After years working with team directors in Spain and Latin America I have reached a conclusion that initially made me uncomfortable but that over time has become inevitable. Not all directors who say they want to grow are in a position to do so. Not because they lack talent. Not because the market is not cooperating. But because the starting point from which they operate makes certain conversations, tools and growth processes simply incompatible with their current moment. Over time I have identified three profiles.
The First Type: The Closed-Minded Director
This profile is the easiest to identify from the outside and the hardest to recognize from the inside. Their defining trait is a rigidity that functions as a shield. They have an explanation for everything that does not work — and that explanation never has their name in it. The market is bad. Agents today are not like they used to be. Competition plays dirty. It is not that they lie deliberately. It is that they have built a system for interpreting reality that keeps them safe from the only question that truly matters: what part of this depends on me?
With this profile, coaching does not work. Not because the tool fails, but because the essential ingredient for any growth process — openness to being challenged — is simply not available. The closed-minded director does not need a coach. They need a crisis large enough to break through the shield.
The Second Type: The Conscious But Paralyzed Director
This is the most frequent profile. The conscious but paralyzed director knows everything. They know they need to systematize prospecting. They know there are conversations pending with agents who have not been performing for months. They know they should invest in their development as a leader. And they do nothing. Not from laziness — that is the most common misunderstanding about this profile. But because between knowledge and action there is a gap they cannot cross.
This director attends training and leaves motivated. For two or three days they apply what they learned. Then daily routine absorbs everything and returns to the starting point. The cycle repeats. Frustration grows. With this profile coaching can work, but it requires one condition: that the director decides, consciously and with real consequences, that the cost of staying the same exceeds the cost of changing.
The Third Type: The Director Who Acts
This profile is not necessarily the most experienced. They do not always have the largest team or the highest numbers. What they have is a different relationship with the discomfort of growth. When something does not work, their first question is not who is to blame but what needs to change. When they receive feedback that contradicts their way of doing things, they do not defend — they listen, process, and decide.
It is not that they have no ego. It is that they have learned their ego is less important than their results. With this profile, coaching generates results that seem disproportionate to the time invested. Not because the tool is magic. But because when the right tool reaches the right hands, the multiplier effect is real.
The Question That Changes Everything
There is one question I always ask before starting any work process with a real estate director: What are you willing to change for your business to be different? Not what you want to change. Not what you think should change in the market, the team, or the clients. What you are willing to change. The answer tells me, with a precision that no longer surprises me, which of the three profiles we are in.
Want to know where you are really operating from and what your business needs to grow? Let's talk.
