News from the Chicago Chapter

The Importance of That One Extra Degree. IREM 2018 Midwest Regional Meeting Recap

By Kris Haskins, CPM®
Colliers International
IREM Chicago 2019 President Elect

From May 1 through May 3, I attended the 2018 IREM Regional Meetings in Indianapolis, along with the entire IREM Chicago Executive Council. Over those three days, we attended a wide range of educational and chapter-focused sessions.

One session that I found very interesting was titled “The 212° The Extra Degree.”

The concept is simple:  at 211°, water is hot.  At 212°, water starts to boil, and with boiling water comes steam.  Steam can power a locomotive, and it’s that one extra degree that makes the difference!

Property managers can employ this “extra degree” concept within your Leadership style in order to become a good servant and then a better leader.  With the extra degree in Attitude, what ways can you improve? The only thing that stands between what you want in life is the will to try it!  And finally, Commitment: You cannot get what you’ve never had unless you’re willing to do what you’ve never done!

All you have to do is take that first step and make it grow.  I offer a fitness program as an example. Start with a small goal like walking and a few reps of cardio.  You will find out this is hard work the first week.  But take that extra degree and the second week amp up the length of your walk and number of reps for cardio.  In no time at all you will find yourself going to the gym or working out an hour and day, and you will miss the exercise regimen if you do not participate.

Let this extra degree be a new way of thinking, your new way of action:

• Practice Kindness
• Cease to Complain
• Pause and Reflect
• Risk and Attempt
  
  It’s time to turn up the heat and … remember that the same boiling water softens a potato and hardens an egg!