“My job is not to tell you what a great leader looks like. My job is to help you see what you look like as a great leader.” — Rocky Garza

We were live on LinkedIn with Rocky Garza—leadership coach, speaker, and identity whisperer—talking about something deceptively simple: how to get to “hell yes” by starting with who you are. From the jump, Rocky turned the spotlight inward. What problems do you solve? What’s your unique value? These aren’t just fluffy personal development questions. They’re business-critical.

At the AIM Conference, I watched Rocky guide 800 operators through a “Personal Belief Statement” exercise. No PowerPoint. No filler. Just 120 minutes of deep work. And you could feel the room shift. That moment made it clear: before alignment with your team, company, or mission, you have to align with yourself.

“The only thing that exists between capacity and expectation is disappointment.” — Rocky Garza

Rocky unpacked one of the biggest blind spots in organizational performance: the gap between a person’s current capabilities and the expectations placed on them. It’s easy to dismiss that gap as a skills issue. It’s harder—and more honest—to admit that we often set those expectations without clarity or care. We assume someone can “just figure it out” instead of creating the structure, support, or shared understanding they need.

This hit me hard. In the high-growth startup world, especially in property tech, we live in a loop of hiring, delegating, and scaling fast. But if we don’t know what we’re asking people to do—or why—we’re building pressure cookers, not performance teams. Rocky gave language to a quiet failure mode: if you don’t close the gap between who someone is and what you’re asking them to do, you’re guaranteeing disappointment.

“Culture is not what you pontificate. Culture is what you tolerate.” — Rocky Garza

Every quarter, we chase metrics. But what really drives long-term performance is the invisible layer: the behavior we allow, reward, or overlook. Rocky was crystal clear—your company culture isn’t defined by values on the wall, it’s shaped by what you let slide.

I saw this firsthand building my last team. When we didn’t address the misalignment between role and responsibility, no amount of systems or goals could fix it. And when we finally tackled it head-on, we didn’t need new policies. We needed new conversations. The performance uptick came not from a better tech stack, but from better trust and transparency.

“You can have a very profitable business and a very crappy company.” — Rocky Garza

Rocky didn’t pull punches. He used the Dallas Cowboys as a metaphor: the most profitable sports brand in the world—yet consistently underperforming on the field. The takeaway? Revenue is not a proxy for organizational health. You can make money while burning out your team, undermining trust, and eroding long-term value.

That stuck with me. Especially in proptech and multifamily, where everyone talks about operational efficiency and NOI. But what’s the cost? How many people are leaving because they don’t see themselves in your mission? Or worse—because they’re stuck doing work that doesn’t use their superpowers?

“Please, please, please spend time discovering a language for who you actually are.” — Rocky Garza

Rocky ended with a challenge. If you want your people to bring their best selves to work, they need language for who they are—beyond the job title or task list. This isn’t woo-woo. It’s operational ROI. It’s the difference between employees acting like vendors and showing up like owners.

So what’s the action plan?

1. Start with identity. Every team member should be able to say what they bring to the table—beyond their job description. Do a “Personal Belief Statement” exercise to uncover hidden value.
   
2. Audit the gap. Where are your expectations misaligned with actual capabilities? Where does disappointment creep in—and what would it take to close that?
   
3. Fix systems last, not first. Stop trying to systematize your way out of people problems. Align people to purpose first, then build processes that support them.
   
4. Define your business. Are you building for scale, exit, or sustainability? Make sure your people know which game you’re playing—or they’ll be confused, misaligned, or worse, disengaged.
   
5. Measure the intangibles. Start tracking trust, cohesion, and personal ownership. Tools like “Team Identity Mapping” or Rocky’s “Influence Appraisal” give you data where culture lives: in behavior.
   

Follow-Up Questions:

• Do you know what business you’re really in—and does your team?
  
• Where in your org are people acting like vendors, not owners?
  
• What’s the ROI of your people beyond their tasks?
  

Rocky reminded me that when you’re clear on who you are, alignment becomes inevitable. And alignment is the only road to “hell yes.”

Let’s build companies that deserve that kind of commitment.