The Foundation of Leadership
Recently I had the privilege to visit the RealPage headquarters in Richardson, Texas for their Affordable Leadership Summit. The trip was meaningful for many reasons. After more than twenty years as a RealPage customer and advocate, it was my first opportunity to visit their headquarters in person, meet the people behind the platform, and connect with peers from across the country who share the same purpose: improving access, efficiency, and outcomes in affordable housing.
Among the many sessions and conversations, one stood out to me more than any other. Savas Karas spoke about leadership in a way that went far beyond business models or management frameworks. He spoke about leadership as a moral relationship built on trust, obligation, commitment, emotion, and shared vision.
He reminded us that leadership is not positional. It is relational and intentional.
That idea hit home because it reframes how many of us think about our roles. In property management, hierarchy is clear. Titles define responsibility. But titles do not automatically create trust. Relationships do. Intentionality does.
Three Sentences That Define Real Leadership
Savas distilled his message into three simple but profound commitments:
I care about you.
You can trust me.
I am committed to your success.
Those three statements form the foundation of every great team, regardless of industry or title. They also form the standard I have tried to hold myself to over two decades of leading people, properties, and portfolios.
Caring is not weakness. It is clarity. It shows up in how we listen, how we coach, and how we follow through. When people believe their leader genuinely cares about them, accountability becomes shared, not enforced.
Trust is built in moments of consistency. In how we answer questions directly. In how we communicate bad news without spin. In how we show up when things get messy. It is easy to lead when things go right. It is leadership when things go wrong.
Commitment to others’ success means putting people in positions to win, even if it takes more of your time. It means celebrating progress, not just outcomes. It means giving honest feedback when it matters most.
These three statements are not slogans. They are behaviors. And in property management, where burnout, turnover, and compliance pressure are constant, they matter more than ever.
Leadership as Relationship, Not Rank
Too often, leadership gets reduced to authority. But authority is situational. Influence is earned.
Relational leadership is built through daily choices: checking in with a site manager who looks overwhelmed, listening before you respond, following up on a promise that could easily be forgotten. These are the things that create loyalty, stability, and trust.
At the Summit, Savas challenged us to think of leadership not as a job description but as a moral relationship. That phrase resonated with me. A moral relationship implies accountability both ways. Leaders are accountable for the environment they create. Teams are accountable for how they show up within it.
When trust and care are real, standards rise naturally. You no longer need to demand excellence. People bring it because they feel ownership in the outcome.
Why It Matters in Property Management
Affordable housing is a mission-driven business operating under relentless pressure. Regulations shift, budgets tighten, and human needs remain constant. Under that kind of strain, leadership must be both strategic and human.
When a maintenance tech stays late to prepare a unit for move-in, when a compliance manager pulls one more report to meet a deadline, when a regional takes a call at 9 p.m. to calm a resident issue, those are leadership moments too. They happen at every level, and they all stem from the same foundation: care, trust, and commitment.
If you manage people, properties, or portfolios, your leadership is measured not by how much you control but by how much you empower. The most successful organizations in this field are not the ones with the most tools. They are the ones where people feel supported enough to use them well.
My Takeaway
When I left the RealPage Summit, I kept coming back to that single line: Leadership is not positional. It is relational and intentional.
It reminded me that every team member, from the home office to the front line, needs to know three things about their leader: that you care about them, that they can trust you, and that you are invested in their success.
It is not complicated. But it is rare.
And in an industry built on people serving people, those three truths might be the most important KPIs of all.
