Leaders Are Here to Serve the Team, Not the Other Way Around
Michelle Gass, President and CEO of Levi Strauss & Co., sat down with NBC News' "Business in America" a few weeks ago, and it's a conversation worth revisiting. What she shared about leadership and culture lines up closely with how I try to lead here at CENTURY 21 Scheetz.
Evolving Without Losing the Core
One of the things Gass talked about is what it means to lead a brand with real history behind it. Levi's has been around since 1853. That kind of legacy comes with responsibility, and Gass has been clear that honoring it doesn't mean staying frozen in time. Her approach is to keep evolving and expanding the brand without losing what makes it recognizably Levi's in the first place.
That's a tension I think about constantly. CENTURY 21 Scheetz has its own legacy, built since 1976. Respecting where a company came from and pushing it forward aren't opposites. The best leadership holds both at once, protecting what's core while staying willing to change everything else.
Culture Built on Servant Leadership
Gass has also spoken elsewhere about servant leadership, and she's been careful to draw a distinction: servant leadership isn't about being soft. It means gathering the information, hearing the debate, and still having the clarity to make the call when the moment calls for a decision. That's not a contradiction. Getting input and having decisiveness aren't opposing skills — they're sequential ones.
I feel that same tension in my own leadership. Seeking to understand comes first, always. But understanding isn't the same as indecision. At some point, a leader has to take what they've learned and actually lead with it.
Creating Work Environments People Want to Be Part Of
What stood out most in the NBC interview was Gass's focus on building an environment that genuinely excites people — not just a workplace people tolerate. That's not a small distinction. A lot of leadership advice focuses on productivity or output. Fewer conversations focus on whether people actually want to show up.
That's the piece I find myself circling back to again and again. Clarity gives confidence, and confidence is what makes people want to stay and grow somewhere — not just perform there. Whether it's a 170-year-old denim company or a real estate company built here in Indiana, the fundamentals of leading people well don't really change.
It's a good reminder that great leadership doesn't look all that different industry to industry. It looks like clarity, consistency, and the willingness to evolve without losing sight of who you are.
At the end of the day, we're here to serve our team — not the other way around. That means never standing still, staying willing to innovate, and having the courage to be bold even when the safer path is tempting.
Leadership isn't about protecting a title. It's about creating the conditions for the people around you to do their best work.
If that's the kind of culture you're looking for in your real estate career, we'd love to connect.
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