With more than 40 years of experience in real estate, Anita Head has seen it all. As a Partner & EVP of Paragon Real Estate Group through the 2008 crash and as RVP of Northern CA for Compass she has earned her wisdom.

Get the inside scoop on how she helps others succeed, manages emotions in business and her go-to piece of advice.

On leading with authenticity:

In 2008, during the financial crisis, our company was still new and the real estate market pretty much tanked overnight.  Serious financial cuts were necessary.  We made a decision to bring our employees and agents into our process on what and how to cut costs.  The results were overwhelmingly positive.  Not only did we get buy-in from all concerned, we were able to move forward much more aggressively. In addition, we were able to do so with amazing team support.

On overcoming a “hero” mentality:

Still working on it!  But, I also realized early on, that I had teammates and family who were much better at many things and would do a much better job at many of “my” tasks!  It is humbling sometimes, but also factual!  In addition, how will others get better if you always try to shoulder everything?  You are doing no one a favor by always being the hero.

On managing emotions in business:

I don’t shoot from the hip in making decisions.  Being an emotional and passionate person with many opinions, I always step back and give myself a moment to process a decision.  Sometimes those moments are days and other times they are mere minutes.  People can confuse needing time with indecisiveness, which is not true in most cases.  By giving myself a bit of time, I can take the edge off my emotions and make sure I am making a sound decision that takes into consideration who and what the effect might take.

Her favorite blog / newsletter:

I absolutely love, Melinda French Gates “The Moments that Make Us ” series.  She has highlighted so many incredible women around topics such as Empowering Women, Courage, Handling Change, Perfectionism, Aging, and Caring about our place in the world.  And, so many more topics.

One woman she loves to hype:

I have been so fortunate to have so many mentors in my career and it continues to this day!  

Kimberlee Jeanes, was my first real partner in the real estate business.  She was thrust into the role to teach me as a new sales manager, went through the teenage years in management with me and finally became my partner in the business.  

We were quite different, but that was a good thing.  I was stupid nice in the beginning and she was very tough!  She told me at one point, she wasn’t sure if it was harder to get tougher or harder to mellow, but at some point we met in the middle and were better for it!  She trusted me with her vulnerability and I trusted her to understand and build on my strengths.  Kimberlee was an excellent communicator and the most creative teacher.  She taught me that I could be authentic while growing in a very male field.

Favorite advice to live by: “Luck favors the prepared mind.”

— Anita Head is an Advisor of The Helm. You can learn more about her here.