Kicking
off
the
event,
Boomsma
set
the
tone
with
both
candor
and
perspective.
“You’re
all
amazing.
You
all
have
a
great
story.
You’re
all
charismatic
people.
You’ve
built
great
companies
and
great
businesses.
So
congratulations,”
Boomsma
told
the
audience.

Challenging
times
—
and
perspective

Boomsma
did
not
gloss
over
current
industry
headwinds.
Still,
he
urged
leaders
to
resist
being
consumed
by
uncertainty.

“I
don’t
want
to
wallow
in
the

challenges.
I
don’t
want
to
ignore
them.
I
don’t
want
to
be
tone
deaf
to
them.
But
there
isn’t
a
lot
that
we
can
do
right
now,”
Boomsma
said.

To
reinforce
that
message,
he
shared
a
personal
story
about
his
mother,
who
came
of
age
in
the
1950s
amid
global
turmoil.
Reflecting
on
her
outlook
during
a
time
marked
by
the
aftermath
of
World
War
II,
the
threat
of
the
atomic
bomb
and
the
Korean
War,
she
told
him:
“Whatever
you’re
living
through
always
seems
the
worst.
You
have
to
have
perseverance,
and
you
need
to
believe
that
in
the
future
there
will
be
bright
things.”

Her
lesson,
he
said,
remains
instructive
today.
“Unfortunately,
there’s
always
dark
things,
but
we
need
to
just
keep
going.”

A
“bubble”
—
with
intention

Boomsma
encouraged
attendees
to
take
advantage
of
the
momentary
insulation
the
conference
provided.

“I
want
to
encourage
us
to
think
about
the
fact
that
we
are
right
now
in
a
little
bit
of
a
bubble,”
he
said.

Rather
than
view
that
as
escapism,
he
framed
it
as
an
opportunity
for
growth.
“We
owe
it
to
our
clients.
We
owe
it
to
our
constituents.
We’re
leaders…
we’re
here
to
become
better
versions
of
ourselves.”

Industry
crosscurrents:
M&A,
private
listings
and
profitability

Originally,
Boomsma
expected
the
LeadingRE
conference
agenda
to
center
primarily
on

AI
and
innovation.
But
the
landscape
shifted.
“We
realized,
oh,
there’s
this
merger
and
acquisition
going
on.
Well,
we
need
to
talk
about
the
competition.
We
need
to
talk
about
how
we
compete
and
how
we
differentiate
ourselves,”
he
said.

Private
listings
and

referral
disclosure
also
emerged
as
pressing
topics.

“I
want
to
share
with
you
that
we
are
paying
attention
to
these
things,
and
our
goal
is
to
always
provide
you
with
choice
when
it
comes
to
private
listings
and
things
like
that,”
Boomsma
said.

He
emphasized
compliance
while
underscoring
the
value
of
global
exposure.
Speaking
of
the
LeadingRE
and
Luxury
Portfolio
network
of
brokerages
and
agents
worldwide,
he
said,
“We
believe
in
compliance,
but
we
also
think
there
could
be
an
opportunity
where,
if
you
have
72
hours,
why
wouldn’t
you
expose
a
listing
to
your
global
network
on
six
continents?”

When
it
comes
to

consolidation
and
Wall
Street-backed
growth,
Boomsma
drew
a
clear
distinction.
“When
we
look
at
some
of
the
big
things,
Wall
Street
versus
Main
Street,
I
believe
you’re
in
the
right
place,”
he
said.

He
questioned
the
sustainability
of
certain
large-scale
combinations,
specifically


Compass
and

Anywhere.
In
contrast,
he
argued
that
independent
firms
deliver
what
today’s
consumers
increasingly
want.
“Consumers
want
authenticity.
They
like
local.
Those
are
all
things
that
we
deliver
in
spades,”
Boomsma
said.

And,
he
added
pointedly,
“Bigger
is
not
always
better.”

“Limitless”
opportunity

Despite
the
noise,
Boomsma
struck
an
optimistic
tone
about
the
year
ahead.
“We
call
this
conference
limitless,
because
we
believe
there’s
so
much
opportunity
for
all
of
us,”
he
said.

He
highlighted
the
value
of
peer
learning
across
experience
levels.
“We
have
top
agents,
and
you
can
always
pick
up
a
new
idea…
We
have
brand
new
agents
that
are
going
to
learn
the
ropes
from
some
of
the
people
that
are
more
experienced,”
he
said.

For
leaders
in
particular,
continuous
improvement
is
nonnegotiable.
“From
a
leadership
standpoint,
we
can
always
improve
on
what
we
do
by
learning
from
our
peers,
and
everyone
can
always
be
more
effective,”
Boomsma
said.

The
throughline
was
clear:
The
environment
may
be
volatile,
but
independent
brokerage
leaders
are
not
standing
still.
They
are
recalibrating
—
with
perspective,
discipline
and,
as
LeadingRE’s
Boomsma
emphasized,
with
perseverance.