The apartment business is nothing if not rapidly changing. New technology and economic, demographic and psychographic trends are pushing more people into renting, while others — many of whom are renting for the first time — are choosing to rent for the ease and flexibility of the lifestyle.

On top of that, the way people search has changed, and renters expect new experiences from the companies they interact with.

So, with all the change, how can companies stay competitive and succeed?

It all boils down to leadership and internal culture. But what, exactly, does that mean?

Zillow Group CEO Spencer Rascoff created his Office Hours podcast to explore those topics with some of the best and brightest leaders of today, across industries. That’s why he recently he sat down with ZRS Management President Steve Buck.

Not only does Steve run one of the largest apartment management firms in the country, he is known as a pillar for corporate culture in the industry. ZRS’ employees have a longer tenure that most other companies in the business, and the company’s culture is a mirror of the authentic, straightforward and genuine management style Steve promotes.

Spencer and Steve sat down to conduct a live Office Hours during the 2017 Zillow Group Multifamily Forum. (You can watch the entire episode at the top of this article.) While several themes emerged that connected the tech and multifamily executives' ideas about leadership, here are five quotes that stood out.

A little recognition goes a long way in organizations with a distributed and diverse workforce. But, how can you give recognition at scale? How does a president of a company of 800 people, 80 percent of whom are hourly and onsite, manage to give credit where credit is due? ZRS and Steve believe face-to-face interactions are key. It works for his company because his employees have such long tenures. They are able create deep teaching relationships between management, regional management and the onsite teams, whether that’s giving praise to a junior employee for a job well done or remembering a maintenance person’s name.

For Spencer and Zillow Group, which employs a diverse workforce of thousands in offices from Seattle to Lincoln, Nebraska, and San Francisco to New York, that means praising publicly on social media. If one of his Zillow Group employees does a great job, Spencer calls them out by name on his social media channels. This serves two purposes. First, it gives public credit where credit is due, and second, it shows job candidates that Zillow Group fosters a culture where management and employees are connected.

It all goes back to the Golden Rule for these leaders. A very early experience in his career formed Spencer’s thoughts around this. As a young employee at Goldman Sachs, he was working late into the night with Henry “Hank” Paulson, the company’s chairman and CEO and “titan of industry.” The janitor walked into  his “very fancy” office, and Paulson got up from behind his desk, brought the garbage can over and said thank you. It was an experience that has stayed with Spencer and helped shape his focus on breaking down barriers and creating human connections.

For Steve, he wants the distance of his relationships with the onsite teams to be as close as possible. It means focusing in on the human interactions and site visits. He attends every single new employee orientation, meeting hundreds of new employees a year. It also means keeping his teams small, so regional managers know their properties and the on-site team incredibly well. On average, according to Steve, regional managers have six, seven or eight properties in their portfolios. For his teams, it’s a maximum of five. That gives his regional managers a chance to go on-site and teach people, develop relationships and give praise and recognition.

When Steve was little, his dad used to say, “Everyone has a vote. Mine counts five.” And while it was in jest, it’s something that stuck with Steve as what not to do. Whether it’s running a meeting or deciding on a new digital strategy or tech stack, Steve hires dedicated, smart people who make those calls.

Spencer works this into the decision-making frameworks he uses to make and communicate hard choices and bad news. Gleaned from his conversations with other C-level tech executives, he uses “Agree. Disagree. Commit.” This ensures that regardless of the decision made, people will commit to marching toward that same goal. To get to the decision, he says, “Listen. Decide. Communicate.” That gives people the information they need quickly while making sure the issue or problem is heard and decided upon — all in the right order.

Spencer calls himself a “chief people officer.” The more technology Zillow Group rolls out, the more important human connections and teamwork become.

Steve acknowledges every company is now a technology company, but he prefers reading a physical book and his kids tell him the latest thing on social media. He relies on his employees' expertise to drive the company into the future.

In order to keep the best employees for a long time, you need to lean into employee engagement. Steve embraces each employees’ journey. Some may aspire to be CEO, while others may want to stay in the same position for 12 years. At the end of the day, work is only one part of a person’s life, and his employees feel pretty good on Sunday nights. He tells employees at orientation that they should be getting a solid return from their career at ZRS. The company expects a lot of their employees, but employees should expect to get a lot out of their company as well. It’s like working with a financial advisor — if you’re not getting a good return, why would you stay? Same goes for ZRS.

For Spencer and Zillow Group, employee engagement is one of the most important KPIs for success. The longer employees are with Zillow Group, the more engaged they are.