It’s time for an intervention

EDITOR’S COMMENT With four weeks left of 2022 it may feel a little premature to start making resolutions, but I have been inspired to act early. My resolution is to use everything I have in my arsenal of influence and the platform EG has to help change the reputation this industry has among so many. And to call on my fellow journalists and those with their own platforms to call out when the many are tainted by the few. My inspiration to act came from the opening line of a story last weekend in The Times. A paper to which many great journalists from the property trade press have transitioned. A paper that is full of great journalism. But a paper that, like many others, sometimes chooses headlines over hard truths. You probably saw it. A genuinely interesting story that began with the line: “In the champagne-soaked world of British property…” For now, we’ll leave aside this embarrassing trend of editorialising news stories – especially business news. There’s a place for that and it is in columns like this, not news stories. The first rule of news journalism is objectivity. Report on the facts, leave your opinions elsewhere. But I don’t want to get into an argument with the editors of The Times and others on their writing styles. The big issue here is that this view of real estate continues to persist. Yes, there is wealth in the property sector. Yes, there is champagne. MAPIC is on this week and there will be fun being had in the south of France with a few people probably drinking too much rosé. But this is not the real estate sector. It is certainly not the real estate sector I know. It is not the real estate sector that gathered at last week’s EG Future Leaders Summit to hear how our brightest thinkers – our leaders of tomorrow – want to make the world better and who shared pledges about what they would do to make real estate positively powerful. There was no pledge to make more money, to have more parties, to pop more champagne corks. It is not the real estate sector I am proud to say I am a part of. Yes, it is far from perfect, but it is also far from being champagne-soaked. Especially today. This sector is made up of so many different parts – from the big and shiny to the small and, quite honestly, sometimes dull. It is made up of a growing collection of people who don’t actually care that much about the dollar signs and fancy watches that many would have us believe are the key drivers for success in this sector. This industry is made up of people who care about the impact they can have on the communities they serve. It is made up of people who want to make a difference.  But this is an industry that is failing to get this message across. And it is failing miserably. Why? The actions I see from the many, every day, show me this is a professional sector. This is a caring sector. An open sector. A complex sector that has as many struggles as it does successes. I see no cigar-toting, champagne-swilling fat cats rubbing their hands as they count their cash and laugh at the misfortunes of others. One or two of them may well exist, but ask anyone in the sector whether they identify with that and I can assure you they will say no.  But something isn’t getting through. And it is time for an intervention. It is time for you to shout louder about the sector you actually are. It is time for you to push back when those who don’t know you stereotype you as something so marginalised it verges on the defamatory. I would love to do this for you. Here and through the pages of EG. And I will do what I can. But as much as anyone on the street can pick up an EG at WHSmith, our reach to the “normal” population is limited. This has to be on you. You have to gather, you have to invest to change your reputation from one that hurts the future of this industry and the power it has to deliver to one that showcases the good you deliver to all of us. Let’s make that resolution now. I’m in. Are you? To send feedback, e-mail samantha.mcclary@eg.co.uk or tweet @samanthamcclary or @EGPropertyNews