I had an interesting incident with another agent recently. I wrote about that in another post. When I wrote it I promised to reflect in a later post on some of the larger industry issues involved.

In many professions there's a tension between the desire to protect the public and the desire to protect the members of that profession. And so, while the Hippocratic oath has doctors promising to "First do no harm" there is also a very strong taboo against criticism of other doctors.

It's really no different in real estate. (Although the stakes are a lot lower!) Part of our code of ethics says that we'll speak no ill of another agent. And, most agents are careful to adhere to that. I have no problem with not indulging in idle gossip about my peers. And, it's certainly much too easy in a very competitive industry to decide it's your job to cast aspersions at those you deem less "professional" than yourself.

But you can carry this too far. It's a thin line you walk and I think we've leaned too far towards protecting our colleagues at the expense of protecting the public. When another agent thinks I have a greater responsibility to protect her and her business than to be honest with the consumer, I think it's a problem.

The thinking in the industry is that my responsibility is to clients who have hired me. The agency relationship with them obligates me to put their interests first. However, even to a customer (otherwise known as the general public) I still owe the duty of honesty.

You can ask whether "honesty" is defined by answering direct questions with honest information or whether it obligates volunteering information for which we weren't directly asked. I'm going to suggest that splitting such hairs is the kind of behavior that makes real estate agents rank very poorly in polls that gauge trust by profession.

As I said, the line is thin. But I think it's time to start leaning the other way!

I got a call yesterday from another agent. This gentleman has been in the business a long time and is very successful. And yet, he's always eager to learn more and he's open to learning from anyone and everyone. I've always been impressed with this man's professionalism.

He called me because a former client was ready to make a move but was worried about using his services. You see this man is in a business networking group with me and felt bad about not giving me the business. But his family's relationship with this agent goes back decades.

I was touched by the call for a couple of reasons. First of all, the other agent certainly didn't need to call me and see if I was OK with his working with this family. But it was certainly courteous and generous of him to do so. We had a great chat and I was happy to tell him that I'm a firm believer in abundance and that there's plenty of business out there without fighting over it!

And I was honored that his client respected me enough and valued our relationship enough to worry about offending me by taking his business elsewhere. I'd love to have his business, don't get me wrong! But no networking group is going to replace decades of loyalty and good service!

These are two great guys trying to do the right thing, the honorable thing. It's not a quality we get to see every day and I am impressed! The real estate industry could use more people like this! But then, what industry couldn't!