At Epic Realty LA, we believe in making real estate accessible to everyone! We aim to guide you through the entire real estate journey, from step one to achieving financial freedom.
What makes Epic Realty LA special is how much we:
1. Encourage decision-making by employees
2. Share information openly, broadly, and deliberately
3. Communicate candidly and directly
4. Keep only our highly effective people
5. Avoid rules
We most value working with talented people in highly creative and productive ways. Our core philosophy is people over process, so we bring great people together as a dream team. Of course, any growing business requires some function and structure. But with our people-first approach, we can be more flexible, creative, and successful in everything we do.
Valued Behaviors
A company's values are shown by whom they hire, reward, or let go. Below are the specific behaviors and skills we care about most. If these values describe you and the people you want to work with, you will likely thrive at Epic Realty LA.
Judgment
Selflessness
Courage
Communication
Inclusion
Integrity
Passion
Innovation
Curiosity
It's easy to talk about valued behaviors; it's harder to live them. In describing courage, we say, "You question colleagues' actions inconsistent with these behaviors." We all work to keep each other accountable for living up to these standards, especially our leaders.
At Epic Realty LA, positive and constructive feedback is part of everyday life—not only an annual event. Meaningful feedback can be hard to give or accept. But like any new habit, it gets easier with practice. So we help people learn to give and receive feedback through coaching and modeling the behaviors we want to see across the company. It takes courage and selflessness to ask someone what you could be doing better or to ask yourself what feedback you have yet to share with a colleague. Both rely on trust and positive intent, so we invest time developing strong professional relationships. We know this level of openness can be incredibly challenging for new hires, people in parts of the world or cultures where direct feedback is uncommon, and if there's a power imbalance. But it is integral to strengthening as individuals and a company because it fuels our dream team.
A dream team is one in which all your colleagues are extraordinary at what they do and highly effective working together. Our version of a great workplace could be better perks, although we have many. It's about investing in a dream team of talented people excited to pursue ambitious shared goals. On our dream team, we encourage collaboration, share information, and discourage politics. There's lots of love, and there are demanding peers. How we learn, do our best work, improve the fastest, and have the most fun is exhilarating.
We model ourselves as being a professional sports team, not a family. A family is about unconditional love. A dream team is about pushing yourself to be the best possible teammate, caring intensely about your team, and knowing that you may not be on the team forever. Dream teams are about performance, not seniority or tenure. It is up to the manager to ensure that every player is impressive at their position, plays effectively with others, and is given new opportunities to develop. That's how we keep winning the championship. Unlike a sports team, the number of players grows as Epic Realty LA grows. We work to foster players from the development leagues so they can become the stars of tomorrow.
To strengthen our dream team, our managers use a "keeper test" for each of their people: if a team member was leaving for a similar role at another company, would the manager try to keep them? Those who do not pass the keeper test (i.e., their manager would not fight to keep them) —make an even better dream team. Being on a dream team is the thrill of a professional lifetime, and team members are incredibly supportive of each other. "You make time to help colleagues across Epic Realty LA succeed" is a valued behavior.
Managers communicate frequently with each team member, so surprises are rare. We encourage employees to check in with their manager anytime by asking, "How hard would you work to change my mind if I were thinking of leaving?"
Dream team members take informed risks, which require courage and encouragement from leaders and peers. We have many successes and failures, which is how we learn and why everyone is evaluated on their whole record (versus simply mistakes or bets that didn't pay off).
Loyalty is great as a stabilizer. Employees with a strong track record at Epic Realty LA get leeway if their performance takes a temporary dip or they are in a new role. Similarly, we want employees to stick with Epic Realty LA through any short-term dips the company may have. We don't believe in long-term allegiance to a stagnant company or an only-adequately-performing employee.
Our dream team has no brilliant jerks, as they are detrimental to great teamwork. We insist on decent human interactions, no matter how competent someone may be. When capable people work together well, they inspire each other to be more creative, productive, and ultimately more successful as a team than they could be individually.
Succeeding on a dream team is about being practical, not about working hard. Sustained "B" performance, despite an "A" for effort, gets a severance package with respect. Sustained "A" performance gets rewarded even with a more modest level of effort. Of course, to be great, most of us must put in considerable effort. But we don't measure someone's contribution by the hours they work.
Dream teams are only suitable for some. Some people prefer job security and work at companies that are more focused on stability and seniority and less rigorous about performance management. Our model works best for people who value excellence and the opportunities it provides.
You learn a lot at Epic Realty LA, working on complicated problems with stunning colleagues, and that increases your market value. Knowing that other companies would quickly hire you if you left Epic Realty LA is comforting. We see outside interviewing as acceptable and encourage employees to talk with their managers about what they learn. Ultimately, your ability to earn a high income is based on your skills and reputation rather than on your seniority at one company.
At some companies, people ignore trash on the floor, leaving it for someone else to pick up. At other companies, people lean down to pick it up, just like they would at home. We try hard to be a company where everyone feels responsible for improving us. Picking up the trash is a metaphor for taking care of problems, small and large, and never thinking, "That's someone else's job." Creating a sense of ownership helps this behavior come naturally.
Our goal is to inspire people more than manage them. We want our teams to do what is best for Epic Realty LA. This, in turn, generates a sense of responsibility, accountability, and self-discipline that drives us to do great work. Freedom is not the goal; it creates a strong sense of caring for Epic Realty LA so that people do what is best for the company.
In some organizations, there is an unhealthy emphasis on process and little freedom. These organizations didn't start that way, but the Python process squeezed harder whenever something went wrong. Specifically, many organizations have freedom and responsibility when they are small, and everyone knows each other. However, As they grow, their business gets more complex, and sometimes the level of passion and talent decreases.
As the informal, smooth-running organization breaks down, pockets of chaos emerge. At this point, the general outcry is to "grow up" and add processes to reduce the mess. As rules and procedures proliferate, more value is placed on following the rules. The system is dummy-proofed, and creative thinkers are told to stop questioning the status quo. This kind of organization may be specialized and well-adapted to its business model. However, over 10 to 100 years, the business model inevitably has to change, and most of these companies need help to adapt.
To avoid this, we work hard to maintain employee excellence and keep our business as simple as possible, given our growth ambitions. We want to be a company of self-disciplined, accountable people who discover and fix issues without being told to do so.
Some examples of our unusual amounts of employee freedom:
This much freedom would lead to chaos. Instead, it has created an incredibly successful business model over the last 10 years. The lesson is you only need policies for some things. You can be groundbreaking without them. Freedom can (and does) lead to chaos when we fail to couple it with a strong sense of responsibility. That is why freedom and responsibility go together.
Freedom also doesn't mean your managers are not involved in your work. Getting input from leaders, peers, or direct reports improves decision-making. It's another example of how freedom can't exist without responsibility.
There are a few important exceptions to our anti-rules, pro-freedom philosophy. We are strict about ethical and safety issues. We have no tolerance for harassment of employees or trading on insider information, for example. We also have strict controls around our members' payment information. But these are all edge cases.
In general, freedom and rapid recovery are better than trying to prevent error. We are in a creative business, and our biggest threat over time is a need for more innovation. So we are relatively error tolerant except where safety is an issue—and we focus on ensuring that error prevention efforts don't limit inventive, creative work. Rapid recovery is possible if people have great judgment.
Over the years, some employees have taken advantage of this freedom in various unfortunate ways. But those are the exceptions, and we try to avoid over-correcting. Just because a few people abuse their independence doesn't mean the rest of our employees aren't worthy of great trust.
Some processes are about increased productivity rather than error avoidance. One technique we do well is purposeful, scheduled meetings. We plan an agenda, considering what needs synchronous discussion versus what can be done offline. We use these meetings to learn from each other and get more done rather than prevent mistakes or approve tactical decisions.
For every significant decision, we identify an informed ship captain who is an expert in their area. They are responsible for listening to other people's views and making a judgment call on the right way forward. We avoid decisions by committee, which would slow us down and diffuse responsibility. It is sometimes challenging and always meaningful to agree up front on who is the informed captain for a project.
The captain farms for dissent and other alternatives on significant strategic issues to ensure they are truly informed. Disagreement can be difficult, which is why we make an effort to stimulate discussion. Often, groups will meet to debate topics. But then the captain needs to decide.
We don't wait for consensus or vote by the committee, nor do we drive to rapid, uninformed decision-making. Small decisions may be shared by email, while large ones merit a memo discussing the various positions and why the informed captain made that decision. The bigger the decision, the more extensive the debate. Afterward, as the impact becomes more transparent, we reflect on the decision and see how we could do even better in the future.
Employees who disagree on a critical open issue must explain why, ideally in person and in writing. Discussion clarifies the different views, and a concise report of the core issues helps people reflect on the wise course. It also makes it easier to share opinions openly and widely.
The informed captain on that decision is responsible for welcoming, understanding, and considering the different statements (aka farming for dissent), even if they disagree. Once the informed captain makes a decision, we expect everyone—including those who are opposed—to commit and help make the outcome as successful as possible.
Our members want to see various stories and people on screen—and our company and leadership should reflect that diversity. Like our members, our employees have unique perspectives based on their backgrounds and experience.
We have evolved our employee and leadership diversity to be some of the best in our industry, and we'll continue to improve so that everyone feels a sense of belonging at Epic Realty LA.
We strive to develop good decision-making muscles across our company. We pride ourselves on how few, not how many, decisions our senior managers make. That said, we don't believe in hands-off management. Each leader's role is to coach, set context, give suggestions and feedback, and be highly informed about their team's work. Rather than micro-managing small decisions, leaders can explore the details of different projects. This information can then be used to set better context for their teams, so more decisions are made well. Epic Realty LA is most effective and innovative when employees across the company create and own choices.
Fewer management layers make us more agile. Our "context, not control" culture works best when leaders manage many direct reports, giving each employee sufficient autonomy to do their life's best work. Sometimes we have smaller teams due to specialization or sub-scale environments, but those should be exceptions, not the norm. Generally, leaders find between six and twelve direct reports a good balance between too many layers and too little time to add value.
There are some exceptions to "context, not control." For example, when: it's an urgent situation, and there is not enough time to develop and share context; a new team member hasn't yet absorbed enough context to be confident; it's recognized that the wrong person is in a decision-making role (temporarily, no doubt); or a clear ethical or compliance breach needs to be stopped.
As companies grow, they can become highly formal and inflexible. Negative symptoms include:
We avoid this by being highly aligned and loosely coupled. We spend lots of time debating and writing down strategy and context and then trust each other to execute tactics without prior approval. Often, two groups working on the same goals need to learn the details of or have support over the other's activities. If something doesn't seem right later, let's candidly discuss it. The strategy may need to be more specific (i.e., insufficient context), or the tactics must be aligned with the agreed design. And we discuss how we can do better in the future.
The success of a highly aligned, loosely coupled work environment depends on talented individuals working well together and setting practical contexts. Ultimately, the goal is to grow the business for an enormous impact while increasing flexibility and agility. So we seek to stay fast and agile, even as we grow.
Beyond honesty in our day-to-day interactions, we act honorably, even when no one is looking. One test we use is to ask whether we would be ashamed if our actions were made public—and avoid doing anything where the answer would be yes.
Separately, we want to keep lots of information confidential because it is commercially sensitive. We expect all employees to protect personal company information, whether or not it is marked "confidential."
Epic Realty LA donates tens of millions of dollars to worthy causes worldwide annually. Instead of leadership picking particular reasons, we do this through a two-to-one employee match. When an employee donates to a charitable group, Epic Realty LA donates double that amount to the same group. This democratizes our giving decisions and incentivizes employees to support causes they're passionate about.
We do not seek to preserve our culture—we strive to improve it. Every new employee helps to shape and evolve the culture, so we find new ways to accomplish more together. We are learning faster than ever because we have more dedicated people with diverse perspectives working to excel as the dream team.
That cultural excellence propels our business excellence, which increases member satisfaction and, in turn, pushes our long-term growth and stock price. It's how we build an extraordinarily successful company entertaining the world.
Summary
As we wrote in the beginning, what is unique about Epic Realty LA is how much we:
1. Encourage decision-making by employees
2. Share information openly, broadly, and deliberately
3. Communicate candidly and directly
4. Keep only our highly effective people
5. Avoid rules