‘Unfiltered’: Why NAR is focusing on ‘the $2B and above club’ 

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On this episode of Real Estate Insiders Unfiltered, industry icon Sherry Chris offers her take on the National Association of Realtors — from the perspective of a freshly appointed insider. 

Chris, after decades of executive leadership at Anywhere, began a new chapter of her career earlier this year when she stepped into the role of independent consultant and advisor to NAR CEO Nykia Wright. So far, she's been impressed with what she sees.

'Great conversations' with brokerage leaders: Since taking on the advisory role at NAR, Chris has been focused on talking to top brokerage leaders — "the $2 billion and above club" — a group that was "not really listened to in the past" since they represented a small share of NAR's membership. 

But the real estate landscape has changed, Chris said. "Over the past 20 years, we've gone from more of a small broker environment to very large companies that have very complex needs that are much different than, you know, a 20- or 30-person brokerage operation. And so we need to understand what those needs are and how we can complement what those companies and all companies are offering their agents."

On Nykia Wright's leadership style: Wright may be an industry outsider, but "she is a very decisive leader and she's a very intuitive leader," Chris said. "And so she goes into each situation — and believe me, we know that there are many — and assesses it quickly … and makes a decision as to what actions she's going to take." 

'A turnaround CEO': "When I look at what [Wright] is faced with, you know, finding a lot of money and various other things, that's what she's focused on. And that's what her area of expertise is. She's what we would call in business a turnaround CEO. She goes in and identifies things that need to be changed and changes them."

And "change did need to happen," Chris noted. Her philosophy — and Wright's: When something isn't working, "let it go or change it."

Six-month goals: "Number one, continuing to build the relationships, listen to the broker-owners, the $2 billion and above — but all of the brokerage community and all of the agent community — and listen to what they want and take that information back and make the necessary changes. So it really is a listening job."

Some of NAR's other priorities are hush-hush, Chris said, but "what I will say is that the decisions that are going to be made and changes that will happen are not being made haphazardly or on a whim. It's gathering all of the necessary information and making an informed decision. And that's how I'm working as well. … At the end of this year, I really, truly believe that we'll be looking back and saying, yes, we accomplished what we wanted to."

Is the industry at a crossroads? "I think we are," Chris said — or at least "we could be." Looking across the real estate landscape, "not just the brokers and the agents, but you look at the MLS, you look at the state associations, you look at the local associations … [Wright's] team needs to make sure that it all comes together in a way that it should. But yes, we could see incredible change — or not." 

Part of that team is NAR's first-ever industry relations director, Jarrod Grasso, who was hired in January. The appointment of Grasso is an example of how Wright "has her finger on the pulse of everything," Chris said. 

Leading with empathy: "When you talk about servant leadership and really serving the needs of the people that you're actually leading, that's one of the most important principles of it," Chris said.

"I do care very much about each and every one of them, and I care about the NAR team and the agents out there and the industry as a whole, which is why I'm doing this. I feel very fortunate to be able to [do this work] in the last stage of my career."