Leasing Is the Launch Pad to Your Career with Taylor Grange

Taylor Grange: I always say make the person you're training better than you at what you were Like give them all the secrets now that you learned month eight. Give it to them day so that they can, you know, it you're only typically in property management, the way that you move up the ranks is usually you're helping facilitate. A U R A, yep.
Rory Anderson: I love it. Okay. Thank you for sharing. Well, to all of our listeners, if you found value in today's episode, I'd really appreciate it if you subscribe, leave us a review, share this episode with someone on your team who's looking to grow their career in multifamily. And until next time, keep building great teams, keep leveling yourself, and go be a light and a blessing to someone else.
Taylor Grange: Yeah.
Rory Anderson: Yes.
Taylor Grange: someone who is under you. And so it's only gonna benefit the better they if they can be better how than you were, you are going to be so good because you have such a strong
Rory Anderson: Mm-hmm. Welcome back to the Property Playbook, the property management podcast that unlocks leadership lessons from experts in the trenches of multifamily. You know, one of the things I love most about this industry, and something that kind of surprised me when I started to meet people in multifamily, is that some of its best leaders didn't start out chasing executive titles. They started out by leasing apartments and building relationships and solving problems and And really just saying yes to opportunities that helped them grow. And today's guest is someone who has done exactly that. So joining me today is Taylor Grange, president and co-founder of Liberty Asset Group in Boise, Idaho. With more than 14 years in multifamily, Taylor has helped lease up more than 3,000 apartment homes, led high-performing teams, improved asset performance, and built a company focused on operational excellence does li And delivering results for owners and investors in a very unique way. She's also serving currently as a member of the executive board for the Idaho Apartment Association. But today's conversation isn't just gonna be about occupancy numbers or leaseups. We are gonna talk about something that is affecting every property management company today. How do we attract great people? Help them see multifamily as a career instead of just a job. And develop that next generation of leaders. Now, I knew Taylor and I would be best of friends when I heard about how she's running her company differently than others in the industry. Because when I first met her, she told me that Liberty recently created a leadership development program called Foundations First after realizing that there was a gap in practical leadership training for emerging leaders. And that's the whole reason that this podcast even exists. So I was super excited to hear that. She's also launched a leasing boot camp with the Idaho Apartment Association designed to help new professionals discover their purpose in the industry. So today I'm super excited to discuss why leasing might be the best launching pad for a career multifamily and how to intentionally move into leadership. Those qualities accept that separate great managers from great leaders, and why investing in people ultimately creates better experiences for residents, stronger teams. And better performing assets. And because no career in property management is complete without a few unforgettable moments, Taylor's also gonna share one of her favorite property management horror stories to kick things off. So whether you're just getting started in multifamily or you're leading an entire portfolio, so whether you're just getting started in multifamily or you're leading an entire portfolio, today's episode is all about personal development, growing yourself in this industry, and my favorite topic: leadership. So Taylor, welcome to the show. I'm super excited to talk all things leadership with you today.
Taylor Grange: Thank you. I'm so excited too. I think our passions align and I think we need to trademark you called it leasing launch pad and I think that is let's trademark it. It's so good because I think that is so true. in this industry leasing is the launch pad and I'm excited to talk about it today.
Rory Anderson: Yes. Love it, love it. So let's start off with my favorite question at the beginning, which is tell me a story from your life in property management. Crazy, unusual, how did you handle it? What did you learn from it?
Taylor Grange: okay. So My story is one that will stick with me forever. it happened, I think it was a year ago. we had been working with this father-son duo to do a new construction lease in Nampa. And they were very hands-on in that process, so they, you know, would partner with contractors, but they would do a lot of the work themselves, just as as this father-son duo to kind of save on cost, but also they had like this vision of what they wanted it to be, and it was Outside of the scope of contractors. So they had, you know, their corks, but the son actually started down the path of drug addiction during that process. and he ended up bringing in a lot of his friends to help with the construction, and we started noticing appliances disappearing. He started going into people's homes unannounced and saying.
Rory Anderson: Mm.
Taylor Grange: He was doing work orders. we had tenants filming him. So we were obviously working with police to expedite the situation and get it under control. And he would show them a document that gave the police enough data to believe he was part owner. So they said it's his property, he could do whatever he wants. And so in the meantime, the dad was afraid of the situation. He left us and he went to Puerto Rico. And so we were stuck in this situation. So we ended up having to do
Rory Anderson: god.
Taylor Grange: middle of the night stakeouts which I had never done before so it was our team and the police department doing stakeouts we had to catch them like in the act of doing something bad otherwise the police couldn't do anything so we would have to we had residents helping us sometimes we'd have residents help us my brother worked for me at the time and he was out there at the property at 3 a.m trying to like get the situation under control. Anyways long story short and there's a lot of middle pieces in there But yeah, we ended up doing like a 5 a.m. stakeout with the cops and getting it under control. But what it taught me was, you know, if you gotta, I mean, I kind of already knew this, but that one was a for sure, if you want something done, you gotta do it yourself type of situation. And yeah, we learned a lot.
Rory Anderson: I don't
Taylor Grange: We learned a lot about working with private investigators and camera systems and how the police department actually operates. They really wanted to help us, but they had to explain the process and procedures of how it works. You can't just call someone and say, Hey, there's a bad guy, they don't actually really know if you're the bad guy. So it took us about three months to, figure that whole thing out. But yeah. Definitely the
Rory Anderson: Right.
Taylor Grange: Craziest, for sure.
Rory Anderson: That's incredible. Well, we always talk about on this show how property managers wear so many hats and sometimes those hats are unexpected. I mean, it's tough. This is a tough industry to be in. There is a lot of expectation.
Taylor Grange: Yeah. yeah. And but I think Yeah, I I think that's why people end up loving it so much unexpectedly though, because every day is so different. I've never heard of someone in this industry saying they're bored, right? Like if you're bored, you're not doing your job because there's always something different and something going on. So Yeah. Yeah.
Rory Anderson: Ha That is very true. That is very true. man. What a what an unusual story. Yeah, I I haven't heard that one yet. So
Taylor Grange: I I hope you don't ever I don't know that you could. It was funny b though because I will talk to out of state investors. this was like big news around here. Everyone knew the situation, but the cops couldn't do anything. after about, you know, four calls, they realized we were telling the truth and he wasn't, but they couldn't do anything. It was just so crazy. So yeah, we had to the stakehouse were because we had to wait for s a guy to be on ship.
Rory Anderson: Right. Wow.
Taylor Grange: when an incident happened and for him to be back on shift because if we had to we had to keep starting over with a different officer it just took forever it was a mess but it was memorable for sure
Rory Anderson: Mm. Crazy. That is crazy. Well, I'm really excited to talk to you about some of the initiatives that you've started at Liberty. let's talk about your leasing boot camp. Tell me what was the catalyst behind creating that? how is it working? How's it going? How are you feeling about it?
Taylor Grange: Yeah, so we started the leasing boot camp. It's myself and a colleague of mine, Amber Hefey, she's also involved with the Idaho Partners Association, but really felt like, you know, we were trying to provide all this education for managers and maintenance and leasing was just it's so specialized and we just felt like it needed more than just like an hour training. So created this leasing boot camp, which is just a day-long training for people to you know
Rory Anderson: Okay.
Taylor Grange: In the leasing industry, to come in, and the first thing that we start off talking about is Why are you in leasing and what can it do for you? Because really a part of the leasing boot camp is yes, teaching like those basic fundamentals, but also trying to create value and making sure people understand the value of this industry and the leasing agent position and where it can take them and trying to get people to buy into the industry because that that's where we're talking to people who are new to the industry and they have so much potential if if that's the path they want to choose. So we kind of start out talking about you know how we got into leasing and then where they could go from there. But the leasing bootcamp has been great. It really creates a community at least for the day and then obviously onward because all these leasing agents at least in the markets we go to we try and go to a market where people are working together so we'll hit like meridian and that those meridian people are all their competitors but we try and make it so they're more of a community rather than competitors because at the end of the
Rory Anderson: Mm. Mm-hmm.
Taylor Grange: day at least our market is so small and you don't know who you're gonna be working with down the road.
Rory Anderson: It's so true. I think it I think anywhere in multifamily you have to understand that the the industry is small and you're gonna cross bridges several times probably with other companies in the course of your career.
Taylor Grange: Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, so we try to instill that community within them, get them talking to each other, bounce ideas off of each other. you know, but we're also teaching those fundamentals of like how to close and what you need to do to actually be in leasing. especially today, it's changing every month what you need to like how mo how prevalent AI is in their job, right? Like last year it was zero, today it's like eighty percent. So it's just so crazy that there's so many shifts and changes.
Rory Anderson: Mm.
Taylor Grange: Within the leasing position, and they are expected to maneuver and shift with those changes, and they're happening fast.
Rory Anderson: They are. They are. So in that leasing boot camp, tell us like what what do you do to kind of foster that s that feeling of community between groups, I guess between different companies. Because you're you're talking to people from all different companies, right?
Taylor Grange: Yeah. We are, yeah. So typically, you know, each company will send s all of their leasing agents, which is fantastic. That's the other thing is we try and really promote it to companies to like send your people here for the day. cause a lot of times we'll send people to a conference and be like, you know, get get back by this time or you only have so much time or go to this training for an hour and then come back. We really want to immerse them. So we're doing lunch, we're doing, you know, trying to create that, camaraderie. We're not promoting companies there. So we'll give them name tags but know where are you from. We try not to talk about like properties specific.
Rory Anderson: Mm.
Taylor Grange: It's more about strategy within the industry instead of us first them type of yeah.
Rory Anderson: Mm. I like that.
Taylor Grange: and then like I said, a lot of the stuff that we do is just communal based. So you know, we're getting them to interact with each other, give advice and feedback, which we're promoting. And typically, you know, when you're newer to the industry and you view someone as a competitor, you're not used to sharing what makes you successful yet. you know, through my throughout my career I've learned that that's wildly important to be able to be speaking to your peers about that.
Rory Anderson: Right.
Taylor Grange: So we try we're trying to teach them young that or early at least that that is important. These people in this room, they are your competitors, but they are kind of your coworkers too, right? Like they're going through it with you. they're in the same market as you. It's really important to create those relationships within the market. So
Rory Anderson: Yeah, you could. I love that. Because you know I'm a big believer and just when we share good things with other people, it helps everyone get better. And really, who does it benefit? It benefits the residents. If we're all doing our jobs better, then it benefits the people who we're serving. And shouldn't that be the goal? You know? I mean, just like there isn't we don't have to be the holder of secrets. That doesn't that that only make you better, right? Like that's not
Taylor Grange: Yep. Yeah. No. Yeah, totally. Yeah. Yeah. But I I feel like there's a lot of people that learn that so much later. And and even when we're trying to promote it now, you know, people aren't people won't grasp on to it for a couple of years and be like, that would have been, you know, helpful to actually get to know that you won't you won't know you need it 'til you need it, but at least we're trying to create that, culture early. Yeah.
Rory Anderson: Yes. Mm-hmm. I love that. Yeah, I think it's really wise. So y we've talked about leasing. I think a lot of multifamily leaders start in leasing. What skills that are learned in in that leasing role continue to serve people throughout their careers? So I'm thinking of somebody that maybe wants to come in and be like, I just want to be a manager, right? I just just make me a manager. Why is it maybe beneficial to start as a leasing? agent and understand that role first.
Taylor Grange: Well, it's funny because yeah, we will get a lot of app if we post for property manager, we will get a ton more applications for people with no experience in this industry, than we do with people who have experience in this industry. And so for leasing, you know, that is the way to get in without experience is you know, we're actually looking for
Rory Anderson: Mm.
Taylor Grange: Actually a lot of times if I'm posting for a leasing agent job and you have experience as a leasing agent, I'm kind of wondering why are you still leasing? because
Rory Anderson: Hmm. That's a good that's a that's a good point. Yeah, that's a good point.
Taylor Grange: Right, yeah. So it's pretty rare for me to actually hire a leasing agent that has experience unless they're like moving states or something and they've not been doing leasing for very long. But we are promoting people constantly at Liberty and so if you've been a leasing agent for seven years, unless that's just your passion and you have no ambition to move up, I'm in my mind I'm kinda wondering why are you still in leasing? Because there's so many opportunities that you should be moving on by now. And so leasing for me
Rory Anderson: Yeah.
Taylor Grange: is a very good way to get into the industry if you're not in it. And actually if we have a PM that comes in from we love to promote from within. So we're always trying to bring lower level employees up as much as possible. Sometimes our growth is too quick and so we don't have people people just don't have the time to kind of grow within leasing to get to assistant to get to PM which is too fast. And so sometimes we will have to pull people from
Rory Anderson: Thank you.
Taylor Grange: just an outsider in as a PM, but I will actually make that PM start as leasing and they need to be a leasing agent with for us for at least a month before they can hold their true PM rank. Because that's how important I think it is to have that foundation of of leasing company to company, market to market. I mean it really is the center of what we do. And so I need to make sure that any PM I have, even if they've been a PM for years, they will be a leasing agent
Rory Anderson: Mm-hmm.
Taylor Grange: For us first. and it just has so much weight. I I always say property management has two kind of pillars that it falls into, and most of the stuff and problems that we tackle fall into the two pillars of communication and then financials. And communication is like the biggest thing that you will use over and over again in leasing, and you will really fine-tune that skill in leasing.
Rory Anderson: my goodness, yes. I totally agree. Well, and I I agree with you. I think a lot of problems that I've seen on the property level have come from not communicating well enough with residents. And it can be as simple as one of the things we we just started was providing a monthly newsletter on people's doors. And I know that's super old school, but guess what? It works. And they love it. The residents actually love it. They're like, now I know what's actually going on. Now I have a
Taylor Grange: Yeah. And they love it. Yeah. Yeah.
Rory Anderson: I know the phone number I need to call when I need need to get something done. You know, like I don't know. It there's just there's there's something to communication and understanding the art of that and what people want to know and how they want to receive that that is crucial to in being successful in this business.
Taylor Grange: Yeah. Yeah. And leasing, I mean you learn how to diffuse that through communication. I mean, we learn how to work with our PMs to get I mean you leasing agents are the front line, right? So like the manager might be communicating to the ownership, but guess what? You have to as a leasing agent communicate the actual problem you're seeing on the front lines to them effectively so they can tell it to, you know, ownership. You may not be dealing with ownership, but you are, right? Like your message messaging is going to get to them and so being able to communicate with you know other employees employee to employee you can't have a ton of drama within the workplace communicating with your bosses communicating with the residents and then you know being able to communicate not only all everybody else's needs and how to get those done effectively but also your own how can you communicate what you're needing to be to be successful as well and what the prop what the property is needing right like we
Rory Anderson: Okay. Mm.
Taylor Grange: We go de back to our leasing agents weekly, we let them run a meeting that the managers sit in on, but we want to hear their feedback, the smartest one in the room, especially during that meeting, is the leasing agents because they're the ones that are doing it and living it. So
Rory Anderson: They're hearing everything. Yeah.
Taylor Grange: we can look at market data all day long and we're not gonna know what's truly going on unless we're talking to our leasing agents. And if they're just sitting there quietly and they don't wanna ruffle any feathers, that's not helpful for anyone. So we want our leasing agents to be bold and proud and tell us what's going on.
Rory Anderson: Right. I totally agree. and as an owner, when I make visits to our properties, I actually like to talk to the entire team. I'll bring the maintenance supervisor, the tech, the leasing agent, the manager all together and and just say, like, tell me what you're seeing. What are you what's going on? What do you need more support in? What do you feel like is going well? And what do we need to figure out still, you know? And that's it's such a great conversation to have because the I truly believe that the people on the ground close
Taylor Grange: Yeah. Yeah.
Rory Anderson: to the problem are the best suited to solve the problem. And so if you're not if you're not willing to listen to those people, then you're never gonna find out what really is going on and what problems need to be solved. So I agree.
Taylor Grange: Yeah. Yeah, no, I mean they're I think every owner should have that mindset because yeah, they are exactly who you need to be talking to. You can have any executive in the world that's sitting at a desk off-site, but the on-site's living through it, they know it. to get the real information you gotta talk to them. So go to the source. Yep, they are everything.
Rory Anderson: Yeah, absolutely. Go to the source. Go to the source. I just believe in that. Yep. I want to talk to you about your leadership training because I know your team like was asking about leadership training, which I think is so phenomenal and great. And you couldn't find exactly, what they needed. So what gaps were you seeing in the industry and how are you filling that now?
Taylor Grange: I mean the gap that we were seeing and I don't know if this is the same for other markets. Well I know Idaho's unique in this way, but we Have gotten better. you know, we're trying, especially like, you know, some of the companies that have come in and what I built Liberty for was to kind of create structure to our market, but for the longest time, Idaho was the wild west for property management. I mean, you could go out and start up an LLC for ten bucks and you could have a management company and you can hold the financials and you can I mean there is no rules here for property management and we're
Rory Anderson: Yeah. Yep.
Taylor Grange: Getting better, there have been some restrictions put in place, but it is kind of scary out there on what you can accomplish with no education, no background. And so because of that, I mean there is no education platform to get into property management. and so most people just fall into it. You see a lot of
Rory Anderson: Right.
Taylor Grange: Smaller companies are just like real estate agents and their friend kept asking them, Hey, could you manage this for me? We're gonna keep this house. And then it just kind of spirals into an actual business. but there's there's no platform there. And so we're actually working with currently Boise State to be able to create an asset management degree i in multifamily, which would be so amazing and that would help tremendously. But as of right now, that still, as it says today, doesn't exist. And so my team just wanted leadership training. And I kind of went down the rabbit hole of figuring out, okay, what could we get them? Who like what classes could we enroll them in? Where could they go? And there was really nothing, especially because this was a couple years ago. So I'm on the education board for the Idaho Apartment Association. So we've been trying to pump in education to that, but it was really lacking here. important but it was really lacking a couple years ago and so yeah I think the gap is which I think is a very amazing thing but people k do just fall into this into this work and so they fall into it and they end up falling in love with it which is amazing
Rory Anderson: Yeah, you're right, you're right.
Taylor Grange: But there is no like path to it. And so that has created this huge gap and I think we're going to be needing to bulk up education for a long time because of that. And hopefully, you know, maybe the Boise State one takes track and we can kinda implement it into more universities, which would be really, really cool. But but yeah, as of right now, our industry just all over is lacking true, true education. So we're kinda having to find avenues to get that to people right now.
Rory Anderson: Well, and I see it as really a spin-off of business education because you need the financial acumen, you need the marketing acumen, you need to understand sales, you need to understand customer communication, resident communication, right? There's it it really does fit within kind of a business school type of setting because really you're you're running if you're a property manager, you're running a multimillion dollar business and what
Taylor Grange: Yeah. Yeah. Totally.
Rory Anderson: Is crazy to me is that when I figured that out, when I when I realized that, I was like, wait, why aren't we, why do we not have education about this? Like these people these people need to know, they need to understand all the financial metrics, they need to understand what the the names mean, what these acronyms mean, what is NOI, what is you know, net income, how are they different, what is revenue, you know.
Taylor Grange: Yeah.
Rory Anderson: All of these terms and I think a lot of people get like like you said, if you c you're coming from the leasing world and maybe you've gone become really good at sales, right? You've you've worked your way up to property management. Property manager is a very different role than a leasing agent. there's some similarities because you're supporting that leasing agent role, but there's a lot of things that are different, and a lot of it has to do with the fact that you're tracking financials now, invoices, you're dealing with vendors, you're doing you know, it's just it's just a different realm. So you really have to understand the business side even more. So I love the fact that you're focused on that education.
Taylor Grange: Yeah, and I think it's important because a lot of times, I mean, people you can have amazing people doing their jobs currently and they're doing a great job at it and they're really, really good at what they do. But they're just doing what you know, they're pulling the reports they need. They were taught here sit in the here's the box you're in, pull these reports, you send this month and they're they try it. They kind of start putting the pieces together on, you know, why does someone need this financial report and w when and why why is the timing important, but they're not actually taught the why. And so, you know, they're just given the do this checklist. They're very good at it, but I think the full picture
Rory Anderson: Mm-hmm.
Taylor Grange: understanding the investor side. Why, you know, what makes a good investment is a huge gap in the industry that we're missing. And people can fall into that and they can learn as they go, but there is no like direct course on obviously each investment looks a little bit differently, but there are key elements that make a complex attractive to investors and key elements that don't. And I don't think there's I think there's a very, very select few people who are actually doing this every day that try
Rory Anderson: Yes.
Taylor Grange: truly understand those metrics. but there's a lot of people who are pulling the financials and having those educ you know, those conversations, but they don't actually know the why behind it. So like the full picture. They have a piece of the pie but not the whole thing. Yeah.
Rory Anderson: Absolutely. I totally agree with you. When we onboard a property, as a matter of fact, we start with day one. Like, let me just tell you why our investors bought this property. Let me tell you what they see in this and why we feel like this is gonna be a good investment and why they're they're buying this building. And they're trusting you to run this operation so that it grows their investment. That's the whole reason we're here, right? And so helping them understand that, I've seen so many aha moments come from our property managers that when they understand the why of the investment and then they understand how the world of commercial real estate works because a lot of them also don't understand the cycle of commercial real estate, how these buildings change hands, why they change hands, you know. So I think understanding all of that is so important for the people on the ground doing the job every day. And I don't think that's a very commonly held belief.
Taylor Grange: Yeah. No, I was just gonna say it's very unique for an ownership group to explain that to their teams. you know, I I ask those questions when we're talking, you know, pretty high level with an investment group because it's important for at least someone to know like what's the goal here, right? Because it also depends on how you run an asset, right? We have clients who their main goal is to just c hold occupancy because of the financial situation they came into the property for, right? So they're not overly excited about pushing rents to the max they want to keep tenants and then we have other clients who if you did strategy a for them they would be so unhappy right they want to push map rents to the fullest they have a certain exit strategy they're trying to hit and so it's really important to be able to understand the why between your clients but also pass that down to the teams that are actually doing the work right because investor to investor strategies Is completely different, and our we're expecting our teams to be able to understand that and ask no questions, you know. So
Rory Anderson: Right. Right. And and I find that once they know the why, well, at least in all the cases that I've seen so far, once they understand the why, the performance just continues to go up. It skyrockets because they're like, okay, I get it. Now I understand I have meaning. I have purpose to my job. It's not just the daily operations of do this, get that, you know?
Taylor Grange: Yeah. And they feel a part of your team too, right? Then they want the team that they are a part of now to succeed. So
Rory Anderson: Right. Yes, exactly. Exactly. Well, I love that you're filling that gap of leadership training. tell me about you call it foundations first, right?
Taylor Grange: Yep, yeah, Foundations First. It's a leadership group that we created within Liberty Asset Group, to Fill that void that our team was filling. So I'll tell you, you know, obviously it's it spiraled because our team was asking for leadership sources that I could not find easily. you know, we're creating these things through IAA, but those take time, you have to wait months and months to get to the training or whatever. So that kind of sparked it. And then the reason we created what we created, so it Foundations First is a it's open to every employer.
Rory Anderson: Mm.
Taylor Grange: employee that we have. So you know, our VP of operations all the way to our groundskeeping team is invited to come. It's a b it's an opt-in or opt-out, you don't have to because we obviously don't want to waste people's time if they're not interested in the topic or you know would rather just get their work done. And so opt-in or opt-out
Rory Anderson: Love that.
Taylor Grange: But the reason I thought it was so important to because obviously I was hearing a lot from our property managers that they wanted leadership training. I wasn't necessarily hearing it from all the way down, but I was a part of a company several years ago now. It feels like yesterday, where I I was really interested and wanted to be a leader of that company. I craved it, I wanted it, I felt capable of it. But there was a room at once a month the Executives of the company would go into this room and they would sometimes come out with books and they would talk and they would kind of just have this executive meeting. And I remember sitting, my desk was actually like two feet from the door, and I remember being like, I want to be in that meeting so bad. I want to know what they're like, I was hungry for the education, and it was more of an exclusive like you have to hit this ring before you can join that meeting. And I was sitting there as a I don't know, leasing agent or
Rory Anderson: Mm.
Taylor Grange: property manager can't remember at the time wanting to go into that room so badly and I could just I can just see it like shut I can picture it perfectly just door shut blinds closed I'm not in the meeting and I wanted to be and so I felt like it was really really important to open you know ours wasn't gonna be a shut door meeting. I wanted everyone who wanted to be in that room to be in that room.
Rory Anderson: I love that.
Taylor Grange: Yeah, and so we had a meeting last month and our room was full to the we were bringing in chair. I mean, it was so good. And so, you know, every month you can opt in or opt out if you're just like, I'm super busy, can't dedicate the time, because we do ask a lot of the people who are a part of it, right? So, last month we did a book. it sometimes is a little bit less of a of a pull for the team and like we'll do podcasts or we'll do you know, a master class and so it's a little less time consuming, but some months are more time consuming than others. So kind of prep people for, you know, here's here's what it's gonna be this month. Do you want to opt in or opt out? And if you have the time and so but but yeah, that was really important is that anybody who wanted to be in the room was in the room. And it's a it's a place and a time where yes we talk about
Rory Anderson: Right.
Taylor Grange: you know, the book that we read, so we have kind of like the think tank to see any ideas that come forward. And it's funny because the last meeting we had, I had a bunch of ideas ready to go, and I'm like, let's implement this, this, and this. And we I you know let the team speak first on you know what ideas do you guys have from this book and what can we implement. So many good ideas that I didn't think of and coming from them just meant so much more because, you know, their their body
Rory Anderson: Yeah.
Taylor Grange: in and thinking about thinking about the company and so it benefits them yes because we're doing you know a leadership training and giving you know pouring back into our people but it has benefited our company way more than it's gonna benefit them so
Rory Anderson: Absolutely. Well, and going back to the people on the ground doing the job are often the best suited to solve the problem, right? So if you're giving them the material to read, to listen to, to look at, and then they can synthesize those thoughts in into their own, you know, their own personal professional lives of what they're doing every day, it's gonna spark creativity and spark new ideas that, yeah, you're right. It's gonna just make everyone better. I love that.
Taylor Grange: Yeah. And it really has seemed to like buy people in more to the company. I know like company leaders are always trying to figure out a way to how can we get our people to buy in to us and build us and, you know be working towards that goal of growing this company rather than just, you know, clock in, clock out. And I really think you know, if you can be more inclusive with the goal of the company and if they can see change happening that they've raised their hand and said, hey, I think this change should happen, the more people are gonna be bought in, right? How many times the amount of times I've heard, you know, I worked at X, Y, and Z and I would have ideas and nothing ever happened.
Rory Anderson: Absolutely.
Taylor Grange: Whether that's because the company was too big and was a bigger ship to move or they just didn't have the right platform. I think if you can give people right, not every idea, and we we do preface that, right? Like not every idea that comes out of Foundations First is gonna get implemented. But you know, we want to create that conversation of i especially if we're hearing like the same thing over and over again from like a maintenance tech in the corner. you know, maybe we need to start paying more attention to it. So yeah, it's
Rory Anderson: Yeah.
Taylor Grange: It's just been really great to create that, environment where people can speak freely. It's not like a scheduled formal meeting where they have to have all their thoughts lined out. It's really open thinking, which I think is so productive.
Rory Anderson: The other thing I think it does is it provides people with a clear path to growing themselves personally and professionally. And I bet for them, they see a path within your company that shows them like, I can level up myself into a new position because I'm being given a seat at the table where people can listen to my ideas. And I I think that's very unique. I don't think a lot of property management companies do that. I also feel like the whole idea of turnover in this industry is incredibly high, right? Incredibly high. I I can't even believe just peeking into our own properties and seeing how much turnover has happened in just a few short years at all of our properties. I'm like
Taylor Grange: Yeah.
Rory Anderson: How can we, you know, like, and these are all people that I thought were really happy with their jobs. But it's like, how is the turnover is so bad, so high? so what I think I would feel if I were an employee of your company, I think I would feel very valued if I were able to sit at the table and like you said, be a part of that discussion, that leadership discussion and those insights, because I would feel like, my, my
Taylor Grange: Yeah.
Rory Anderson: Bosses care about me. They care about who I am. They care about wanting me to become better. Why wouldn't I stay with them? You know?
Taylor Grange: Yeah, that's that's the hope, right? that's definitely the goal is is the less turnover as possible. We actually have a joke because our leasing agents turn over quite a bit, but sometimes that's positive turnover. So we always call like the class of twenty twenty six because they're either and and I think it's I think it's for the good, right? Like if you're if you're not if this industry's not for you That's okay. but yeah, we oftentimes are promoting leasing agents up to assistant manager or property manager, and then there will be some that we, you know, just aren't a good fit. But yeah, we do call the class of twenty twenty six because we're always kind of bringing in what feels like a whole new generation of leasing agents every year because some have graduated and moved on and some didn't work out. So yeah, the turnover, especially on the leasing end, is is high. Usually once you hit like property manager, you've realized like this is the place you want to be. And so then it's just up to, you know, the company to keep you and keep you interested because there is also a lot of opportunities, especially in a growing market, to have people get swooped up. So usually they're the right people as a property manager, but trying to keep them focused on our goals here and keeping them a part of our team.
Rory Anderson: Yes. Yeah.
Taylor Grange: But yeah, leasing agents sometimes are just trying to figure out like if this is even for them. So yeah.
Rory Anderson: Sure. Yeah, for sure. I agree with you. But I like the I like the fact that you're building that vision for them. There is a path to go. I I've I've always thought, you know, if if I was running a property management company, one of the very first things I would do to onboard somebody is give them a eight and a half by 11 sheet of paper that literally has a path that shows like, here's where you start, here's where you can go, here's where it can lead, and even show like there's other, there's other jobs within the industry too, that if you like marketing, you could end up somewhere in that.
Taylor Grange: Yeah.
Rory Anderson: realm, right? Like there's if you like f the finance side, you can end up somewhere there. There's depending on your knowledge base and your skill level and your ability to learn and grow and your desire to do that, there's many opportunities within this field to do lots of different things. It's not just being stuck in a box.
Taylor Grange: and it's not even just the ladder of leasing, assistant manager, manager. Like you don't even have to climb that ladder. There's a lot of ladders you can climb starting with leasing actually have a girl who started as my first leasing agent when I started Liberty, and she is now our director of marketing. And that position obviously didn't exist when I had two employees. So, you know, she's kind of just
Rory Anderson: Right. Right.
Taylor Grange: you know, we've found the right seat for her and I think that's what's exciting about like a growing company is it can sometimes, not all the time, but sometimes it can get tailored around your goals and what you're good at, right? Just what you can bring to the table. so yeah, I love what you said about you're not necessarily put in a box. You don't have to be at least. Yeah.
Rory Anderson: No, you don't. Yeah, there's so many opportunities and that's yeah, super exciting. So I feel like you're the type of person that understands the difference between managing people and truly leading people. just by the examples that you've given me. Tell me more about that and what your philosophy is behind that.
Taylor Grange: Yeah, I I think sometimes the stigma is like, you're a I don't know, at least on Instagram. My at least my Instagram feed is like, you're a manager, not a leader, and so like the manager part gets a bad rap. I think both you have to have both. And so sometimes in a company that looks like one person wearing both hats and they have to like switch hats on, you know, today I'm the manager, today I'm a leader. if you're lucky enough you can have that be two different people, but There you have to have both and I think sometimes people get a bad rap for well if you're if you're managing people you're not leading them. And I think you can do both. Sometimes when you're managing them, you're not leading them, but you can now then switch gears and start to lead them. but I feel like the managing part is more of like the education, the day-to-day, the execution of of how to actually do something, teaching, showing, the hands on, and then the leading is more visionary, right? It's more like getting people to buy in. into the path that we're on, showing them the way of where they can go and creating that almost fire under them of of of what they can be versus the managing part is like here's what you need to do and the leading part is here's what you could be doing, here's your here's your platform and giving them that opportunity to jump off of it.
Rory Anderson: Right. I like I like that concept because you're right, there is there are some transactional things that have to be taught.
Taylor Grange: Yeah.
Rory Anderson: in this job and that's that and in this career. But there's also the encouragement part of this where a good leader can come in and encourage someone as they are learning this. And I think teaching the why is is actually really important, a part of that. Teaching them the why, their purpose, why are they important to the team, building that vision. So teaching them the executable skills, but then building that bit vision of who they can be.
Taylor Grange: Yeah. Yeah, and I I think I think the manager part is actually really imp important to that, right? Because you can have a great leader with these big, big goals, but who's helping them execute it? Who's you know, like and so for a while I you know, I would have you know, these big dreams, these big goals, especially early on I didn't have a ton of employees to help me execute these things, and so I'm I'm always on to the next idea. Like we hit a goal and I will celebrate for like two seconds, and I'm like, okay.
Rory Anderson: Right.
Taylor Grange: next thing and my team's still like celebrating and so you can have big vision but you have to be able to also cultivate that foundation for people to actually get things done and be able to execute the vision and so I think I think both are equally important and they both have their time and place.
Rory Anderson: Yeah. Yeah, I love that. So tell me as far as making mistakes in leadership, what do you see newly promoted managers, what kind of mistakes do you see them making? And how do you help curtail that or how do you mitigate that?
Taylor Grange: I the biggest mistake I probably see is people I don't know if this will make sense, people doing the job that they were promoted out of.
Rory Anderson: Yep.
Taylor Grange: I and and I think I think that there's good qualities in that, but I've I've seen the most successful people actually be held back by years in their career because they can't let go of what they were doing so well. They're very good at it, and that's why it's hard for them to let go of it, but letting go of that and moving on and being able to let someone else do the job that you paid them to do, right? And so I think there's a there's a really great quality with
Rory Anderson: Yeah.
Taylor Grange: Good property managers that I've noticed, and it is control freaks. If you're a control freak, you're probably gonna be really good in this industry. But those are the people who have the hardest time moving on to like a management position because they've you know they were really good at leasing because they just owned everything and they took the bull by the horns and they made all the calls and they just had you know their processes in place. But they and then so so time comes for them to get promoted because they're they're doing so well, they get promoted, and then they're kind of a lackluster property manager because they're still now they're trying to do two jobs, two full time jobs at the same time. And so yeah not being able to delegate I think is what holds people back the most probably. Most common.
Rory Anderson: Yeah, that's so interesting. I had a discussion like this a few months ago and we had on the podcast and it was talking about we talked about delegation and how how do you delegate. it's with Terry Johnson. So if anyone's listening that wants to go back and listen, it was really excellent, and we talked a lot about this because it's true. I think there is a part of all of us that if we're really good at something, we're like that's that kind of we kind of get wrapped up in our own identity with that something that we're gonna
Taylor Grange: Okay. Yeah.
Rory Anderson: At and then it's like it defines us. It starts to it it can start to define us if we let it, right? And so it's hard to let that go. But you're right, you need to let that go and you need to be able to embrace a new a new challenge, a new thing. And the the way I think of it is yes, you can be really good at that thing. However, is it gonna help you continue to grow?
Taylor Grange: Yeah.
Rory Anderson: If it's not, then it's time to let it go and let somebody else grow in that role. And it's time for you to push yourself and learn new things that you don't know.
Taylor Grange: Yeah. And I think it depends on what company you're at too, because I think there's a lot of like fear of when especially when you get promoted, right? Because you're not like a educated, trained property manager, whatever you're going on to do the next. and so I think there's this fear of, well, I'm not the best at my next job and I was the very best at this last job. And so I feel like that's also part of why people hold on so tight, is because they were the best and they were getting all the high praise and now they're gonna move on to something that's
Rory Anderson: Right. Mm-hmm.
Taylor Grange: you know, they're not as skilled in or honed in. And so you know, trying to hold on to something that you were once really good at and known for and it kind of became your identity. but yeah I've I've seen it time and time again hold people back. And once they let go and and finally realize like, okay, you're right, I need to, you know, move on and let go, then it's magic. But because then they are just as good at what they're doing now as they were at leasing or whatever they were doing before. But
Rory Anderson: Yeah, we Yeah.
Taylor Grange: Alright. But until they can like let go of that and let someone else have have that spotlight of, you know, teach them, teach them your ways. I always say make the person you're training better than you at what you were doing. Like give them all the secrets now that you learned month eight. Give it to them day one so that they can, you know, it you're only typically in property management, the way that you move up the ranks is usually you're helping facilitate.
Rory Anderson: Yes.
Taylor Grange: someone who is under you. And so it's only gonna benefit you if they can be better than you were, you are going to be so good because you have such a strong support. And I think a lot of times people just feel like
Rory Anderson: Mm-hmm.
Taylor Grange: No, I want to be the good one. I want to be the one that, you know, can handle it all and get the praise. But you want your team to be as strong as possible and that will that that continues to serve you the the higher up you go. You you know, if you get super high up somehow without creating a strong team, then you're just going crazy because you're having to do everyone's jobs and hold everyone's hands. You want them to be as strong as you can they can be so you can continue to climb the ladder.
Rory Anderson: Yeah, yeah, that's a really good point. I love that. I like that you're teaching your teams that and I like them sharing those ideas. Like, let's share the ideas of the seasoned leasing agent with the day one leasing agent, right? Let's share those ideas right away, just to hit the ground running and get going and become better. So for somebody that wants to become a leader. And they don't have that management title yet. How how are you working to develop those future leaders before they get the title?
Taylor Grange: So I have pretty open conversations with my team about it's kinda it sometimes it's gotten me into trouble but I feel like it's important to do. I I have very open conversations with my team about like what I truly feel is their path and what could be. And sometimes sometimes it's a little bit of a letdown, right? Like all think we're gonna get, you know, a property and I think this is kinda their path and so I will preface with them like unless something you know if something that happens this won't happen. But I here's what I'm seeing for you and then even if pat that path doesn't work out, at least they know what I'm thinking and kind of where what I see their potential in and so then I encourage them to start planning for that because it's going to happen. I'm a big manifester. So you know I'm like if it's not gonna happen in direction A it will happen in direction B. Here's what we see for you. And so start start trying now to learn your manager's job is the kind of the conversation I have with them. Like learn as much as you can you obviously still have to be doing your job but
Rory Anderson: Mm. Mm. Yeah, yeah.
Taylor Grange: But try to ask more questions that are kind of outside of your box. Try to understand the why of why your property manager does that, because it will help you when you're learning. the job to understand why am I even doing this? What am I looking for? And so if you have that pocket of time, you know, we're when we have when we see someone with a lot of potential, we'll just kind of sit them down and say, here's kind of the path. Or at their annual review, we'll tell them, you know, here's kind of what we're seeing for you at the next opportunity. We'd love for you to apply for position A. And so start prepping now. Start asking questions. Start learning. Start trying to take some things away from your manager and start trying to do it if you have the pocket of time. And that's easier for some people to do than others. Like if you're on site, it's a lot easier to collaborate working with a PM than if you're off. But but yeah, we just have those conversations early on if we see the potential because I feel like it's so important. early on in in my career, I wasn't having those conversations. I didn't want to let people down.
Rory Anderson: Yeah. Right. And that's the risk, right?
Taylor Grange: And so it is a risk. but I think even if there's the risk of that, hearing what you think of someone I think goes a really long way for them. So we've started doing it with just everybody because if we have a certain vision of you and it's positive, we would like you to know that now. because it's only gonna help you know, motivate someone.
Rory Anderson: Right. Yeah. Yeah, I agree. I think that it it again, it helps build that vision of who they can be. and you're right, they might not see that in themselves in the beginning. So I I love that. There was something else I was gonna say that you were talking about. I know what it was. One of the things I really believe is that God opens doors of opportunity when you've prepared yourself for the opportunity. So
Taylor Grange: Yes. Yeah.
Rory Anderson: You have to take the the leap of faith, so to speak, to learn something new or to grow in something, n not knowing whether or not you're gonna get the title at all. And that's okay. That's that's
Taylor Grange: Yeah.
Rory Anderson: still gets you it's not about the title. It's about getting you the growth and development that you need and to become who you are. And in the end of the day, we're not gonna be labeled with anything other than, you know, well, I believe just we're a child of God. So that's the most important label, right? And and and all of those other things don't really matter in the long run. So to me it's more about, hey, how can I just be a better
Taylor Grange: Yeah. Yeah.
Rory Anderson: version of myself in whatever career I'm in and how can I progress in the way that I need to to help other people.
Taylor Grange: Yeah. Yeah, no, I I love it. And I i we've seen I know, if you're listening and you're like, I don't know, I don't wanna promise people anything 'cause that's you know, hold sometimes withholding information comes from a good place. I challenge you if you have that employee that you see the potential in but you've never said it to them, tell Tell where you think they can go. it means a lot. I actually had a old s CEO
Rory Anderson: Mm.
Taylor Grange: well he he was the CEO and then he became the president when our company went global. And I remember actually still the day he told me And I was not on the path of thinking this at all. It's funny now because it is the path I'm on now. But I really truly did not see this for myself in any way, shape, or form when he said it. I was like, you are insane. But I remember it to this day, and it's been seven years since he said it to me. But he told me, You could I don't remember what we were talking about, but he said, You could be running this company as good as our CEO. And I was twenty-two.
Rory Anderson: Wow.
Taylor Grange: And I was like, he's just trying to make me feel good. He doesn't I do actually believe now that he really believed that. I don't think he you know, he didn't it wasn't him to, you know, just make stuff up just to be nice. And so him telling me that has has stuck with me. I think if we can tell our people the things we're actually thinking, it will benefit them, if not for their career path, but maybe give a boost. I mean, for something else that they're gonna do. If you s if you're seeing it, say it, I think.
Rory Anderson: Right. I love it. I love that. So I want to talk about this in in the line of moving up, helping people understand how to move up. So what does that career progression look like today in multifamily? And what steps can an employee take with their with their bosses to achieve that that next status? And I will say this as a caveat. I think
Taylor Grange: Yeah.
Rory Anderson: Sometimes what happens in this industry or what I've seen is that people aren't willing to stick in it long enough to see the path grow for themselves. They're just they just like it because it takes time. there are steps that happen and progressions that happen, but it's it's a step-by-step process. It's not just like you're a leasing agent today and you're running the company tomorrow, right? Like there there's a a natural path. So explain to me what that looks like to you or how you I mean, you've kind of talked a little bit about it, but is there anything else you would say about that?
Taylor Grange: well, number one, yeah, I think we're seeing kind of a trend of people get a little impatient with their career paths. They kind I mean it's the instant gratification type of thing, right? Where they're like, I see this, I want it now. and yeah, it to truly do it correctly, you have to take the time to hone your skill first and then try and make that next step, right? Like, especially because if you think about it in reverse. How can you manage someone effectively if you have not mastered what they're going to be doing? Right? Like you have to be, if you are in any way lacking in your current position, you're not ready for the next step. Hone any imperfections you have right now in what you're doing, if even if it's temporarily, maybe it's not a part of your like ment mental makeup but you have to be able to hone that so that you can manage someone doing it later on, right? And so that that would be number one is analyze yourself first. Like yes, maybe you maybe you want the promotion, but are you actually ready? Have you honed the skill? Are there are there gaps in what you're doing right now? Because if there are, you're probably not quite ready. But if you've done that analysis on yourself and you're like, yeah, I am ready, I'm perfect at what I'm doing, or at least know everything about what I'm doing. There's no gaps. Then I think the other thing people it se it sounds silly because it's so it's so obvious when I say it, but I think a lot of people pass this up, which is say something. there's so many people who I think have been, you know, in the industry and because we kind of do in our industry have that natural progression of basing aging, assistant manager, manager, and so I think a lot of people assume that their higher ups just know that they're ready and want a promotion. That's not always the case. You have to say you want it. You have to go to your VP, your CEO, or whoever, or your property manager and say, Hey, I'm just so you know, I'm ready for this next step. I feel ready. And it'll do two things for you. Number one, it will open the conversation up of They don't think you are, and here's why. And then okay, that's something that you can be working on now instead of six months from now when you're just over it, you're frustrated because you think you should have been promoted six months ago. or it will open up their minds to, okay, now I'm seeing this for you, or I'm looking at past, or now it's got my gears thinking of, okay, what is the next step for them and where can we see that? And then you can have that conversation of.
Rory Anderson: Sure.
Taylor Grange: Here's where our company's at. Maybe you're you are yes or no, the next person for the new promotion, but here's where we realistically think that will happen. And it will help you better understand the timeline. Maybe you're not getting passed up, maybe the opportunity's just not there. Or maybe the company's shifting direction and you didn't know about it. So I think if you feel ready, number one, make sure you feel ready, not just that you want it. And then number two,
Rory Anderson: Yeah.
Taylor Grange: Are you having a conversation and letting someone know you want it? Because you may think it's obvious, but it it not it oftentimes is not obvious.
Rory Anderson: Right, right. I think that's great advice for anyone that's wanting to progress. what do you feel like, you know, seeing your these different professionals in your business and even prior to owning this company, when you see people in marketing or training or asset management, even in executive leadership, what are those the qualities that you find most successful people have in common?
Taylor Grange: if I had to do like just one one word answer, I would say initiative over everything. There's a lot of p and and obvi I think I don't know, sometimes I think these answers sound like so easy. But it it really there is like a set of people in my company at least that I've seen who can totally take initiative and there are people who can take direction really well.
Rory Anderson: Mm.
Taylor Grange: And the initiative people are the ones that just move up faster because especially in our industry, things are moving so quickly that if you can take that initiative, if you can see the need, if you can just step up and say, I'll do that before a lot of times people are waiting for the paycheck before they'll do something more. The people with initiative actually end up and so maybe they end up doing more than their job for a little bit, but then they get the promotion, right? Like it it will pay off because we can now see like you are doing it, you're capable, and you're already you're already doing it. So perfect. It's easy, it's right there in my hands. That that's what I did. I I am kind of the prime example of like maybe over initiative, but in my last company I was with, I would quite literally make up positions for myself. Like the position didn't exist. I would just start doing something, I would just fit the need and just start just start, just start doing it. And then I would go into my CEO after I'd been doing this for a month and say, I you know, here's what I think I've been doing. I think it'd be a great idea if you made me this. And
Rory Anderson: Yeah. Yeah.
Taylor Grange: And and they would do it because it actually made sense. I mean, and they were just going so quickly. you gotta create the opportunities, right? If you see a hole, have the initiative and then have the conversation too, right? Don't just like do stuff behind the scenes and know it's just happening and people just think it just magically happens. You you gotta communicate, do the work, but then communicate what it is and what the need is and I think it'll get you far. But every person that we've promoted quickly and has climbed that ladder has had
Rory Anderson: Right. No, you gotta communicate that value.
Taylor Grange: an initiative first. Yeah.
Rory Anderson: so good. You're talking exactly about a book that I love. It's called Impact Players by Liz Wiseman. And she talks exactly about that. People that are impact players, yeah, you gotta use this for your group.
Taylor Grange: Okay. I love I gotta I gotta write that down. Yeah. Okay.
Rory Anderson: We'll put it in the show notes. But Liz Wiseman, she's one of my heroes. She's awesome. She comes from Silicon Valley, the tech industry. But she talks about she's studied leadership in in corporations across the world. And she talks about impact players being the people who they'll step in, do the job that needs to be done, and they're fa they're happy to step back when the when it's complete or you know when things are greased and it's going well, but they're just they see a need and they're like, we need to fix this. And they jump in and fix it, right? And that's exactly what you're talking about.
Taylor Grange: And I think a lot of people think it's overstepping. And I think there's a fine line, right? Like you don't wanna just bulldoze someone and do their it's it's how you do it. Yeah. So I mean there has to be some tact used there, but I'm glad it's a real thing because yeah, that's exactly what I did and I love seeing that in my team. It's like what I'm like, you yeah, you did this. I'm so impressed. Thank you. You know Yes. Yeah.
Rory Anderson: It's how you it's how you do it, right? Yeah. Yeah. You see a problem, you you're willing to solve it? Great. Awesome. Thanks for doing that, you know?
Taylor Grange: The leaders of your company are busy with a lot of things that sometimes bog them down. And so again, we go back to, you know, your boots on the ground, you're seeing a problem, jump jump in, dive in, and then communicate what you're doing. I think that is like the best formula for success in this industry. And probably a lot of them, but ours for sure.
Rory Anderson: Well, and I think to your point, a lot of leaders that are in the In the trenches of running the company, sometimes they don't see exactly the sticky points or the problems that are happening and occurring within the lower levels of operations or what's happening. And so as somebody in those trenches, you have to be the one to bring up those issues. And when you do, if you are also working on a solution, that's even better, right? Like don't just bring up the problem. Be like, okay, here's the problem. This is what I'm doing to solve it. I'm researching this, this, and this. I've I found this you know, maybe company that could help us. We're gonna partner with these people. We're fixing this. We're making this spreadsheet. Whatever it is, like whatever you're figuring out, like if you're going after the problem, the your leader's not gonna be like, no, no, no, stay in your lane, stop. Well most people wouldn't, I would g I would guess. Hopefully not. You know, because most people are like, Great, you're you're you're trying to make us better. Awesome. Thank you.
Taylor Grange: Hopefully. Yeah, yes, yeah. No, I and we don't see it out of everybody, right? So I think it's one of the key things and I I wish people would do it more.
Rory Anderson: Love it. Love it. So give me last question, leadership. I I wanna know f from your perspective, what's one leadership principle that you believe in and you really try to live by? Other than initiative, 'cause it sounds like you already got that one.
Taylor Grange: Yes. We already know initiative. No, one that I live by now, I actually was listening to a master class. It's by Stanley McChrystal and we'll put it in the notes. I think that's his last name, McChrystal or something. Anyways, he's a army general and I don't know how I stumbled across this. My team always is like, Why are you listening to army stuff? But he he's actually amazing. He's formed a company that helps.
Rory Anderson: Ha ha ha
Taylor Grange: Fortune 500 companies in like leadership tactics, but it's all kind of military-based. And so one of the things that he taught that I have just lived by, and I actually will like preface my team with okay, we you know, I had like this big meeting with my team because I'm like, we're implementing this now, and this is how we're gonna operate. and so they hear me say this word a lot, but it's he treat he teaches radical transparency, is what it's called. and we've kind of we've kind of touched on it today here, but I it has
Rory Anderson: Okay. Mm.
Taylor Grange: shifted the way we do things so much just having that as kind of one of I might make it one of our core values honestly. We love it so much. But That's kind of my pillar now is radical transparency. And so he what he teaches basically is like in the military, it's actually dangerous to not convey everything to the team that's that's doing the work. So everybody needs to know what's going on and in a military s if you put it into a military sense, it's like, yeah, that makes sense. Everyone should know what's going on, why we withhold information, lives are at stake. But in our companies, we do that all the time. We withhold information on what's happening, who we're talking to, where the company's going. And I was really, really bad about this until he taught me radical transparency I was withholding information with good intent. I was not telling my team what was going on because I didn't
Rory Anderson: Mm-hmm.
Taylor Grange: I didn't want to set a goal and not hit it and my team be like disappointed in me or feel like we failed because I have really big goals. And so if we don't hit my goal, it's not like we are failing. It's just that was a huge goal we had. And so I wasn't telling them that.
Rory Anderson: Mm.
Taylor Grange: To to kind of save them. or shield them is what I thought. But what I've learned is, you know, when I'm radically transparent with them, it's actually helped me 'cause now they know what my goals are and actually have some help to achieve those goals instead of just doing them on my own. And then the other term he uses radical transparency is like it helps no one if I'm thinking something about you and I think you know you should be fixing X, Y, and Z, it doesn't help you for me to hold on to that information. And only tell you six months from now when it's really a big problem. Just say it now. It does it doesn't have to be a big deal because it's not been an issue for six months. And then we can kind of move on from that. So radical transparency in basically everything you do, company goals, but then also just in your communications with people. If you're feeling a certain way about something, say it, and we can kind of move past it. But for a for a long time I was just, you know, holding on to things and not saying things that were bothering me and Yeah.
Rory Anderson: Right, right. I love that. Well, I think that actually goes along and ties really well in with our philosophy at Wind River where we sit down and talk to our leasing agents and our property managers in the beginning about here's where we're going with this asset and here's your why. Here's why it's important to us. Here's you know
Taylor Grange: Yes. Yeah.
Rory Anderson: These are some of our investors are some of my friends. Like I care about these people and I care about what's happening with with this building and this is why and this is why your job's important. Like that it should to me it's not a secret. There shouldn't it shouldn't be. So I love that. I love that you're taking that to the next level.
Taylor Grange: Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, but I'm at least for me when I heard that like last year, Radical Transparency, it just really like it's one of those things where it's like, that makes sense, but I'm not doing it. And why am I not doing it? So
Rory Anderson: Right. So you've seen over the last year the effects of that.
Taylor Grange: yeah, no, totally. And it it's it's been really, really good and the things I was scared about with like, you know, letting my team down or, saying things too early, none of those things the those were made up fears in my head, right? Like nothing bad has come from the radical transparency and it is radical sometimes. It's it's very honest, but it's also taught my team to do the same f to me, right? Like to tell me when there's a problem immediately because we're now radically transparent with each other.
Rory Anderson: Mm. That's so awesome. I love hearing
Taylor Grange: yeah.
Rory Anderson: that. Taylor, thank you so much for joining us today. I I really feel like you and I are very aligned.
Taylor Grange: Yeah.
Rory Anderson: And how we think of things, which is so it's fun to fun to talk to you. But one of the biggest takeaways from this conversation for me has been that careers just don't happen. They are built intentionally. And whether you're leasing your very first apartment or you're leading a maintenance team or you're overseeing an entire portfolio, your next opportunity is usually created by the way that you show up in the role that you have today, right? You're showing up, you're doing it, you're doing more, and you're I love that you shared about. helping people find their way in an industry that's ultimately about serving people because that purpose really matters and when companies invest in developing their teams and they create those clear career paths and teach leadership before someone ever gets the title, then everyone benefits. And you've really shown that. I I love how unique you're operating your company because it's really the employees, our residents, the owners, and ultimately our communities that end up benefiting. So for our listeners today, if this conversation encouraged you in any way, I have one challenge for you this weekend. And that is that I want you to look around your team. I want you to identify a person that you feel like has leadership potential and then do something in
Taylor Grange: Yeah.
Rory Anderson: intentional to help them grow. Because sometimes a single conversation, just a little encouragement or giving someone a chance to take on more responsibility can completely change the trajectory of their career. And that's what Taylor and I have been talking about for the last hour. So thank you so much, Taylor, for sharing your experience and insights with us. Good, I'm glad.
Taylor Grange: Yeah, thank you for having me. This is so fun.
Rory Anderson: So we gotta do our unpaid advertisement. I always love to to ask just one thing that you can't live without. And I've learned so many things from people that I've from my guests. So tell me something that you can't live without. Yes.
Taylor Grange: You like have accumulated random things because of your unpaid advertisements. So my thing is for sure my aura ring. I love this. And I'm actually so sad. I'm conflicted because they just came out with a new one. So it's smaller and skinnier. But I love this because I used to wear the big fitness watch. This is just with me all the time. It's like my little buddy. It will tell me before I'm sick that I'm getting sick.
Rory Anderson: Okay.
Taylor Grange: And to like take it easy, it will like tell me how many steps I need to take based on like how well I slept, which I have tiny children, and so that varies. I don't just always get the same amount of sleep every night. So it'll be like, you slept terribly last night, so maybe don't do as much today. And I'm like, thank you. So it's just my little reminder, my little buddy, and it is the best, and I love it. But I might be upgrading soon. So
Rory Anderson: Exactly. Okay, Aura Ring. Aura ring. A-U-R-A, right? I love it. Okay. Thank you for sharing. Well, to all of our listeners, if you found value in today's episode, I'd really appreciate it if you subscribe, leave us a review, share this episode with someone on your team who's looking to grow their career in multifamily. And until next time, keep building great teams, keep leveling yourself, and go be a light and a blessing to someone else.
Taylor Grange: A U R A, yep. Yeah.