The best leadership lesson I’ve learned: people don’t follow what you say, they follow what you do.
Modeling Matters — in Parenting and in Business
I just finished reading Parenting with Love and Logic and as a dad of three young daughters, I’m always looking for ways to be a better parent.
Going into the book, I’ll admit — I was hoping to find the magic words. You know, the silver bullet for getting kids to listen, cooperate, and grow into responsible adults.
And while there are definitely some useful techniques and ways to ask questions or set boundaries, the biggest theme that stood out to me was this:
👉 Kids do what their parents do.
They don’t just listen to what we say — they watch how we live.
If I lose my patience over small things, what am I teaching them about emotional control? If my room is a mess, how can I expect them to keep theirs clean? If I’m careless with my commitments, why should I expect them to be reliable?
The book reminded me that the most powerful way to parent isn’t through words — it’s through example.
And the more I thought about it, the more I realized this applies directly to how we run 1-800-BUY-HOUSES and what we stand for with The Perfect Cash Offer™.
In real estate — especially in the world of cash offers — there’s often a gap between how people say they do business and how they actually do it. Too often, buyers make offers they can’t close on time. They lock up properties just to see if they can flip the contract later. They put homes in escrow with 17-day contingencies, knowing full well they wouldn’t want to be treated that way if the roles were reversed.
At 1-800-BUY-HOUSES, our entire approach is built around modeling the standard we’d want for ourselves — if we were the ones selling our home.
That’s what The Perfect Cash Offer™ represents. It’s not just a checklist or a set of tactics — it’s a philosophy:
✅ Treat homeowners with respect and transparency. ✅ Remove contingencies quickly. ✅ Close fast — when we say we will. ✅ Put earnest money on the line. ✅ Do what we promise.
It’s the real estate version of the golden rule:
Do business the way you’d want someone to do business with you.
Just like kids learn from the example we set as parents, our industry learns from the examples we set as professionals. When we raise the standard, others start to follow.
That’s why I believe modeling — whether at home or in business — is one of the most powerful principles we can live by.
If you want your kids to be kind, be kind. If you want your team to be accountable, be accountable. If you want trust in an industry, model trust.
That’s how change happens — not by talking about it, but by living it.
