Authenticity

Let’s face it, businesses can pump-out a mind-numbing volume of corporate propaganda. But if you’re anything like me, I’ve found words are often of little consequence. As the CEO of a large enterprise, I tend to pay much more attention to the follow through on the statements made…it’s the actions behind the words that are important to me. While I find that much is written and said on the topic of accountability and transparency, I also find that few organizations put tangible practices into play to support the plethora of rhetoric and management speak currently in circulation.

 
As a CEO, I can tell you that the market is crying out for corporate accountability and transparency, and I for one, believe the demands of the market to be an implicit fiduciary responsibility of corporate stewards of the public trust. The good news is that with regard to what I’m about to share below, the preceding statements are more than just the typical rhetoric I’ve been protesting against in today’s post.

The more I have participated in social media by blogging and tweeting, the more I am convinced of  the value of engaging our stakeholders in a very public forum. It is the social proofing, the third party validation if you will, of our efforts by employees, clients, investors and partners that is the most meaningful to me as chief executive.

It is for these reasons that I have not only committed our organization to a 100% adoption rate of social media, but that I’m also announcing the first of a two phase process to ensure that our performance can be publicly rated by those constituencies we serve.  Phase one is an internal peer review tool which we refer to as our Advisor Rating System. This web based tool allows our advisors to comment on, and rate each others performance in terms of adherance to core covenants, brand guidelines, client service, etc. The Advisor Rating System is now live and functioning and insures that our team members are now accoutable to one another in a very visible manner.

Phase two will be expanding the scope of the Advisor Rating System in 2010 to allow our clients, partners and competitors to rate our performance in a completely public forum. We fully intend to walk the talk of accountablity and transparency by being the first commercial real estate brokerage firm to subject themselves to this level of public feeback. We have long been proud of our corporate ethics and core values, but know it’s time to put our money where our mouth has been. We will move valuing our own feedback, and set the chinning bar for the rest of the industry, by seeking social proof from those outside the Sperry Van Ness organization.

 
At Sperry Van Ness, we have long belived in aligning our technology initiatives with our core values and business practices. We invite your comments now, and as we continue this journey together.