When your major shareholder’s credit prevents you from IPO, what would you do? Part2

The previous part is as follows

When your major shareholder’s credit prevents you from IPO, what would you do?

Case: Felice, the president of a real estate value-up company, in her youth, was fascinated with the story of the skyscraper transaction in Manhattan, New York. She got involved in the real estate agent business, worked hard and started a company with co-owner Ben. Over the time, Felice had started arguing with Ben over the operation, management and profit sharing. Alex, a real estate owner, helped Felice and founded her new company. That new company has grown rapidly and is about to get IPO but the bank was reluctant due to the major shareholder Alex’s credit.

Felice asked Mr. Inamori* what to do.

“Give the company to Alex. Leave everything to him.” ,said Mr. Inamori

The reasons are following:

1 Becoming a giver, not a taker.

2 Staying away from the takers

3 Open up her heart and mind

4 Finding purified motivation

Today, 3-4 will be explained.

3 Open up her heart and mind

“Furthermore, I wanted you, Felice, to be aware of the fundamental reason why you brought about the personal contact with Alex, the person you call greedy, selfish, and ruthless. As you had the same nature in your mind, you eventually found him among many personal contacts. It is simply you who caused the current bad luck and troubles. If you would like to leave such a person and change your life completely in a different direction, you should accept less, get prepared for your next direction and work hard with a refreshed soul and mind.

I have always been telling you that the most important thing in business management is your mindset, humanity. We can say that management and life are determined by your mind.

It is our mindset to decide the direction of our lives, so if I am a person with an egoism and a strong sense of selfishness, and I am the person who thinks about me first and more important than others, I will proceed in a miserable direction. Your motivation drives your thoughts. Thoughts drive your action , thus, all the things happening in your life are ultimately derived from your mindset. Therefore, developing your mindset is very important. ”

4 Finding purified motivation

Both Felice and I are women and work in the same real estate industry.

However, when I read this article, I think that there is a big difference between us.

That is the motivation.

Felice got fascinated with real estate when she listened to the development story of the skyscraper in Manhattan, New York. She is a very much ambitious entrepreneur in that sense.

I personally feel that many real estate players / owners are very much ambitious people. Those who feel a sort of ecstasy when they get involved in huge deals have the same ambition. Look like a drug, and they never get satisfied with closing only one bid deal. To seek the bigger and the more prominent deal, the more money and resources will be invested towards them. They will pursue even greater satisfaction.

I think that both Felice and Alex were obsessed with such ambition. This can be of course the driving force to find good deals, so I think ambition is necessary in a sense. However, this can be the cause of the hell of gladiators.

I started real estate because my father got involved in a fraud case. My father got cheated and lost half of our real estate.

For me, having real estate knowledge and experience is a part of safety and security. I have never been excited in getting involved in a large deal.

No matter what I evaluate a detached house for tens of millions of yen, or if I evaluate more than 100 billion properties, my energy and enthusiasm are almost the same.

This attitude has been especially important for my client as I can always act neutral and never get seeking my own enthusiasm as a real estate player. Deal size is a sort of self demonstration of prestige. Of course, dealing with such a large property also increases commissions and consultation fees. Even though the broker itself is not a big name, he/ she might think that he/she is a great person, a high-level celebrity.

Felice recalled the conversation with Mr. Inamori. “Mr. Inamori said, it’s raining today and it’s such cold weather again, but it looks like everyone’s heartwarming by drinking a cup of cheap sake with boiled potatoes and listening to my story. When I heard that, I couldn’t stop crying.”

What made Felice cry? Until then, I think her life had been filled with money, stuffs, materials, desires driven by brokers’ ambitions. Felice found a simple fulfillment in Inamori’s word and opened up her heart. That’s why she spontaneously shed tears.

Regarding real estate, I am very grateful that I have never obsessed with either such showing-off desires or ambition. All that inspired me to enter this real estate industry was simply seeking safety and security. It may sound strange but now, I am sincerely grateful to our having cheated when I was a child. That is life indeed.

Further queries or doubts, please email to ytomizuka@abrilsjp.com

News Letter subscription is here