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How it feels… to manage Manhattan’s largest real estate office

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Steven James, Prudential Douglas Elliman’s director of sales at 575 Madison Avenue — home to 587 agents — and president of the firm’s Manhattan brokerage division.

As told to Lauren Elkies

I’ve been at Douglas Elliman since 1990. I’ve been running 575 Madison since 1991, and it’s the No. 1 office in the country. It’s almost a $3 billion office.

I love brokers. I love deals. I love problem solving. I have a high level of energy, and I like to motivate people to go to the next level.

On a day-to-day basis I interact with a couple hundred people. It’s like electricity. It’s never-ending. You walk in the door, and you’re hit with everything. You’re hit constantly all throughout the day until you leave the office.

I’m on call 24 hours a day, seven days a week, 12 months a year. I have four other managers under me. For many years I was the only manager for 575 Madison. We have about 15 or 20 people in administrative positions.

I know all of the agents’ names and personal stories. I have an assistant, but not until this year. One of the reasons I took one is to help with time management.

With a smaller group you can give more individual attention to agents, but bigger means using your time and energy selectively. It is far more exciting to take a large group to new levels. The challenges are on a bigger scale and are more thrilling for me.

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Putting on a sales meeting weekly is like putting on a show each week. It’s a challenge to make them laugh, be motivated and be charged up.

In the early ’90s when the market crashed, those were exciting days because you could really work with people to overcome a market that was down. It’s also a challenge dealing with difficult characters, but I happen to like it. I’m sort of fascinated by them. I try to figure out what’s driving them, what’s motivating them.

As a manager, part of the job is fielding complaints. It happens every single week, at least once a week. Over the weekend I dealt with a buyer that was very upset. He didn’t feel he was treated fairly by the seller and the seller’s broker. I walked him through the entire process. I got him to change his thinking. His last words were, “You know what, I see that I was treated fairly here.”

What I could improve on personally is listening better. I am a very good listener, but I want to make sure I hear everything people are saying when they come to talk to me.

I think I’ve been very lucky. I came to New York from a small town in Texas right out of college, and I didn’t know anyone here. I reached this level of leadership that on paper doesn’t make sense that I could attain.

I don’t allow it to get to my head, ever. I’ve been given a great gift here, and I want to hold on to that gift.

One of my top brokers said to me this morning, “How do you do it, Steven? You’re always laughing and happy. Are you ever down?”

I said, “Yes, but I don’t let anyone see those moments when I’m down.” I don’t think that’s helpful. And it doesn’t happen often.

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