L
eo Pareja, a real‑estate veteran with more than two decades of experience, shares the hard‑won insights that helped him rise from a teenage broker to the head of Keller Williams’ top team, co‑founder of Remine, and current CEO of eXp Realty. In the Playmakers podcast, he admits that his career has been punctuated by mistakes—“the iceberg is mostly hidden”—but that the failures outnumbered the successes.

    Pareja stresses the importance of stepping back when you’re not the best at a task. “I’m not a people manager, so I let a skilled manager take that role,” he says. “If you’re not detail‑oriented, hire a CFO; if you’re not an operator, bring in a COO.” By delegating to experts, he becomes a “brilliant leader” who leverages talent instead of micromanaging.

    He also highlights the value of hiring the right people. “With the right team, you don’t need to micromanage,” he adds. Pareja’s own breakthrough came after the 2008 financial crisis, when he realized that top producers were closing hundreds of deals while he was stuck at 30‑50. He began reaching out to the best in the industry, asking for advice and learning from their strategies. “I call the best person in the world for whatever I need to do next, and they almost always answer,” he says.

    For young agents, Pareja dismisses the myth of work‑life balance. “If you’re 20, you’re a fool to think about balance,” he argues. “You can produce ten times more in seven or eight hours than you could in twelve hours at 22.” He urges them to work until they need sleep and to avoid wasting the prime years when time is easier to allocate.

    On the Clear Cooperation policy, Pareja is a vocal supporter. He believes transparency benefits consumers and sees the policy as a binary choice: cooperate or not. “The idea of trying a property off‑market before listing it relies on a functioning market,” he notes, acknowledging that some brokerages may opt out, but he sees the policy as a clear, non‑gray‑area decision.