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Years ago, I was selling new homes in Poinciana.
A young couple walked into my sales center.
Jose and his wife, Jessie.
They were young, expecting a baby, and Jose already seemed frustrated before we really started talking.
I asked whether they'd been in before.
He told me no.
Then, pretty sarcastically, he added something like:
“But I've been everywhere else, and nobody can sell me a house.”
There were probably fourteen builders competing in that area at the time.
So when he said everywhere...
he pretty much meant everywhere.
I didn't know it then, but that conversation would eventually teach me something about leadership that I've carried with me ever since.
The Credit Report Came Back With Nothing
We pulled their credit.
Jose didn't have bad credit.
He had no credit.
No score came back.
Jessie didn't really have established credit either.
As we started talking, I realized something.
Nobody had taught them.
Nobody had explained how credit worked.
Nobody had sat them down and taught them how a credit score gets built, how debt-to-income works, how to create a budget, or how the decisions they made today would affect whether they could buy a home later.
And this was Poinciana.
For many of the customers we worked with, our job had become much more than selling houses.
Sometimes we became teachers.
Credit.
Budgets.
Expenses.
Debt.
Savings.
Things some of us assume everybody learns somewhere.
A lot of people don't.
Jose and Jessie weren't ready to buy a house that day.
That part was obvious.
But there's a difference between:
They're not ready.
and
They'll never be ready.
A Snapshot Isn't the Whole Story
This is something I've learned over years of leading people.
Performance matters.
I'm a sales leader.
Believe me, I look at numbers.
Conversion matters.
Results matter.
Accountability matters.
But numbers tell you where someone is.
They don't always tell you why they're there.
And they certainly don't tell you everything about where they could go.
Jose's credit report was accurate.
It told me he couldn't buy a house that day.
But it couldn't tell me whether he was teachable.
It couldn't measure determination.
It couldn't tell me what would happen if somebody finally showed him how the system worked.
That's where leadership starts getting interesting.
Because great leaders have to learn to see two things at the same time:
who someone is today
and
who they could become tomorrow.
So We Started Teaching
Instead of ending the conversation, we started talking.
We talked about secured credit cards.
Authorized users.
Budgets.
Expenses.
Debt-to-income.
How lenders looked at their finances.
What they would need to change.
What they could start doing now.
None of that was going to give me a sale that afternoon.
And somebody around me basically thought I was wasting my time.
From a certain perspective, I understand it.
Salespeople are supposed to sell.
They couldn't buy.
Move on.
Find somebody who can.
But something about that never sat right with me.
Because I wasn't looking at two people who couldn't buy a house.
I was looking at two people who didn't know how yet.
Those are very different things.
So I followed up.
Not every day.
Not with: “Are you ready to buy yet?”
I stayed connected.
Because development takes time.
“Not Yet” Is Different From “Never”
I think leaders get this wrong all the time.
Someone isn't performing, so we label them.
They're not a leader.
They're not sales material.
They're not confident enough.
They're not ready.
Maybe.
But before I decide that, I want to know something else:
Have they been taught?
Have expectations been made clear?
Have they been coached?
Have they had an opportunity to practice?
Does somebody actually believe they can improve?
Because sometimes we're judging people for failing a test nobody ever taught them how to pass.
That's what was happening with Jose.
His credit wasn't a character problem.
It was largely an education problem.
Education problems can be addressed.
Potential Isn't Performance
I think about potential in three stages now.
Potential is possibility.
It's what might be there.
Development is the work.
Coaching. Teaching. Practice. Accountability. Repetition.
Performance is the evidence.
It's where all that development eventually becomes visible.
And here's the mistake leaders make:
We want performance without development.
We want somebody to arrive already finished.
But that's not leadership.
That's recruiting.
Leadership begins when you take responsibility for helping somebody grow.
Believing in People Isn't Enough
There's another side to this.
I'm big on believing in people.
But belief by itself doesn't develop anybody.
If I had told Jose:
“Man, I believe in you. You're going to own a house one day!”
and then sent him home...
what exactly did I accomplish?
He still wouldn't know how credit worked.
Encouragement matters.
But encouragement without direction eventually becomes noise.
People need somebody who believes in them and somebody willing to tell them the truth.
Here's where you are.
Here's where you need to go.
Here's what's standing between those two places.
Let's work on it.
That's mentorship.
That's coaching.
That's leadership.
Seeing Potential Doesn't Mean Ignoring Reality
Now, let me balance this.
Because I've also led people long enough to know that not every situation becomes a success story.
Some people have potential and refuse to develop it.
Some don't take coaching.
Some don't want accountability.
Some people are simply in the wrong seat.
Leadership isn't pretending everybody is secretly a superstar.
And believing in someone doesn't mean lowering the standard.
Actually, I think the opposite is true.
Sometimes holding somebody to a higher standard is evidence that you believe they can reach it.
There comes a point where the person you're developing has to take ownership.
You can't want someone's growth more than they do forever.
So seeing potential isn't ignoring performance.
It's refusing to let today's performance become someone's permanent identity.
The Part I've Never Forgotten
I've closed a lot of homes over the years.
I don't remember every transaction.
I don't remember every contract.
But I remember people.
I remember Jose and Jessie sitting across from me.
I remember that credit report.
And I remember learning something that eventually became much bigger than selling houses.
People are more than the number in front of you.
The salesperson struggling today may become your strongest producer.
The employee who lacks confidence may become an incredible leader.
The young person who doesn't know how to do something may simply need someone willing to teach them.
And sometimes the person everybody else has already decided isn't worth the time...
just hasn't met the person willing to invest the time yet.
That's leadership.
Not pretending the numbers don't matter.
Not ignoring reality.
Seeing reality clearly...
and still being able to see beyond it.
Because performance tells you where someone is.
Leadership asks a different question:
Where could they go from here?
And sometimes the greatest thing a leader can see in somebody...
is something that isn't visible yet.
