeingdumped me.
And you know what?
I had nothing to do.
And so for Friday lunch I tooktwo other girls and we went
around the corner to the littleseven 11 and we bought ourselves
a four pack of Bartles andJames and I don't think they
sell that anymore, the winespritzers is what that was and
so for lunch we each had one.
We just had a liquid lunch andwe came back to the office, we
(13:29):
had one left over, and at breaktime later in the afternoon we
didn't want to drink it in thebreak room because we didn't
have to share with everybody, sowe took it in the bathroom, the
ladies' restroom In walks, aregional manager at the time and
she said oh boy, okay, wouldyou like some?
And she said no, no, no.
And my date used to be Ripple.
We had no idea what that was.
(13:49):
Well, she leaves and she goesand she tells my boss that the
girls are drinking in thebathroom during working hours on
a Friday afternoon before 4thof July weekend.
My other boss was the officemanager.
She was on vacation.
She came back two weeks laterand we immediately get called
into her office at 830 in themorning and we got grilled why
(14:12):
were you drinking on the job?
I'm like, okay, I didn't know,we couldn't you know.
And later that day a memo wastyped up and put on everyone's
desk.
Remember, no internet, sonothing coming in the inbox,
right?
And I am responsible for the noalcohol policy at our company.
How hilarious I just I am.
Who knew?
(14:33):
Now, I survived that and that'sthe whole point of the story.
Okay, I made a mistake.
I was 24 years old.
Who knew it was allembarrassing?
But I lived through it and ifit's okay to accept what you do
as mistakes, you're going to befine.
Sometimes we can't live withthat embarrassment.
(14:53):
We want to be the victim.
No, I did that one all bymyself.
And here I am today to tell youthe story.
So that was one of the firstmistakes public mistakes I ever
made.
Speaker 1 (15:02):
Yeah, I love that.
Well, you don't think about it,you know.
You might think hey, it's lunch, I'm on my break, right, I can
have, you know, a glass of wine.
I can't.
I'm a lightweight.
If I have one glass of wine,everybody knows.
But if you can do that normally, you know.
So that's hilarious, first andforemost.
(15:23):
But thank you for sharing thatwith us.
No, you're welcome, it's just agreat story.
Speaker 2 (15:28):
Thank you, but it's stumbling along the way and
making mistakes and if you learnfrom them and you're not afraid
to talk about them to otherpeople, right?
Yeah, I think that helps otherslearn.
They're always going to have togo through their own
experiences, but I think it'sgood to know that other people
make mistakes too and theysurvive it.
Speaker 1 (15:48):
Yeah, you said something really compelling
earlier that made me thinkyou're just an amazing leader
and you probably don't even knowyou said it but the best boss I
ever had.
I came into her office.
I was her assistant at the time.
I had a problem and I broughtit to her, but I didn't bring
her solutions or optionaloptions and she just looked at
me like just blank stare and Ithought, you know, like the
(16:12):
scene in Pirates of theCaribbean when he paints eyes on
his eyes and he's actuallyasleep and you don't really know
.
You're like hello.
She did that to me.
She just blank stared at me andI kind of panicked and I just
started solutioning live infront of her.
I was like, well, I guess Icould do this or I could do this
or I could, okay.
And I came up with my ownsolution and I walked out of her
office and I was like that wasintentional, it was 100%
(16:40):
intentional.
And you you had said what doyou think we should do?
And you're immediately handingsomeone back their power and
saying if you're going to be aleader, you're going to have to
take it a little bit further andcome up with some possible
solutions and then bring that tothe group Right.
Yes, it's so smart.
Speaker 2 (16:53):
So in multifamily, you know we live vicariously
through what happens on site andwe could all write a book about
the goings on and the problemsand the issues and the
catastrophes that come up Withmy team.
I am not a micromanager.
They have.
They know that one of the firstrules of thumb, it's a cardinal
rule.
If it's have, um, they knowthat one of the first rules of
thumb, it's a cardinal rule.
If it's fire, flood or blood,they just report it.
(17:15):
They don't have to have thesolution, they don't have to
have.
You know how, what happened.
You know if it's going to benewsworthy, if you know media is
going to show up, you know wejust have to know at the
executive committee level, right, and then I give them.
(17:38):
I've been through that, I'vehad that position, but it's up
to them to figure it out.
And they come to me and my jobis to provide them the resources
of what they need, not to givethem the answers.
There are times when thetoughest questions, the hardest
situations, they come all theway up and you have to decide
what to do.
But for the most part my teamis so capable of they know what
to do, they've got it handled.
I try not to second guess them.
(17:59):
So yes, it's about askingquestions and listening, as
opposed to just givingdirectives.
Speaker 1 (18:06):
That is such a breath of fresh air.
I've worked a lot of differentplaces where you know that
micromanagement doesn't serve alot of people.
It doesn't serve anyone really.
It's stressful for the managersto feel like they need to be
that on top of their people andit's stressful for the people to
feel like they have to adhereto exactly what that person
wants and needs.
So it's not really servinganybody.
(18:27):
And you hired them for a reason.
You've screened them, you sawpotential, so let them fly.
A reason you know you'vescreened them.
You saw potential, so let themfly a little.
Speaker 2 (18:35):
Yeah, absolutely.
We have, um, we've participatedin mystery shopping for years
and years and years, Um and uh,our mystery shopping company.
I get a copy of all of theonsite shops in my inbox.
So of the 300 emails I get aday, that's one of them.
And when I have an onsite staffmember that hits a score of a
(18:56):
hundred or more cause you canearn bonus points, right, I
reach out to them and them alone.
I don't copy anybody and I justsay this is so outstanding.
You know, congratulations,Lauren, I'm so proud of you.
Keep it up Right.
And I think that goes a longway when you're trying to do,
you do it right, that someoneactually says thank you and
you're doing a good job.
This is a personal touch, thatpersonal message, Right, and we
(19:20):
forget that because sometimeswe're so busy doing, doing,
doing, we stop, we don't stopand say thank you.
That was terrific.
Speaker 1 (19:27):
I love that.
That's wonderful.
Well again, great mentorshipopportunities.
You're going to get probably100 DMs.
Hey, can you be my mentorplease?
On that note, a lot of ourlisteners always want to know if
they're newer in their career.
What do you think it takes toreally ask for those
opportunities that presentthemselves?
Speaker 2 (19:47):
or word level up, because the keynote is climbing
that ladder of success, wearingfour-inch heels right, and
leveling up to that next step.
One of the first things thatwe'll talk about is you've got
(20:07):
to show up, and you have to showup in a manner that people are
expecting you to right.
Showing up means you actuallydo dress the part, you are on
time right.
You do more listening than youdo talking, right.
We have a saying at work thatsays, oh, they radiated with
brilliance, meaning they justwent right and they didn't say a
(20:29):
word and they didn't answer thequestion.
Yeah, but initial steps in thecareer are just watch, look and
listen, right.
How much can you learn andabsorb from those around you?
You're already looking aroundto say, oh, I like that trait of
that person and I, ooh, I wantto get to know that person a
little bit more.
Now you have to have a basicskill set to do the job, but
(20:51):
what I'm talking about are thesoft skills that get you noticed
.
You, you volunteer foreverything, and there are plenty
of ways to volunteer, whetherit's a committee because we're
piloting a new program, orwhether it's a volunteer
committee for a charity afterhours.
Um, those are the first stepsthat you would take to level
that to level up when you'restarting on your career and you
(21:12):
latch on to someone who youthink can sponsor you and get
you where you need to go.
Speaker 1 (21:18):
Yeah, I love that and I think that those human skills
are going to be so important inthe future.
When we're talking about thingslike AI, automation all these
things coming in right, humanskills are going to be the new
value for everybody.
Right?
The ability?
And when you think about evenour site teams, they're the ones
(21:39):
that are interacting with theresidents in their home on a
daily basis.
So I've heard a lot of peoplesay that that is the first thing
I look for.
I barely even glance at theresume until I've seen that that
person can read a room, cantell when the resident comes in
who maybe doesn't want to bespoken to, just wants to go
about their business, but thenthe residents that want to sit
(22:00):
there and chat for an hour.
There's both.
We've all been on site.
We know how that works.
The ability to read people andhave those skills.
It's just beyond important inour industry.
Speaker 2 (22:12):
It absolutely is.
In our training new hire, neworientation training we actually
teach our leasing consultantshow to be a leasing consultant.
They go through intensivetraining leasing 101, leasing
102.
A big portion of that trainingis that initial connection.
How do you connect with thatperson that you don't know
anything about?
How do you read?
What do you you look for?
Where are the micro expressions?
(22:33):
What's their body languagesaying?
You know, and we do.
We teach them how to do that andmake that connection, because I
think that people live wherethey feel most comfortable.
It's not necessarily price,it's not necessary location,
it's.
It's like what maya angelouonce said right, people don't
remember what you said or whatyou did, but they will remember
(22:54):
how you made them feel.
And that's what our trainingdoes is really connect with that
resident.
Now there is a sect of ageneration out there that would
rather just lease online and nottalk to anybody.
We get that right.
So how we respond to that is bevery responsive in email or
(23:15):
text or DM or whatever the case.
However, they want tocommunicate with us.
That's their way of connecting.
But we teach all of thosedifferent methods.
Speaker 1 (23:22):
That's smart too, because you're listening.
They're telling you how theylike to be spoken to.
It's the best thing you can do.
I'm going through someleadership coaching right now
and they're saying that'sexactly what they say's just
tell people how you like to becommunicated with.
It's very simple.
Don't make them guess.
It's okay to you know.
Stand up for yourself.
I prefer to be texted or I liketo just be stopped when I'm
walking by.
I mean, everybody has apreference, right?
(23:43):
So, really smart.
So what are you excited with inthe future for a Western?
What's kind of on the forefront?
What's on the horizon?
What keeps you excited?
Speaker 2 (23:55):
So we are in expansion mode right now and
moving to other states wherewe've got agreements, penciling
agreements and that sort ofthing, and what that means for
us is we are not going to be thebiggest and the baddest.
We're not going to do that.
We're not going to be thesmallest either, but we have
created a culture where it's allabout the job right, it's all
(24:22):
about wanting to come to workbecause you know you're
appreciated and that what you docontributes to the overall
success of the company.
And it's slow expansion.
Anytime you do fast expansion,it doesn't necessarily work.
We don't want to make thosemistakes.
So that's all part of therebranding and the opportunity
for our team in the field wehave a program that our vice
(24:44):
president of training andmarketing created.
It's called LEAD and basicallyit's teaching our community
managers the next step and howto become efficient leaders, to
get to know everyone in thecorporate office, and so when
they take that next step they'vealready got a leg up, as it
were.
That's really what's on.
Obviously, we've got somealways looking at new
(25:07):
innovations no doubt about thatand software programs and that
sort of a thing, but for us thisexpansion just means more jobs
and we didn't lay anybody offduring the pandemic Not no one.
Speaker 1 (25:20):
I'm giving a round of applause for that one.
Speaker 2 (25:23):
That's incredible.
We kept and obviously you knowwe people left by attrition and
you know they moved out of stateor whatever, but I had
committed to them I think it wason March 20th that I'm going to
do everything I can to saveyour jobs, and we did.
And having done that, now it'slike okay, people have the
opportunity now to expand andlearn and grow, so that's what
we're doing.
Speaker 1 (25:42):
That's amazing.
Longevity, what a concept.
I mean amazing.
And how secure for yourassociates to just have that
feeling of they've got my back.
I'm not expendable.
I mean, you can't pay for thatkind of security, right, you
can't.
Speaker 2 (26:00):
You can't, in fact.
And there are people who leaveus only because, well, not only,
but let's just say that theywant more in a career.
So they will go to a competitorwhere they might just level up
immediately into a new position.
And we don't have thosepositions because people stay
with us and it's that tenurethat can kind of be that
(26:21):
double-edged sword, becauseeveryone loves what they're
doing and so the only way fornew opportunities is to expand,
bring on more clients, move intodifferent states, that sort of
a thing.
Speaker 1 (26:31):
And so now you're doing that.
Yes.
Speaker 2 (26:33):
For just that purpose .
Speaker 1 (26:35):
I love that.
It's listening, and it'slistening to your people and
what they need and trying tohold on to them and keep them
around, which is just reallyamazing.
Truly, how to value someone,yes, is to show them how you can
help them grow Amazing.
Well, we're very excited tohave you at the summit, to have
you as a keynote this year.
Is there anything else you wantto leave our audience with?
Speaker 2 (26:55):
as just a Well, if I had anything at all, I would
encourage everyone out there tosign up for the Multifamily
Women's Leadership Conference.
I'm super excited to be thereand bringing a team with me.
Having said that, there's somuch to learn, and one of the
(27:18):
things that you can never stoplearning and doing is connecting
with others, and this gives youan opportunity to do both right
, to create those connections,those lifetime relationships,
and so that's what.
That's what I'd like to sayPlease come, I can't wait, I'm
so excited.
Speaker 1 (27:35):
I'm excited for everybody attending.
Who's going to come up to youand say, please, mentor me.
Um, I, it might be me Anytime,honey, anytime.
Definitely going to be me.
I'm not going to lie.
Um, I just think you're, you'vehad an impressive career, you
have an impressive career andyou've accomplished so much, and
I'm just excited to see whatelse you do.
Speaker 2 (27:57):
Thank you so much, and so I've made a new friend
today.
Speaker 1 (27:59):
I know.
I mean, I feel like I know you.
I've known you for years.
That's how this industry works,though, isn't it?
So where can people find outmore about Western and if they
want to work with you, thosethose?
Speaker 2 (28:12):
pieces, okay, well, um, you can find us at wngcom,
and mine is one of two emailaddresses on the website, so I'm
I'm directly there, um, orwnpmapartmentscom, so that
they'll showcase all theapartments that we have right
now, and so that's where theycan find us.
Also, they can find us atduckslivingcom.
That's our recent strategicpartnership with the NHL and the
(28:37):
Anaheim Ducks hockey team.
Speaker 1 (28:40):
Okay, I was about to end the podcast but now I need
to understand.
Speaker 2 (28:44):
What is this?
What is this?
What is this?
So the Anaheim Ducks approachedus last year and said listen,
the NHL is allowing us topartner with people and put
their logo on our Ducks jersey,and are you interested in doing
that?
We thought, well, yes, butnobody knows our W.
(29:05):
You know, you?
Look at our W.
Who's that right?
Yeah, our W.
You look at our W.
Who's that right?
Except that what we had theopportunity to do was create a
website and a whole marketingcampaign and strategy around
Ducks Living, where you pop onduckslivingcom and it goes to
all of our apartment communitiesand you can rent an apartment
through Ducks Living and you getall kinds of Ducks swag right.
The Anaheim Ducks fans are.
(29:26):
They are wonderful fans andthey are crazy.
But you get, you know, thingslike a $300 gift card that buys
you a Jersey and that sort ofthing.
But the cool thing about that infact, we were just on late
night, keenan had a Jersey andwas showing our W, and so that
we just posted that on oursocial media.
(29:47):
Here's the real deal.
So, uh, during the first period, we are able to showcase, uh,
in the arena, our communities.
Um, the other thing, too, isthis partnership created for us
the ability to give away roughlya hundred thousand dollars a
year to a charitableorganization of our choice.
So, between the ducks andWestern national, western
(30:09):
National last year we actuallyaccumulated, through the wins
and that sort of a thing, ahundred thousand dollars.
We gave it to Laura's House,which is a domestic violence
agency in South County.
Yeah, it's an amazing thing.
So it's a three-year contractand it's a great, great
marketing strategy.
We get leases through it.
I mean it's just, it'swonderful.
Speaker 1 (30:29):
Everybody needs to do that.
They do.
Everybody needs to do that.
Yes, yeah, this is when we talkabout being creative.
You know, we talk aboutlocation, location.
Yeah, this is location,location, location.
Speaker 2 (30:40):
It is.
It is we know the actualdemographic of those fans who
attend and and if you've everbeen to a hockey game, there's
so much fun.
And we actually had our companykick off this year in the arena
.
We were able to rent out thearena just for us and we had a
couple of teams and Wild Wing,who's the mascot for the Ducks
(31:03):
they were there.
But we love the partnershipthat we've got with the Anaheim
Ducks and they're so creativeand they, too, are very
innovative and we've just had awonderful time.
So we have two more years ofthat and we're focused on that
as well.
Speaker 1 (31:15):
Okay, that's one of the coolest stories I've heard
and I your marketing, I'm, I'm,I'm a big fan, big fan.
You guys are doing incrediblethings.
We're very excited to have youat the summit.
(31:36):
We were so happy to have youhere today.
Yes, thank you.
We'll see you then, of course.
Okay, and thank you all forlistening, get your tickets for
the Women's Summit atmultifamilywomencom and we will
see you on the next episode.
Welcome back.
We are so excited to have anamazing guest here today, Laura
Corey.
She is the president of WesternNational Property Management.
She is a Multifamily InnovationCouncil member, as well as a
Women's Summit speaker, and shewill be our keynote this year.
We are so excited to have youhere today, Laura.
Speaker 2 (00:19):
Absolutely my pleasure, Lauren.
Thank you for inviting me.
Speaker 1 (00:21):
Of course.
And so what got you intomultifamily?
Speaker 2 (00:36):
I fell into it.
I answered a three-line ad inthe local newspaper in 1985.
The internet hadn't beeninvented yet, right, and so the
way that you found jobs wasthrough the classified ads.
And I answered the ad, I got aninterview and I was hired 20
minutes into it as a gal Friday.
That was my job title.
I know they don't have thoseanymore.
What is that?
It was a fancy name for gopherfile clerk.
(00:56):
Just do whatever is asked of me.
You go to the bank, you makedeposits, you type a letter on
an IBM Selectric typewriter andif you want copies you had to
put carbon paper in.
If you made a mistake, god helpyou.
And so that was what I washired to do.
As a gal Friday, I was workingfor the office manager, and
(01:17):
three months into my employment,the secretary because that's
what they were called in thosedays was let go for the then
president and he decided hewanted me and he called me Linda
.
For the next three months Ijust answered to anything you
know, and I was his secretary.
(01:39):
Fast forward, I don't know,about a year or so and I become
the office manager and I'm theworst boss you could ever ever
imagine.
You know, I've got three people.
I've got no leadershipexperience and I've got the mail
clerk and I've got thereceptionist right and I've got
the I think the loan payment galright was working for me and so
long and short of it I've had alot of people help me along the
(02:01):
way, a lot of mentors.
I didn't recognize it at thetime but I became a vice
president in 1996 overoperations, and so I come from
the inside out of propertymanagement, corporate office,
that sort of a thing, and thentook on all kinds of
responsibilities.
Human resources, riskmanagement created the risk
(02:22):
management department originallybecause it didn't exist back
then.
We were a small firm at thetime we had about 5,000 units,
maybe 500 people maybe, andtoday we've grown to about a
thousand people and 23,000 unitsall in.
But again, I fell into it andeverything I learned I learned
(02:45):
on the job, Sought educationwhen I needed to right.
And sometimes in your career,when you're with a company for
so long and in case you werecalculating that'd be 39 years,
you have that written you haveto stop and reflect and if your
(03:06):
path is going down a path thatyou're not happy with, you go
out and you get extra education,and I did that in California
and I'm sure it is with everystate.
But you have to become a brokerif you want to manage for third
parties and that sort of thing,and I had applied for a
position that I didn't getinternally and that just
propelled me to go out and getmy education.
And, of course, today,companies utilizing my broker's
(03:27):
license right.
Never knew that at the time,wow, but I became the president
in 2010.
And that was after running ourmultifamily ancillary division
where we sold renter's insurance.
I've been an insurance agent,we did utility billing, so I've
had this expansive experiencewith Western and again I fell
(03:49):
into it.
But it wasn't until later on inmy career that I was exposed to
all these different people,these different ways of
leadership, and I am a productof bad bosses, right.
I just know that I was notgoing to do what was done to me,
if that makes any sense at all,absolutely.
Speaker 1 (04:06):
That's how we learn, isn't it?
Yes, true, I mean, we're alljust kind of fumbling our way
through, trying to.
You know, we talked about this.
I did the same thing.
I jumped around HR, training,when do I fit?
What's my skillset?
And that's how we learn.
It's just trial and error.
Speaker 2 (04:22):
It is, and what I loved best about that career
climb was the HR, the training,the risk management, the dealing
with people.
We have a joke If it weren'tfor people we wouldn't have any
problems.
But working with people wasprobably the best blessing I've
ever had at Western.
Speaker 1 (04:40):
Yeah, yeah.
And obviously you're probably amentor to many now, I would
imagine, because, having beengiven mentorship which to me in
my career, that was the bestthing that could have happened
was somebody to mentor methrough a lot of that.
I think you are the perfectperson to be mentoring people.
So do you mentor people?
I do.
Speaker 2 (04:59):
Yes, I do, and I think it is incumbent upon any
leader that has gained any typeof status, even as you're
starting out, if you have thatfirst title or that first
responsibility, that it isimportant that you impart that
wisdom on anyone who wants tolearn.
You can't do it for everybodybecause they don't, but, yes, my
door is always open to whoeverwants to come in and mentor with
(05:21):
me.
We'll take an hour that kind ofa thing and our CEO does the
same thing.
We mentor all of the officers.
And again, the mentoring is notyou need to do it this way.
Mentoring is about askingquestions.
So how do you see it?
What do you think is the rightthing to do?
It's so funny you say that itis.
I know that nobody really wantsto talk about the pandemic
(05:42):
anymore.
We're kind of done with that,but it was during the pandemic
that the mentorship really cameout for us.
We're all segregated.
We are an essential business.
I have my site teams out there,and how do you stay connected
to them?
Right, I started sending out adaily email to each and every
(06:03):
one of them, right, sending outa daily email to each and every
one of them.
And it started out with.
Here's the new evictionmoratorium law for Ventura
County and here's the one forSanta Ana, and here's the
frequently asked questions thatwe have now uploaded on our
intranet.
But then, after a while, therewas no more legislation to talk
about, and that's when Idiscovered memes.
I didn't know what a meme wasbefore 2020.
(06:26):
I, you know, I didn't know.
Yeah, and then, every day, for587 days, I sent out an email to
the entire team about life,about here, funny memes, you
know, and they were all likethemed.
Right yeah, it was.
It was great, because whathappened was the team members
(06:47):
all the way down to ourentry-level porters, would email
me back about what I said, thatsort of a thing.
The CEO, mike Cate, who alsohappens to be my husband, wasn't
about to be undone and he wouldsend out a daily video to
everybody.
He would go search in theinternet and find videos, and
he's kind of an old rock androller, right yeah, I love that
kind of a thing.
(07:07):
And so that's how we kept ourculture and still mentored with
people, even though it wasthrough Zoom, but that's how we
kept our culture.
Speaker 1 (07:16):
That's incredible.
I mean.
I think a lot of people had toget creative at that time.
Really, I mean, you think aboutit.
We talk about this a lot.
Where you're, we're verysuccessful, Our companies are
very successful, so we haven'treally felt the need to
necessarily innovate very muchuntil you're forced to.
Yes, and COVID was the perfectexample of that right For the
pandemic, everybody's kind ofscrambling to innovate all of a
(07:38):
sudden because we have to.
So one of the things I likeabout about your company is that
you guys seem very innovativealready without having to have a
pandemic to be able to makethose changes.
You're part of the council andyou're also attending the
summits this year, which isamazing.
So what innovations is WesternNational Property Management
(08:03):
doing that you're excited about?
Speaker 2 (08:06):
So I think we have three major strategies for this
year.
The first is that we'reactually replacing our LMS.
So we've had a learningmanagement system in place for a
while and it's grown antiquatedand hasn't kept up with our
needs, and so we're literallygoing to flip that switch next
week on a new system which ismore intuitive and much easier
(08:30):
to utilize.
I'm trying to think I can'trecall the exact number, but
something close to 20,000classes a year between all of
our associates and what theytake.
It can be live.
It could be online learning attheir own pace.
It could be via Teams or Zoomfor orientation it depends but
we've got all those modalitiesin this new system.
(08:51):
That's a big deal, because thatrequires collaboration from I
can't tell you how manydepartments are working on that.
It's a team effort, groupeffort, Absolutely.
The next thing that we areworking on is the fact that we
are actually rebranding ourimage.
Western has been around for 65years and while we're proud of
(09:11):
that number you hear that numberyou go, wow, you're really old.
You're old.
Thank God the company is olderthan I am, but we've had a very
conservative look and you couldalways count on it.
And now it's time to take afresh look at that, Because we
have grown with the times.
But you can't tell by ourwebsite.
So we're working on that.
(09:32):
It'll come out probably in thenext, maybe 30 days or so.
That's another one thatrequires a ton of collaboration
between all departments torepresent them and what they
want to share with everyone.
Speaker 1 (09:43):
I love.
You really want to be in thatroom.
I love rebrand.
I get all excited about it.
Speaker 2 (09:48):
Yes, yes, and we've got.
You know, we have our.
We have colors or like aPantone 34, blue and you know,
and a gray, and like no, no, no,no.
There's no reason we can'tutilize colors like these.
And, you know, get a little bitimaginative, maybe we'll be
your inspiration.
You are absolutely myinspiration.
Speaker 1 (10:04):
Feel free to run it by me, because this is totally
my thing, I love it Well,amazing.
And being part of the counciltoo, do you feel like there's a
lot of innovations that youbring to your team, or that
you're kind of getting out ofthat that you're bringing back
to your group?
Speaker 2 (10:20):
Right now, because I'm fairly new to the council, I
love sitting back and watchingothers.
Again, as a mature organization, we've been through some of
this.
I never want to come across asyou know.
I know what I'm doing and youdon't, right, so I just listen
to the dialogue and what's beingsaid and I'll pop in if I feel
I can be helpful.
Having said that, though, whatI've taken back't see it, um, on
(10:45):
the board, but it was the normstorm reform.
We were talking about it acouple of weeks ago, and if I've
misquoted I apologize, but I'mwriting it down.
You know furiously and I mean Ilove that, um, I love about
hearing what other people aredoing.
Right, and because you knowwhat, you take a little bit from
everyone that you meet, um andmake it your own.
Speaker 1 (11:07):
That's totally right, and every company is different.
Yes, we respect that.
We, you know, we own that, andwe pick the pieces that work for
us and we breeze by the piecesthat don't.
I love that, and so you are nowalso going to be our keynote at
the Women's Summit this year.
Speaker 2 (11:22):
So very excited.
Speaker 1 (11:24):
What are you going to be talking about, or what gets
you excited about, being a partof the Women's Summit this year,
so very excited.
What are you going to betalking about, or what gets you
excited about, being a part ofthe Women's Summit this?
Speaker 2 (11:28):
year.
So I said earlier that when Ifirst learned about this I
didn't know that it existed, andsince that time I actually
attended a women's conferencejust a couple of weeks ago.
What I loved about it was theenergy and the vibe in the room.
And I didn't.
I just didn't know that thatexisted.
But for this particular one, notonly am I honored to be
(11:50):
presenting a keynote, but again,it goes back to when you reach
a certain level to impart whatyou've learned on others who
want to learn it, and I'm happyto share that story.
And that story is full of a tonof stumbles and falls and
mistakes and embarrassments.
Is full of a ton of stumblesand falls and mistakes and
embarrassments.
And I think people can relateto someone who's vulnerable and
willing to say, yeah, I totallyscrewed up.
(12:12):
I was the worst boss ever backin 1987.
You would not have wanted towork for me.
Because what I think makespeople want more out of their
lives is to see what otherpeople have done and to say, oh,
wow, they're human, that we'reall human, we all make mistakes
and you know what?
There's hope for all of us.
Speaker 1 (12:32):
I love that.
If you don't mind me askingwhat are some of those mistakes
that you've learned from as aleader or rising leaders right
now?
What would they want to hear?
That maybe learn from mistakesyou've made or wins you've had?
Speaker 2 (12:47):
I think when the first ones I've ever made and
it's so old and every singleperson in the company knows this
three months into my employment, so back in 1985, there's no
orientation period, there's nopre-employment testing, there's
no HR department, there'snothing right.
And it was the Friday beforeFourth of of July weekend and,
(13:07):
um, the boyfriend I was seeingdumped me.
And you know what?
I had nothing to do.
And so for Friday lunch I tooktwo other girls and we went
around the corner to the littleseven 11 and we bought ourselves
a four pack of Bartles andJames and I don't think they
sell that anymore, the winespritzers is what that was and
so for lunch we each had one.
We just had a liquid lunch andwe came back to the office, we
(13:29):
had one left over, and at breaktime later in the afternoon we
didn't want to drink it in thebreak room because we didn't
have to share with everybody, sowe took it in the bathroom, the
ladies' restroom In walks, aregional manager at the time and
she said oh boy, okay, wouldyou like some?
And she said no, no, no.
And my date used to be Ripple.
We had no idea what that was.
(13:49):
Well, she leaves and she goesand she tells my boss that the
girls are drinking in thebathroom during working hours on
a Friday afternoon before 4thof July weekend.
My other boss was the officemanager.
She was on vacation.
She came back two weeks laterand we immediately get called
into her office at 830 in themorning and we got grilled why
(14:12):
were you drinking on the job?
I'm like, okay, I didn't know,we couldn't you know.
And later that day a memo wastyped up and put on everyone's
desk.
Remember, no internet, sonothing coming in the inbox,
right?
And I am responsible for the noalcohol policy at our company.
How hilarious I just I am.
Who knew?
(14:33):
Now, I survived that and that'sthe whole point of the story.
Okay, I made a mistake.
I was 24 years old.
Who knew it was allembarrassing?
But I lived through it and ifit's okay to accept what you do
as mistakes, you're going to befine.
Sometimes we can't live withthat embarrassment.
(14:53):
We want to be the victim.
No, I did that one all bymyself.
And here I am today to tell youthe story.
So that was one of the firstmistakes public mistakes I ever
made.
Speaker 1 (15:02):
Yeah, I love that.
Well, you don't think about it,you know.
You might think hey, it's lunch, I'm on my break, right, I can
have, you know, a glass of wine.
I can't.
I'm a lightweight.
If I have one glass of wine,everybody knows.
But if you can do that normally, you know.
So that's hilarious, first andforemost.
(15:23):
But thank you for sharing thatwith us.
No, you're welcome, it's just agreat story.
Speaker 2 (15:28):
Thank you, but it's stumbling along the way and
making mistakes and if you learnfrom them and you're not afraid
to talk about them to otherpeople, right?
Yeah, I think that helps otherslearn.
They're always going to have togo through their own
experiences, but I think it'sgood to know that other people
make mistakes too and theysurvive it.
Speaker 1 (15:48):
Yeah, you said something really compelling
earlier that made me thinkyou're just an amazing leader
and you probably don't even knowyou said it but the best boss I
ever had.
I came into her office.
I was her assistant at the time.
I had a problem and I broughtit to her, but I didn't bring
her solutions or optionaloptions and she just looked at
me like just blank stare and Ithought, you know, like the
(16:12):
scene in Pirates of theCaribbean when he paints eyes on
his eyes and he's actuallyasleep and you don't really know
.
You're like hello.
She did that to me.
She just blank stared at me andI kind of panicked and I just
started solutioning live infront of her.
I was like, well, I guess Icould do this or I could do this
or I could, okay.
And I came up with my ownsolution and I walked out of her
office and I was like that wasintentional, it was 100%
(16:40):
intentional.
And you you had said what doyou think we should do?
And you're immediately handingsomeone back their power and
saying if you're going to be aleader, you're going to have to
take it a little bit further andcome up with some possible
solutions and then bring that tothe group Right.
Yes, it's so smart.
Speaker 2 (16:53):
So in multifamily, you know we live vicariously
through what happens on site andwe could all write a book about
the goings on and the problemsand the issues and the
catastrophes that come up Withmy team.
I am not a micromanager.
They have.
They know that one of the firstrules of thumb, it's a cardinal
rule.
If it's have, um, they knowthat one of the first rules of
thumb, it's a cardinal rule.
If it's fire, flood or blood,they just report it.
(17:15):
They don't have to have thesolution, they don't have to
have.
You know how, what happened.
You know if it's going to benewsworthy, if you know media is
going to show up, you know wejust have to know at the
executive committee level, right, and then I give them.
(17:38):
I've been through that, I'vehad that position, but it's up
to them to figure it out.
And they come to me and my jobis to provide them the resources
of what they need, not to givethem the answers.
There are times when thetoughest questions, the hardest
situations, they come all theway up and you have to decide
what to do.
But for the most part my teamis so capable of they know what
to do, they've got it handled.
I try not to second guess them.
(17:59):
So yes, it's about askingquestions and listening, as
opposed to just givingdirectives.
Speaker 1 (18:06):
That is such a breath of fresh air.
I've worked a lot of differentplaces where you know that
micromanagement doesn't serve alot of people.
It doesn't serve anyone really.
It's stressful for the managersto feel like they need to be
that on top of their people andit's stressful for the people to
feel like they have to adhereto exactly what that person
wants and needs.
So it's not really servinganybody.
(18:27):
And you hired them for a reason.
You've screened them, you sawpotential, so let them fly.
A reason you know you'vescreened them.
You saw potential, so let themfly a little.
Speaker 2 (18:35):
Yeah, absolutely.
We have, um, we've participatedin mystery shopping for years
and years and years, Um and uh,our mystery shopping company.
I get a copy of all of theonsite shops in my inbox.
So of the 300 emails I get aday, that's one of them.
And when I have an onsite staffmember that hits a score of a
(18:56):
hundred or more cause you canearn bonus points, right, I
reach out to them and them alone.
I don't copy anybody and I justsay this is so outstanding.
You know, congratulations,Lauren, I'm so proud of you.
Keep it up Right.
And I think that goes a longway when you're trying to do,
you do it right, that someoneactually says thank you and
you're doing a good job.
This is a personal touch, thatpersonal message, Right, and we
(19:20):
forget that because sometimeswe're so busy doing, doing,
doing, we stop, we don't stopand say thank you.
That was terrific.
Speaker 1 (19:27):
I love that.
That's wonderful.
Well again, great mentorshipopportunities.
You're going to get probably100 DMs.
Hey, can you be my mentorplease?
On that note, a lot of ourlisteners always want to know if
they're newer in their career.
What do you think it takes toreally ask for those
opportunities that presentthemselves?
Speaker 2 (19:47):
or word level up, because the keynote is climbing
that ladder of success, wearingfour-inch heels right, and
leveling up to that next step.
One of the first things thatwe'll talk about is you've got
(20:07):
to show up, and you have to showup in a manner that people are
expecting you to right.
Showing up means you actuallydo dress the part, you are on
time right.
You do more listening than youdo talking, right.
We have a saying at work thatsays, oh, they radiated with
brilliance, meaning they justwent right and they didn't say a
(20:29):
word and they didn't answer thequestion.
Yeah, but initial steps in thecareer are just watch, look and
listen, right.
How much can you learn andabsorb from those around you?
You're already looking aroundto say, oh, I like that trait of
that person and I, ooh, I wantto get to know that person a
little bit more.
Now you have to have a basicskill set to do the job, but
(20:51):
what I'm talking about are thesoft skills that get you noticed
.
You, you volunteer foreverything, and there are plenty
of ways to volunteer, whetherit's a committee because we're
piloting a new program, orwhether it's a volunteer
committee for a charity afterhours.
Um, those are the first stepsthat you would take to level
that to level up when you'restarting on your career and you
(21:12):
latch on to someone who youthink can sponsor you and get
you where you need to go.
Speaker 1 (21:18):
Yeah, I love that and I think that those human skills
are going to be so important inthe future.
When we're talking about thingslike AI, automation all these
things coming in right, humanskills are going to be the new
value for everybody.
Right?
The ability?
And when you think about evenour site teams, they're the ones
(21:39):
that are interacting with theresidents in their home on a
daily basis.
So I've heard a lot of peoplesay that that is the first thing
I look for.
I barely even glance at theresume until I've seen that that
person can read a room, cantell when the resident comes in
who maybe doesn't want to bespoken to, just wants to go
about their business, but thenthe residents that want to sit
(22:00):
there and chat for an hour.
There's both.
We've all been on site.
We know how that works.
The ability to read people andhave those skills.
It's just beyond important inour industry.
Speaker 2 (22:12):
It absolutely is.
In our training new hire, neworientation training we actually
teach our leasing consultantshow to be a leasing consultant.
They go through intensivetraining leasing 101, leasing
102.
A big portion of that trainingis that initial connection.
How do you connect with thatperson that you don't know
anything about?
How do you read?
What do you you look for?
Where are the micro expressions?
(22:33):
What's their body languagesaying?
You know, and we do.
We teach them how to do that andmake that connection, because I
think that people live wherethey feel most comfortable.
It's not necessarily price,it's not necessary location,
it's.
It's like what maya angelouonce said right, people don't
remember what you said or whatyou did, but they will remember
(22:54):
how you made them feel.
And that's what our trainingdoes is really connect with that
resident.
Now there is a sect of ageneration out there that would
rather just lease online and nottalk to anybody.
We get that right.
So how we respond to that is bevery responsive in email or
(23:15):
text or DM or whatever the case.
However, they want tocommunicate with us.
That's their way of connecting.
But we teach all of thosedifferent methods.
Speaker 1 (23:22):
That's smart too, because you're listening.
They're telling you how theylike to be spoken to.
It's the best thing you can do.
I'm going through someleadership coaching right now
and they're saying that'sexactly what they say's just
tell people how you like to becommunicated with.
It's very simple.
Don't make them guess.
It's okay to you know.
Stand up for yourself.
I prefer to be texted or I liketo just be stopped when I'm
walking by.
I mean, everybody has apreference, right?
(23:43):
So, really smart.
So what are you excited with inthe future for a Western?
What's kind of on the forefront?
What's on the horizon?
What keeps you excited?
Speaker 2 (23:55):
So we are in expansion mode right now and
moving to other states wherewe've got agreements, penciling
agreements and that sort ofthing, and what that means for
us is we are not going to be thebiggest and the baddest.
We're not going to do that.
We're not going to be thesmallest either, but we have
created a culture where it's allabout the job right, it's all
(24:22):
about wanting to come to workbecause you know you're
appreciated and that what you docontributes to the overall
success of the company.
And it's slow expansion.
Anytime you do fast expansion,it doesn't necessarily work.
We don't want to make thosemistakes.
So that's all part of therebranding and the opportunity
for our team in the field wehave a program that our vice
(24:44):
president of training andmarketing created.
It's called LEAD and basicallyit's teaching our community
managers the next step and howto become efficient leaders, to
get to know everyone in thecorporate office, and so when
they take that next step they'vealready got a leg up, as it
were.
That's really what's on.
Obviously, we've got somealways looking at new
(25:07):
innovations no doubt about thatand software programs and that
sort of a thing, but for us thisexpansion just means more jobs
and we didn't lay anybody offduring the pandemic Not no one.
Speaker 1 (25:20):
I'm giving a round of applause for that one.
Speaker 2 (25:23):
That's incredible.
We kept and obviously you knowwe people left by attrition and
you know they moved out of stateor whatever, but I had
committed to them I think it wason March 20th that I'm going to
do everything I can to saveyour jobs, and we did.
And having done that, now it'slike okay, people have the
opportunity now to expand andlearn and grow, so that's what
we're doing.
Speaker 1 (25:42):
That's amazing.
Longevity, what a concept.
I mean amazing.
And how secure for yourassociates to just have that
feeling of they've got my back.
I'm not expendable.
I mean, you can't pay for thatkind of security, right, you
can't.
Speaker 2 (26:00):
You can't, in fact.
And there are people who leaveus only because, well, not only,
but let's just say that theywant more in a career.
So they will go to a competitorwhere they might just level up
immediately into a new position.
And we don't have thosepositions because people stay
with us and it's that tenurethat can kind of be that
(26:21):
double-edged sword, becauseeveryone loves what they're
doing and so the only way fornew opportunities is to expand,
bring on more clients, move intodifferent states, that sort of
a thing.
Speaker 1 (26:31):
And so now you're doing that.
Yes.
Speaker 2 (26:33):
For just that purpose .
Speaker 1 (26:35):
I love that.
It's listening, and it'slistening to your people and
what they need and trying tohold on to them and keep them
around, which is just reallyamazing.
Truly, how to value someone,yes, is to show them how you can
help them grow Amazing.
Well, we're very excited tohave you at the summit, to have
you as a keynote this year.
Is there anything else you wantto leave our audience with?
Speaker 2 (26:55):
as just a Well, if I had anything at all, I would
encourage everyone out there tosign up for the Multifamily
Women's Leadership Conference.
I'm super excited to be thereand bringing a team with me.
Having said that, there's somuch to learn, and one of the
(27:18):
things that you can never stoplearning and doing is connecting
with others, and this gives youan opportunity to do both right
, to create those connections,those lifetime relationships,
and so that's what.
That's what I'd like to sayPlease come, I can't wait, I'm
so excited.
Speaker 1 (27:35):
I'm excited for everybody attending.
Who's going to come up to youand say, please, mentor me.
Um, I, it might be me Anytime,honey, anytime.
Definitely going to be me.
I'm not going to lie.
Um, I just think you're, you'vehad an impressive career, you
have an impressive career andyou've accomplished so much, and
I'm just excited to see whatelse you do.
Speaker 2 (27:57):
Thank you so much, and so I've made a new friend
today.
Speaker 1 (27:59):
I know.
I mean, I feel like I know you.
I've known you for years.
That's how this industry works,though, isn't it?
So where can people find outmore about Western and if they
want to work with you, thosethose?
Speaker 2 (28:12):
pieces, okay, well, um, you can find us at wngcom,
and mine is one of two emailaddresses on the website, so I'm
I'm directly there, um, orwnpmapartmentscom, so that
they'll showcase all theapartments that we have right
now, and so that's where theycan find us.
Also, they can find us atduckslivingcom.
That's our recent strategicpartnership with the NHL and the
(28:37):
Anaheim Ducks hockey team.
Speaker 1 (28:40):
Okay, I was about to end the podcast but now I need
to understand.
Speaker 2 (28:44):
What is this?
What is this?
What is this?
So the Anaheim Ducks approachedus last year and said listen,
the NHL is allowing us topartner with people and put
their logo on our Ducks jersey,and are you interested in doing
that?
We thought, well, yes, butnobody knows our W.
(29:05):
You know, you?
Look at our W.
Who's that right?
Yeah, our W.
You look at our W.
Who's that right?
Except that what we had theopportunity to do was create a
website and a whole marketingcampaign and strategy around
Ducks Living, where you pop onduckslivingcom and it goes to
all of our apartment communitiesand you can rent an apartment
through Ducks Living and you getall kinds of Ducks swag right.
The Anaheim Ducks fans are.
(29:26):
They are wonderful fans andthey are crazy.
But you get, you know, thingslike a $300 gift card that buys
you a Jersey and that sort ofthing.
But the cool thing about that infact, we were just on late
night, keenan had a Jersey andwas showing our W, and so that
we just posted that on oursocial media.
(29:47):
Here's the real deal.
So, uh, during the first period, we are able to showcase, uh,
in the arena, our communities.
Um, the other thing, too, isthis partnership created for us
the ability to give away roughlya hundred thousand dollars a
year to a charitableorganization of our choice.
So, between the ducks andWestern national, western
(30:09):
National last year we actuallyaccumulated, through the wins
and that sort of a thing, ahundred thousand dollars.
We gave it to Laura's House,which is a domestic violence
agency in South County.
Yeah, it's an amazing thing.
So it's a three-year contractand it's a great, great
marketing strategy.
We get leases through it.
I mean it's just, it'swonderful.
Speaker 1 (30:29):
Everybody needs to do that.
They do.
Everybody needs to do that.
Yes, yeah, this is when we talkabout being creative.
You know, we talk aboutlocation, location.
Yeah, this is location,location, location.
Speaker 2 (30:40):
It is.
It is we know the actualdemographic of those fans who
attend and and if you've everbeen to a hockey game, there's
so much fun.
And we actually had our companykick off this year in the arena
.
We were able to rent out thearena just for us and we had a
couple of teams and Wild Wing,who's the mascot for the Ducks
(31:03):
they were there.
But we love the partnershipthat we've got with the Anaheim
Ducks and they're so creativeand they, too, are very
innovative and we've just had awonderful time.
So we have two more years ofthat and we're focused on that
as well.
Speaker 1 (31:15):
Okay, that's one of the coolest stories I've heard
and I your marketing, I'm, I'm,I'm a big fan, big fan.
You guys are doing incrediblethings.
We're very excited to have youat the summit.
(31:36):
We were so happy to have youhere today.
Yes, thank you.
We'll see you then, of course.
Okay, and thank you all forlistening, get your tickets for
the Women's Summit atmultifamilywomencom and we will
see you on the next episode.
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