This LA Broker Went to Harvard to Try To Fix It.
The statistics are hard to ignore. According to the National Association of Realtors, 71% of licensed real estate agents in America did not sell a single home last year.
For ACME | SERHANT. founder and broker-owner Courtney Poulos, a member of the SERHANT. CA founding team, that figure points to something more than a slow market. It points to a profession struggling to articulate its own value.
Poulos has spent the past year working toward a solution, and she has been doing it at Harvard.
She is completing the Advanced Management Development Program (AMDP) at Harvard University’s Graduate School of Design, an executive education program that requires applicants to demonstrate a substantial track record in the real estate industry before they can even be considered. She graduates in July, but the impact for her has been less about prestige and more about clarity.
The Core Lesson: Messaging Is a Leadership Skill
One of the most formative elements of her AMDP coursework was a session led by Carmine Gallo, a globally recognized coach who has trained executives and CEOs on high-stakes communication. His focus, audience-centric messaging, landed hard in a room full of people accustomed to talking to each other rather than to the people they serve.
“We need to refocus our messaging on what’s important to the people we’re trying to reach, not what makes us look impressive to our peers,” Poulos says. “That trap catches a lot of real estate agents.”
The takeaway she brought back to her team: clear messaging is not a marketing exercise. It is a strategic leadership function. Knowing why someone should work with you, and being able to communicate it quickly and compellingly, is no longer optional in a consolidating market.
71% Didn’t Close a Deal. The Reason Is Not Just the Market.
Poulos is direct about the underlying crisis. The industry has absorbed a string of public relations setbacks in recent years, including class action litigation and high-profile regulatory battles. She believes the problem is as much about how agents present themselves as it is about external conditions.
“A lot of agents get so comfortable with the story they tell themselves about why things aren’t working that they can’t get out of the hole,” she says. “They’re waiting for someone to hand them a lead, and that methodology is not going to keep anyone employed.”
Her position is that real estate professionals at every level need to reclaim an identity that matches the actual complexity of the work: data analysis, psychology, negotiation, legal risk navigation, and sustained client relationships. “We are not overpaid. We are experts. And we have done a poor job of saying so.”
What Agents and Leaders Can Apply Now
Poulos is translating what she learned at Harvard into practical tools for the agents she leads at ACME | SERHANT. and beyond. She is planning a series of workshops and seminars, beginning with a session in Florida, also open to agents outside the firm. The focus will be audience-centric communication, defining a clear professional identity, and building messaging that holds up under pressure.
“Real estate agents should consider themselves as senior-level executives in a business, that is what’s missing,” she says. “A lawyer gets taken seriously. We should too.”
The class she took at Harvard had 30 participants from across the globe: urban planners, commercial brokers, developers who build stadiums. Poulos says the experience reinforced what she already believed. The best operators in any field invest in seeing what they are missing, not just getting better at what they already know.
“The goal,” she says, “is to help people clarify the messaging to get back to the actual point of it all: helping people transform their lives using real estate and investment, and making sure there’s still faith in the American dream.”
Agents or industry professionals interested in her upcoming workshops can reach out to inquiries@acmexserhant.com.
Full article on Business News Day.
About ACME | SERHANT. – ACME was founded in 2011 as a boutique brokerage in Los Angeles specializing in residential real estate, luxury properties, and renovation-resale strategy, and as of April 2026 is now ACME | SERHANT., under the umbrella of the national firm led by celebrity real estate agent Ryan Serhant.
This article is based on information provided by the expert source cited above. It is intended for general informational purposes only and does not constitute legal, financial, or real estate advice. Readers should conduct their own research and consult qualified professionals before making any real estate or financial decisions.