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Everybody Wins
Book

Everybody Wins

The Story and Lessons Behind RE/MAX

Wiley, 2004 more...

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Editorial Rating

6

Recommendation

The title of this 30-year history of the RE/MAX real estate firm is founder Dave Liniger’s corporate philosophy: "Everybody wins." Liniger is a maverick, so even this authorized history is exciting and instructive. Authors Phil Harkins and Keith Hollihan assert that RE/MAX, "never experienced a month of negative growth," although they include sagas of near bankruptcies and other crises. The book focuses on absorbing storytelling, not statistics or metrics. It is organized mostly by theme, which blurs the chronology. The authors spin or dismiss any Liniger missteps, such as his "naïve" failure to keep up with payroll taxes. They praise him as bold and risk-taking, including the quixotic year he devoted to trying to fly a hot air balloon - the RE/MAX symbol - into the stratosphere. The book is readable, although sometimes a bit sweet and simple. And, the authors love clichés ("He put his head down and threw himself into the job" - ouch). Nevertheless, getAbstract.com cheerfully recommends this peppy saga. Managers will find it refreshing and instructive to read about people who attribute their success to loyalty, collegiality, hands-on leadership, and the ability to work and play hard, from each agent’s office to the golf course and the boardroom.

Summary

Dave Liniger: Roots in the Midwest

Dave Liniger, the founder of RE/MAX real estate, was born in 1945 in the farming community of Marion, Indiana. His family valued physical labor, and he mowed their 10 acres every summer. Although clearly intelligent, he drifted through school, more interested in figuring out ways to earn money than in studying. He was particularly impressed by Napoleon Hill’s self-help classic, Think and Grow Rich, which claimed that people could succeed if they developed the right attitude and mental focus. Aimless and immature as a college freshman, Liniger dropped out after his first year and went to work for his father as a laborer. He quickly realized this was not for him, although his main interests at the time were, "hunting, fishing and girls (in that order)." He aspired to a prestigious, white-collar job and he got married. When his wife became pregnant, he joined the Air Force, which sounded glamorous to him. Even in 1968, he wrote to his parents, Vietnam was better than Indiana.

After his tour of duty, the Air Force stationed Liniger in Arizona. Forbidding his wife to work (a sexist attitude that he eventually changed), he supported his...

About the Authors

Phil Harkins is CEO of Linkage, Inc., an executive coaching and consulting company. A frequent speaker and article writer, he is also the author of Powerful Conversations, Click! and The Art and Practice of Leadership Coaching. Keith Hollihan co-edited The Art and Practice of Leadership Coaching and Enlightened Power.


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