This is the broker I hope you’re striving to be: Someone who understands your clients and your area well enough to be a celebrated matchmaker.

Though this is an individualistic and competitive industry, it’s also one where we regularly lift each other up. And for many of those doing the lifting, it comes as naturally to them as drinking water and breathing air.

When evaluating a threat, there are two conflicting tendencies that pull human beings in different directions. The part of us that favors stasis and calm is predisposed to brushing off concerns about potential disruption. But as real estate professionals know well, this stance can backfire. What if the threat is real and complacency delays our response?

“I’ve never run for office, convinced developers and officials to invest in my neighborhood, or petitioned for zoning changes or traffic rearrangements. These all seem like daunting, potentially exhausting activities, yet they’re all actions that have been taken by the otherwise relatively ordinary real estate professionals in our cover story.”

You can bemoan the state of marriage in this country, but it seems purchasing property is still a major part of the American dream, so much so that many couples don’t see the need to get married before they go in on a property together.

Associations are often rewarded for moving slowly, whereas the opposite is true in business. Not-for-profit organizations are risk-averse, but for very good reasons: You wouldn’t want some hotshot at the helm of your professional organization, gambling with your dues dollars, right?

Selling new construction is often a springboard for agents and teams, thanks to both its price point and the fact that successfully selling one condo can quickly lead to the sale of another. But that’s not to say this niche is easy to break into.

Whether you’re suiting up to compete with them, doing your best to manage them, or integrating your work life within them, read our latest issue for some excellent analysis and advice on teams.

Auction companies and consumers who are looking at auctions as a way to exchange property depend on agents to make it all happen. Our cover story offers not only a way to learn more about auctions, but also a possible avenue for expanding your business.

The fact that video isn’t as commonplace as perhaps it should be means that it still offers a smart way for real estate professionals (and companies) to differentiate themselves, and our cover story highlights those who are doing just that on a variety of levels.

What I really learned in my first year of editing our Who’s Who issue is that these people really care about the industry. They understand the value of investing in it, and know that the dividends of their dedication and hard work might pay off in a closing tomorrow or a referral two decades from now.

It’s nice to have a partner in the accountability game, and that’s how we came up with the idea for this issue. As the magazine for the well-informed real estate professional in Chicagoland, we wanted to serve as your reminder to check in on yourself and make sure you’re on track to have a feeling of accomplishment when December rolls around.

When it comes to finding the perfect neighborhood, there’s no solid line between the city and the ’burbs. This is becoming even clearer as suburbs and cities swap characteristics.

Any way you slice it, there are some strong feelings around short-term rentals. The fact is, they’re here, your clients want to know about them, and there are both good and bad ways to go about participating in the market. That’s the thought process behind this issue, and I hope whatever your point of view on Airbnb is, you learn something new from the stories in this volume.

Predictive analytics is a new way to take in more data and make more precise and educated guesses from the results. And it’s no longer theoretical; predictive analytics and big data have moved from buzzwords to adoption.

In this issue, we learn what managing brokers are looking for when they recruit agents, and what they do when they’ve found someone they think will be a good fit in their office. How much can they really control, in terms of how agents do their business, and what’s the proper level of support and training to offer a person who isn’t technically one’s employee?