Hawaii Life: How Do You Define Success?

How do you define success? If you run your own business, are in sales, or are responsible for your company’s bottom line, you may define success by numbers, rankings, and your net profit, understandably so. But, that is not the only measure of success. At least not in my book.

Beyond Numbers

When I went looking to align with a company, it’s true that market share and market savvy were high on my list of must haves. It’s also true that high tech, stellar systems, and state-of-the-art marketing tools were non-negotiables. I wanted a good brand and a local company, and frankly, rankings and numbers didn’t really matter that much to me. They still don’t.

Here’s the thing – if your numbers are great, but your people aren’t, then by my definition, you aren’t successful. Great people make great companies and great companies make great people. In my book, culture is everything. And, how you treat people matters. A lot.

Evaluating Your Workplace Culture

How’s the culture where you work? Do you feel valued? Engaged? Does your workplace encourage growth? Is there mutual respect and trust? A company with a positive culture encourages the well-being of its people – people who collectively share common goals. People who feel seen, heard, and valued.  Without mutual respect, a shared vision, and great leadership, I don’t think a company is successful, even if the numbers tell a different story.

Celebrating Success: Numbers and Beyond

When it comes to numbers, Hawaii Life is hard to beat. Recently, we were acknowledged in the Pacific Business News for being #2 in the state. Granted, numbers don’t mean much to me, but the people behind the numbers do, starting with our CEO, Matt Beall. Take a look at his response to the PBN rankings:

“I’m sharing this mostly to acknowledge all of you for such stellar work. Many of you know that it’s not exactly a “goal” of ours to be a number on lists like this – our approach is far more organized around doing our best work on behalf of our clients and then letting those results speak for themselves. (Even in 2022, when we were the top firm in the state, we weren’t exactly out there screaming “#1!” from the hilltops – it’s just not our style.)”

I love our quiet strength and our emphasis on doing good work. Selling $1.75 billion of real estate in one of the most challenging years in residential real estate is definitely remarkable, but not as remarkable as who we are as people – people committed to serving our clients and communities well.

As I write this – we’re currently outselling every other residential firm YTD – but, as impressive as that might be, what impresses me more is a culture where people are treated with respect and dignity and where differences are not only tolerated, but embraced.

Leadership and Collective Effort

Culture is important and it starts with good leadership, but it also begins with a collective group of people who are willing to listen, change, grow, and influence those around them for the better good. In work – and in life – we have a choice. We can be people who simply register the temperature of a room, or we can change it. And, that’s what we do. We change it for the better as we come together in a spirit of cooperation and unity.

Hawaii Life is not a perfect company and we aren’t perfect people. But, if you define success the way I do, we are successful. And, it’s not because of our numbers. We are successful because we are a collective of good people doing good work for the good of those we serve.