The Four Pillars of Mediocrity In The Mortgage Industry
Organizational and individual mediocrity rests upon the following four pillars:
- Deniability - “I tried, (asked), but they (investor, agency, regulator, management, etc…) decided, created, commanded or blocked. Not my fault.”
- Helplessness –“My boss won’t let me. How can I make a living when it takes 45 days to process a loan?”
- Contempt – “They don’t pay me enough to put up with the likes of these idiots (borrowers, loan originators, underwriters, etc…).”
- Fear – “It’s not good enough, it’s not worth the risk, I’ll appear stupid and dumb, people will talk, this might not work…”
Over the past few years, the mortgage industry experienced complex wide-reaching, and in some cases, game changing regulatory and compliance changes. In turn, it fostered fear and out of that fear, greater amounts of mediocrity emerged
The good news about fear is that once you see it, feel it and dance with it, you have a huge opportunity, the chance to make it better.
I love what the legendary boxing trainer Cus D’Amato, had to say about how approaching fear.
“Fear is the greatest obstacle to learning. But fear is your best friend. Fear is like fire. If you learn to control it, you let it work for you. If you don’t learn to control it, it’ll destroy you and everything around you.“
“You think you know the difference between a hero and a coward, Mike? Well, there is no difference between a hero and a coward in what they feel. It’s what they do that makes them different. The hero and the coward feel exactly the same, but you have to have the discipline to do what a hero does and to keep yourself from doing what the coward does.”
I make it my business to know the top producing mortgage producers throughout the country. In fact, I’m recruiting a lot of them. Long story short, too often they are frustrated, at their wits’ end about the company they currently work for, and readily acknowledge making the switch to my company makes sense. However, the fear of change prevents or drastically delays them from leaving.
Do you think mediocrity is preventing you from reaching your true potential?