Unfortunately, we had to call a by-election to complete our complement of brokers on the 2017 board of directors. Nominations are now open and this is your chance to put forward the name of a broker who has strong leadership skills and the time to commit to this opportunity – the ultimate organized real estate volunteer experience. 

I call it unfortunate to have to run a by-election because we just completed our annual election process, but didn’t have enough broker candidates to fill our vacancies.

Our bylaws require at least three of our directors to be associates and three to be brokers. The challenge is we have less than 250 brokers, as defined by our bylaws, and over 5,000 agents, which means we have a very small pool of brokers to draw leaders from to fill the spot.

Of course, this is not to suggest that we have unqualified brokers in our midst—quite the opposite. Many of our brokers are very involved in other leadership activities, not to mention the challenges of running a brokerage day-in and day-out.

There are countless pressures on a broker—I know from personal experience. In reality, in some instances, serving on the board of directors may not necessarily be good for business. 

In an ideal world, everyone serves for the best of reasons and peers support that effort. But, the competitive business challenges that our brokers face are real and, in some cases, enough to keep some brilliant people on the sidelines.

Perhaps the time has come to amend our bylaws, remove the minimum number of brokers and associates, and complete the transition to a “best person” philosophy. 

The evolution of the skill sets that our members possess has changed dramatically since the time, not so long ago, when only brokers served on the board of directors. The sense then was brokers were best positioned to lead the business affairs of your association. 

We now have an incredibly well-educated and widely experienced membership of agents and associate-brokers.  The best of which, if they are willing, should be on your ballot. 

What are your thoughts?