How to fix MLS governance, with realism thrown out the window.
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Those newer to Notorious ROB and to me likely do not know that I have been working to reform MLS governance for… oh… over a decade now. Maybe longer. Some of those efforts have borne some fruit for clients over the years.
I want to revisit this topic, but from an “Idea Factory” perspective. What do I mean by that? I mean that given the MLS is all over the news these days, given the turmoil centered around the MLS, and given all of the changes over the years, I want to throw out realism.
Years ago, when I was newer to the whole consulting thing, Stefan Swanepoel once told me that I was recommending things to my clients that they couldn’t even wrap their brains around, never mind implement. He suggested that I give them something possible to do. I really appreciated that advice, and Stefan is a very very wise man. Sadly, I could not take his advice because I am not all that wise in many ways (Sunny can back me up on this) and prefer brutal honesty to palatable 10% measures.
Governance remains broken across most of the 480ish MLSs in the country today. That broken governance contributes enormously to the dysfunction in and around the MLS and in the industry itself. I have spent years and years trying to diagnose the problem, and come up with solutions. Most of them are quite unpalatable to those in charge of the MLS today. I get it.
But perhaps for the sake of posterity, for those leaders who will come after whatever comes next, or maybe just for a selfish intellectual exercise, allow me to offer some unrealistic ideas for how to fix MLS governance. This post is not likely relevant to many of you, but for some of you, especially those who are VIP members, it might trigger some thinking and that is the goal.
Let’s get into it.