Mortgage Industry Trends

Choosing leaders by name is a losing proposition.  Suffice it to say, that our next leadership base will be less concerned with how things were historically performed, and more concerned about adaptable processes, market actions, consumer behaviors and models, and of course risk mitigation.  Although they cannot disregard the necessities, they will quickly embrace the ideas of operational restructuring and transformation to drive value into the mortgage cycle, while simultaneously jettisoning those tasks, personnel, and alliances that fail to have efficacy.  They will be always keeping their concentration on the “force multipliers.”

This is not to say that the prior leaders were bad or evil – it’s just that they performed their actions for decades in a global market that no longer appears relevant.  These old-line leaders, like the dinosaurs, are not long for this world.  Many lack the proper skills needed to competitively adapt to a “flat, global economic” model and delivery demands – they just don’t understand the touchpoints and operational implications.  With the rebalancing of global wealth coupled the compartmentalization and delivery of processes, leadership is more about an “Orchestration Imperative[ii]” then the simple command and control structures of the past.

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In times of crisis, the worst of individuals and businesses come to the surface for everyone to view and comment about.  For the last two years, the mortgage industry has learned a lot about its operations and personnel.  Yet to continually concentrate on the foibles and idiosyncrasies of groups, government agencies, and organizations in a futile effort to assign blame is counterproductive to moving forward and taking direct accountability for our futures.  New leaders will seek to move beyond the morass --recognize and embrace the change while preparing for growth – they won’t fight it.  The seeds of opportunity are all around us and they are examining methods and techniques to leverage them.

In 1516, Niccolo Machiavelli wrote, "And one should bear in mind that there is nothing more difficult to execute, nor more dubious of success, nor more dangerous to administer than to introduce a new order to things; for he who introduces it has all those who profit from the old order as his enemies; and he has only lukewarm allies in all those who might profit from the new.  This lukewarmness partly stems from fear of their adversaries, who have the law on their side, and partly from the skepticism of men, who do not truly believe in new things unless they have personal experience in them.[iii]" 

Some ascertain that the financial and mortgage world has become a smaller place driven by interdependent economies and events – or perhaps as a financial executive indicated, “there is just less in it.”  For mortgage teams and their operations, the conclusion cannot be more of the same actions as the rules and landscape have structurally changed. 

Ask yourself, “Where will you strike out as a player in the ‘next market?’”  “How will you grow…or are you still talking about the ‘good old days’ and hoping for their happy return?”

[i]               “Last year’s model: stricken US homeowners confound predictions,” by Krishna Guha and Gillian Tett, Financial Times, January 31, 2008.

[ii]               Competing in a Flat World, Building Enterprises for a Borderless World.  Fung, Fung, and Wind.  Wharton School Publishing. Copyright 2008.  Chapter 1.

[iii]              Machiavelli, Niccolo. The Prince. Cambridge UniversityPress. Originally published in 1516.

Mark Dangelo