It seems like today the most important thing that we can accomplish is winning at everything we do no matter what the cost. Don’t get me wrong, I love to win. I have no beef with winning. What does bother me, however, is the feeling I get that too many define winning the wrong way. Winning should not be predicated upon one competitor completely vanquishing the other, nor does it mean not giving in an inch. Perhaps things are necessary in the game of war, but it’s not so in the game of life.
We don’t have to end up with all the gold on our side of the table to win; quite the contrary. I vividly recall learning this lesson firsthand nearly 50 years ago when I purchased my first investment property. I was in my early twenties, just married, and living in Lake Charles, Louisiana. My wife and I had no income beyond her schoolteacher’s salary as I had just begun my real estate career and was struggling to build a clientele.
One of my mentors was a very successful gentleman named Sam Lipsey. He had made his fortune in the lumber business and real estate development. Over the years he had amassed quite a large portfolio of residential rental properties.
One day Sam approached me and asked me to take a ride with him. He took me to one view three of his rentals. They were small but nice houses. All of them were currently occupied.
Sam told me that he wanted to sell me the properties. I replied that, while I really wanted to begin investing in real estate, I didn’t have any established credit and since I was just starting out and wasn’t generating much income, I doubted whether I could even get a loan. Sam smiled at me and replied, “Don’t worry, I’ll finance the whole thing.”
We went back to Sam’s office and he pulled out a piece of paper and started calculating. He wrote down the monthly rental income currently being generated and what expenses would be needed for taxes, insurance and repairs and maintenance. Then he deducted an additional amount of $300 per month for my profit. With what was left over he then calculated what loan amount that would support assuming a 6% interest rate on a 15-year term. He circled that number, put down his pencil, looked up at me smiling saying, “Billy-boy, that’s the price I want to sell to you for.”
I was taken aback and stumblingly replied, “Sam, that looks great, but you are being too generous! Surely you can sell these properties for more money and on better terms than this.”
I’ll never forget his response:
“Perhaps,” he said, “but that’s not the point. I assure you there is a profit for me in this price, but that satisfies only one of my obligations. Next, I have to make sure that it is a profitable venture for you. Did I not calculate enough monthly profit to satisfy you?”
“Of course,” I responded. “I am just concerned that you’re leaving money on the table.”
Again, he smiled and said, “a good deal is only truly good if it benefits both sides. The best negotiation is one in which both sides recognize that value has been exchanged and received. When everybody wins, we are all richer.”
The Prophet Mohammed teaches that “A true man’s wealth hereafter, is the good he does in this world to his fellow man. When he dies, people will say. ‘What property has he left behind him.’ But the angels will ask ‘What good deeds has he sent before him?’”
Trying to put yourself into another’s place; to share for a moment his or her feelings is often the starting point of compassion But, there’s more to true compassion than just emotion. To be truly compassionate, you have to do something not just feel something.
Sam Lipsey was a compassionate man. He was also the consummate winner, not only in life, but in the eyes of God. We all could stand to be a bit more like Sam.
For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the world, and lose his own soul? Or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul? – Mark 8:36-37
Have an AWE-full weekend!
William “Bill” Bacque