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In early 2020, Coldwell Banker Realty launched the “What Moves Her” advocacy campaign to support leadership and professional development for women in the real estate industry.
Now in its fifth year, the campaign, led by Anywhere Brands President and CEO Sue Yannaccone and “What Moves Her” Chair and Coldwell Banker Realty National Vice President of Marketing Lindsay Listanski, has more than 7,000 members across the country as well as 10 active local chapters.
The program also expanded last year with the launch of the “What Moves Her” podcast, which currently has 31 episodes featuring leaders across the industry, and with the creation of two annual awards. The “EmpowerHER” award celebrates women in real estate who have shown outstanding leadership and the “Moved By Her Power” award recognizes women leaders who have made a strong impact in their communities.
As “What Moves Her” celebrates its fifth anniversary, Inman caught up with Yannaccone to discuss how far the industry has come in terms of supporting women in their careers and where there’s still room for improvement. Here’s what she had to say, edited for brevity and clarity.
Inman: When you think about ‘What Moves Her’ and the campaign’s growth over the last five years, what are you most proud of?
Sue Yannaccone: There are so many things, but I’m proud of the level of reach that we’ve had, and the number of people across the industry who have embraced the opportunity to connect, to elevate and engage in conversations. Some specific examples are where I’ve had the opportunity to meet with people who listened to a podcast or focused on, for example, using your voice or gaining confidence, and it’s given them the confidence to go and ask for something. Or a young woman who works in our office who has said, ‘I always wanted to go after X, Y or Z, and just being part of ‘What Moves Her’ has given me the confidence, the relationships and the community, to feel confident in reaching out.’
So I think it’s reaching people at very different levels in their careers but giving them support and a voice. I think it’s also been a great platform for us to continue to be vocal about changes and things that we need to keep a spotlight on within the industry and business at large to drive meaningful growth.
And just in terms of the growth of the program, a press release I saw mentioned some international growth. Could you share more about that?
As we’ve expanded ‘What Moves Her’ from originally, what was focused in Coldwell Banker Realty to all of Anywhere brands and the entire industry, we’ve seen a lot of growth both within our national community and we’ve had a lot of growth within what we started focusing on towards the end of last year, which were these local communities across multiple brands.
So we have upwards of 10 local communities within each of our brands, whether it be Sotheby’s International Realty or Century 21, that are spearheading the local expansion of ‘What Moves Her’ in their marketplace. And we’ve had that from the beginning, but we’ve been really more focused on developing that opportunity, giving assets and learnings and pulling those groups together.
Because we are an international company and our brands have reach globally, we get in front of our customers who are then saying, ‘How can we bring this internationally? What does that look like in whatever market we may be expanding to, whether it be Europe or the islands or wherever?’ And so we are continuing to work on that, and we leverage that through our events and other things where we get to connect with these people and just bring ‘What Moves Her’ globally.
Okay, so sounds like it’s something that’s in progress.
Yeah, we definitely have the conversations going with some of our international affiliates and what that looks like. And we do have some who dial in now and participate in the call, so it’s more activating them internationally as we grow.
Great. I wanted to touch on how the culture has changed in the industry in recent years insofar as how it relates to women. We had some scandals at NAR, for instance, with the leadership there and the sexual harassment allegations that came to light, and now as of this year, we have NAR’s first female CEO in Nykia Wright. So I just wanted to touch base on how you feel like the culture is now. Do you think it’s moving in a positive direction? Are there still areas where we should be moving in a more positive direction?
I’m excited about the direction that I see the industry going in from an openness and a willingness to have conversations. I am not proud of some of the things that have come to light, various scandals, as you alluded to, and other things as an industry, but we have to be at least aware of the fact that these things are now being brought forth, and women are speaking up and acknowledging ‘Hey, this is not okay.’ And the way in which the media is reacting, leadership is reacting. They’re addressing this head-on, it’s not being swept under the rug. That, to me, is a testament to a pivot in a culture that is kind of saying ‘Enough.’
I think just the fact that women are raising concerns now speaks volumes when you consider that part of what they’re saying is, ‘I never felt comfortable doing this before,’ so I think there is an openness to the conversations, and what we have to continue to see are more leaders calling for and rooting out issues and [taking] swift action when there are opportunities to do so. And none of these issues occur in a vacuum. So we have to look at the totality of the landscape and understand how we can continue to effectively have conversations, education, awareness on these types of things to improve the entire industry.
But you know, we’re not done. Obviously, you’re never done showing people respect and giving them the comfort in being who they are and showing up to feel safe and supported in their work environment. But I think we’ve had a lot more open conversations, and I think people feel better about doing so.
Good. So just to dig in a bit more on the future with these issues, what more can the industry do to address lingering challenges when it comes to women in real estate?
Yeah, it really has to be both a top-down and a bottom-up conversation. I am proud that I’ve been able to use my platform, my position, to elevate different voices in the room, elevate pathways to leadership, stand for what I believe in. But, I don’t want to be the only voice out there, and I know there are others, but we’re a big industry, and I think it comes from our companies taking an active look at how they handle situations and how they’re addressing things.
We have to continue to focus on education and awareness of things like, what does ‘harassment’ mean? Or what does ‘inequality’ mean? And we’re a fragmented business, so it’s harder to drive that change of culture, but it is really important, and it’s each individual being allies for other people in the space and making room for the tough conversations and having low-to-no-tolerance for things that go wrong. That’s leadership, and that’s what we need to see across the board. You mentioned some change in leadership at certain places, and I think as we see more and more of that awareness and education from existing folks and then new voices around the table, we’re just going to continue to shift that dynamic.
Great.
I think it’s important also to lean outside of our industry to see what other businesses are doing, what other industries are doing, how they’re addressing these challenges and these opportunities, and not being so in a vacuum on what’s happening, and understand the greater context of the workplace environment.
Speaking of that, we’ve seen a bit of a crackdown on diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives with the new presidential administration, and I feel like Anywhere has this history of elevating those diverse voices and having a more diverse leadership team. Do you feel like there’s any threat to your existing culture because of this crackdown, or is there any way that you have to kind of adjust because of it?
I’m really proud of the diversity within our organization. Fifty percent of our executive management team is women. Seventy percent of all of our employees globally are women. And we have a strong foundation of females that own our franchise businesses, and so we have a very diverse culture, and not just women, but across all communities.
I think the important thing is that you focus on doing what’s right. And we have a history — this has been a part of who Anywhere is for a long time — of supporting our diversity partners, being part of the industry drive for change. And for me, it’s about constantly giving the opportunity. It’s about giving opportunity equitably to all to earn their role, their spot, their place. So it’s performance-based and results-based, but with an opportunity for all. And that’s a little bit of this leveling conversation that is a bit different.
So, for me, it’s not about the letters or the words in front of a program or whatever, but it is about not being swayed to swing pendulums too far one way or the other, and rather, consistently doing the right thing for the business and for your people. So I don’t see it changing our culture, because this is who we’ve always been, and you don’t need the letters or the programs to support that. You just have to have the focus on giving equal opportunity for folks to earn their positions within a company and within an organization.
With these directives coming down from the administration, have people who are members of diverse groups at Anywhere expressed concerns to you about these changes, or look to you for support?
I think whenever there’s a change within anything, whether it be the political landscape [or otherwise], employees have questions and they’re looking for guidance and support, and we have a very transparent and open conversation within our company, meaning, people have an opportunity to raise questions. We just do our best to be transparent and honest and say that we are going to continue with our programs as we have in support of an equitable workplace environment for all.
People are always asking questions, whether it’s this part of the political landscape that’s changing or that part of the political landscape that’s changing, and I think it’s hard when you’re faced with such change that is so personal in nature. But we make for an open workplace where you can have those conversations, and support our employees and how they feel on all sides of the issues.
Great. I also wanted to talk a little bit about the market. We’re getting closer to spring, and things may be gearing up. What are you expecting this spring?
I think what I’m expecting, what I’m asking everyone to focus on, is that, we don’t know — there is no crystal ball.
We still are living in an environment with constrained supply and a lot of demand. I think folks were hoping that interest rates would maybe come down. I always say, ‘Hope is not a strategy.’ So what I’m looking for in the spring market and going forward — and every market is different — but when you look nationally, you’ve got to think about helping people understand affordability today and what that looks like, because people still are going to have to move. There is still business to be done.
However, financing options may be different. You know, getting creative financing, partnering with lenders to understand the options for your consumer. How do you want to think about your monthly payment versus the interest rate? So, I think there’s going to be business to be done. There’s still pent-up demand. It’s going to be a focus on agents who are well-versed in how to navigate the financing piece of this and the inventory issues, really being able to deliver for their consumers.
Got it. So, if you think about the pulse of agents right now, do they generally seem optimistic or pessimistic or somewhere in between?
Agents are usually pretty optimistic, which I love. It makes the job kind of fun. I was on the phone with a couple of affiliates today and talking about what’s going on in their market. And agents are focused on getting to work. We had a year of tremendous change last year with industry practices, etc. Agents are focused on getting back to basics and really connecting with their consumers. They feel positive by and large, and that’s, I think, by nature.
But also when you’re in this business and you’re successful, you have a positive outlook, because you’re working your pipeline, you’re connecting with your sphere, you’re connecting with clients, and you know how to move the inventory in your marketplace. So, pretty positive out there as they look forward to the spring market and seeing what comes.
Is there anything else you’d like to comment on?
As it relates to this topic and everything going on, in summary, we want to continue to be a voice for women in real estate and for all individuals in real estate, focusing on creating an opportunity for all of those highly talented people out there, regardless of their background. This is an industry that is focused on helping consumers achieve their goals of homeownership. And all consumers across all spectrums deserve to have that access to homeownership, and they deserve to be served by people who are focused on doing the right thing and are the right person for the job, whether that be an agent or a company or an employee.
For me, it’s about leveling the playing field and giving all those the opportunity to earn the customer’s business and earn their place. I think it’s an exciting time for people to lean into their unique skill sets and take advantage of the opportunity ahead, because I think a lot of people will be afraid, and there’s a lot of business to be done.
