Kathy Braddock is a managing director at William Raveis New York City, the 100th office of William Raveis Real Estate, Mortgage & Insurance, the largest family-owned residential real estate company in the Northeast. During her 30-plus years in the real estate industry, her business savvy and entrepreneurial spirit has helped build and form some of New York’s most distinguished real estate firms, including Rutenberg Realty, which she co-founded and grew from the ground up, with zero agents, into the sixth-largest residential brokerage in New York City, and Douglas Elliman (DE), for which she served as an executive managing director and general sales manager. The Distracted Executive: You are clearly very successful! Can you give my readers your #1 strategy for keeping all the balls in the air at the same time? What do you do?
Kathy Braddock: I start with an old fashioned to-do list; As I complete a task I put a line through it. As well, I try to calculate how long a task will take, and therefore I know how much time I have left to devote to other projects. I also know what my strengths and weaknesses are, so I try to delegate the tasks that I don't think are the best use of my time. And if I have to do something that I really hate, I reward myself at the end.
TDE: You work with brokers and salespeople all day long. How do you keep them motivated to keep producing for you?
KB: By focusing on their strengths and weaknesses. I try to teach them to work the way that I do. Coaching them to constantly think of themselves as their own brand. Making them reach out to their sphere of influence and not think about all the other brokers out there. Putting blinders on them so that they simply focus on themselves.
TDE: What is your favorite way to communicate in business these days and why?
KB: I believe in face-to-face communication and following up on the phone. Email is for confirming a time to meet, not much more. Many things get screwed up in email communication. You really can't tell the tone or the intent of the sender.
TDE: How do you deal with interruptions during the day? What do you do to get re-focused and on track?
KB: I ask someone to wait a minute while I finish up. I jot down where I left off and then resume. Sometimes I take a snack break to get re-focused or just push through. Again, a simple personal reward sometimes works.
You can reach Kathy by email at Kathy.Braddock@raveis.com.