With the current state of the mortgage industry, and the word bailout being used in every other sentence it is no wonder that many are pointing the finger at the mortgage industry. There is plenty of blame to go around. Is mortgage industry leadership to blame for the current crisis or is leadership the answer to the problem?
Renowned leadership expert John C. Maxwell states that “everything rises and falls on leadership”. The case can be made that the leadership or should I say lack thereof is a major cause of the current mortgage crisis. One would not be hard pressed to come up with numerous examples over the last year, where poor leadership, greed, lack of direction and insight were reasons for the fall in the mortgage industry. These examples would clearly support Maxwell’s statement.
But if Maxwell is correct, that “everything rises and falls on leadership”, then isn’t leadership what will allow the mortgage industry to rise again?
Therefore, one of the most critical challenges emerging in the mortgage business is the issue of leadership. The transformation of the mortgage industry necessitates new ways of handling mortgages, and hence, the need for new leadership. Innovative leadership strategies are required in the mortgage industry if organizations are to succeed in an increasingly volatile and ever changing market environment.
Leaders are challenged with having to do more with less. A number of vendors and lenders have downsized significantly over the last twelve months. There are fewer resources, both financially and in human capital, to deal with the situation at hand. These include a significant increase in regulations, heightened scrutiny, lack of consumer confidence, negative equity, and falling home values to name a few. Add in security issues, changing technology, financial pressure to survive, and you can clearly see the need for innovative leadership.
Innovative leadership allows us to focus on what is possible. It brings people and organizations together to help us achieve more than we ever imagined we could do by ourselves.
The opportunity for this type of innovative leadership will need to be present at all levels of the industry. From start-ups, to long standing institutions, to five-employee vendor firms and even reaching the largest vendor conglomerates.
This innovative leadership will need to look for ways to do things better/smarter instead of just taking an archaic way of processing loans and making them electronic. It will challenge the current status quo. Instead of just jumping on the bandwagon to modify loans, leaders will actually work to identify potential troubled borrowers before they even fall into foreclosure. Yes-that will be key!
The problems, issues and lack of leadership in the mortgage industry are significant, but not insurmountable. These times present opportunities to redefine the mortgage process, improve the customer experience and restore consumer confidence with innovative leadership.
While there is plenty of blame to pass around due to the lack of leadership, I for one welcome the opportunities that lay ahead for innovative leadership strategies.
Please share what innovative leadership strategies that you have incorporated, when responding to the current market conditions.
