Excellence Unchained

by Jeff Kempe

Realtor, Associate Broker

Author website

I joined the Lake Grove Presbyterian Church choir about nine years ago.  (Geno, chill.  This is a story about excellence, not Bible Boy!)  There was an interim director who led about twenty singers. The assumption of the director, and most of the elder hierarchy in a still dying denomination, was (is) that choirs and classical music are essentially passé, that contemporary music, a rock and roll praise band and ‘Jesus is my girlfriend’ anthems are necessary to put people in the pews. Armed with that assumption, the director aspired to mediocrity and almost succeeded; why put effort into something that’s dying?

I was on the search committee to find a permanent director.  I had concerns about the person we picked – Wendy Bamonte, a wisp of a thirty-something with a terrific cv in instrumental music, but less so in choral.  She was hired, but I took my concerns to the pastor anyway, who took them to Wendy, who called me and said: ‘Let’s talk.’  We did.  It turned out she’s every bit as direct as I am, and out of that, um, lively discussion, developed a friendship that I’ve had with her and her husband since.

Wendy isn’t one who accepts conventional wisdom simply because it’s conventional.  She had (has) a vision:  provided excellence both in the choice of music and its preparation, choirs and classical music aren’t only not dead, but on the cutting edge of the future. No one believed it, of course, but it was nice to have someone passionate about something, as quaint as it seemed.

But she’s been driven from the first year eight years ago.  Interested less in genre than in the excellence of the music, we’ve done everything from baroque to gospel.  She’ll spend two weeks picking exactly the right music for a twelve week sermon series. She has the personality, drive and tact to get the most in the least amount of time out of unauditioned amateurs.  Unlike those who protect themselves from anyone better, she brings in world-class directors for choral workshops.  She’s very, very good at what she does, but still takes the time each year to spend a week at a choral workshop herself; excellent is never quite good enough.

As a bonus, her husband Dave plays trumpet for the Oregon Symphony.  He’s played with Boston, with Mehta, knows Wynton; between the two of them they know many – most – of the best musicians in the Portland area, many of whom have sung and played with us.  Working with professionals ups the concentration and ability of amateurs, which then allowed Wendy to find more challenging music.

[There is, of course, a downside.  Directness is not an asset in an organization that admires boats not rocking, and Wendy is still delightfully direct.] 

The reputation grew.  Oddly enough, people left mega-contemporary-churches to sing with us, hungry for good music. The choir grew.  Because of her and one of the best pastors in the faith*, the congregation grew, and continues to grow.

This morning ninety-one singers and a nineteen piece orchestra sang and played Bach’s Magnificat, one of the most difficult (and gorgeous) pieces in the choral repertoire.  In the 450 seat Sanctuary we had 715 attend the first of two services, 569 the second.  Three of the kids I used to work with in youth group came up to me between services with versions of “OMG!  That was totally AWESOME!”, the very kids who we’re told can’t sit still for…classical music.

Excellence trumps everything.

The general relevance to the real estate industry – or any other – should be obvious: you can talk and cajole all you want; you can even find yourself on Sixty Minutes and the Today Show, but if you’re pushing mediocrity while others are delivering excellence, you’ll lose. Period.

But I want to make this more specific:

Everything I admire in Wendy and what she’s accomplished I see in Greg, and by extension the contributors and commenters here.  Vision. Drive. A passion for excellence, disdain for the ordinary, contempt for conventional wisdom.  Because of those qualities BHB has come from nothing to one of the most influential blogs in RE.net. 

Yet it’s still under the radar.  Web 2.0 barely occurs to the staid protectors of the RE status quo. The recently concluded NAR convention – and pretty much everything that comes out of NAR – is concerned with how to mold the future to fit the current real estate paradigm.  Mediocrity in perpetuity.

But Greg knows differently, as do I, as do you: it’s the real estate paradigm that needs to change, sooner not later.  How is still in flux, the reason Unchained is more important than I think even we think. Many will assume it’s just a bunch of iconoclasts getting together to drink beer and fantasize; we’ll all know the reality by this time next year.

I only predict this: the ‘how’, by unanimous acclimation, will be anchored in a one word premise: Excellence.

Works for me.

*Aside for Greg, Allen and Geno: Also a good friend, he plays a mid-seventies D-35, an Epiphone LP modeled after Neil Young’s Blackie, and, at last count, has 2300+ ‘60s, ‘70s and ‘80s songs committed to memory.