The Serengeti Revisted

Towards the end of 2010, Stephan Swanepoel sent me a copy of his latest book, Surviving Your Serengeti: 7 Skills to Master Business and Life. I had come to know Stefan through as the featured speaker at industry conferences and his Trends Reports. With the creation of the social media platforms Twitter and Facebook, this relationship grew. It is was no longer me sitting in the crowd while Stefan so eloquently talked about my the real estate industry once a year. We had established an ongoing conversation.

Surviving Your Serengeti was Stefan’s first book that was not real estate specific. It was about struggles and survival strategies in today’s world. Its wisdom arrived for me at the perfect time when I was in a period of transition. The other day I ended up with an hour block of unexpected time between showings. I had taken care of my to do list for the day before leaving the office. Glancing at all the apps on my iPad, I decided to tap on Kindle and ended up going back to the Serengeti.

As I read this fable nine months later my perspective is slightly different. This has been a most challenging time for family, friends clients and other professionals. I have been watching the journeys of so many as they have been starting over, recreating and generating success. So many people I know have reminded me of the cycle of the Serengeti including myself.

I have to wonder if I took the test today, what animal would be?