As I mentioned in last week’s post about Tim Kent, he hired me as the first NC Association of REALTORS® Director of Business Development. And from the moment that happened, one thing became very clear: Tim was going to invest in my success. He was determined to give me the tools not only to thrive in that job, but in future roles he openly acknowledged might not be at NCAR.

Tim cared deeply about image, and to him, looking professional mattered. You dressed sharp. You wore a suit and tie. You kept a clean desk. You looked the part. As we finalized the details of the director position, Tim sat me down and asked if I owned a suit. I didn’t. The nicest thing I had was a blue blazer I’d gotten for serving on the Greensboro Jaycees board of directors. Tim wasn’t the kind of leader who set expectations without setting you up to meet them. He gave me a $2,500 bonus and told me to go to Men’s Wearhouse and buy five suits—one blue, one light gray, one black, one pinstripe, and another blue with a conservative pattern.

This pattern of preparing me for success extended well beyond clothing. It included professional development and networking—two areas where Tim excelled. And it wasn’t just me. He had a gift for spotting potential in people. He was the quintessential association rock‑star recruiter who not only believed in hiring well, but in building association professionals.

I always remember Tim posing a question along the lines of: Which is worse, investing in staff and having them eventually leave, or not training them and having them stay? He firmly believed in the former.

Tim encouraged his “recruits” to get involved in their professional associations like ASAE, MPI, AENC. He had served on the ASAE board and was a past president of AENC himself. The more I got involved, the more I realized this wasn’t just a job. It could be a career.

I also learned to turn to Tim for both professional and personal advice, wisdom that stayed with me long after my NCAR days. One of the earliest examples was when I started thinking about getting my MBA. Tim talked through the pros and cons and then encouraged me to consider a different path: the US Chamber’s Institute for Organizational Management (IOM) and the Certified Association Executive (CAE) designation. Institute was essentially grad school for association and chamber professionals. That, along with ASAE and AENC events, counted toward the hours needed to sit for the CAE.

I’ll never forget the day the letter from ASAE came. I’d heard a rumor that if you passed the CAE exam, the acceptance letter would arrive with “CAE” printed by your name on the envelope. Mine didn’t. I was devastated. Not because I thought Tim would be disappointed in me but because I didn’t want to let him down. He was like a father figure in the sense that you wanted to make him proud, not out of fear, but because of how good it felt when he said, “I’m so proud of you.”

Fortunately, the rumor was false. Inside the envelope was a “Congratulations! You’ve earned your CAE!” I practically ran into his office. I couldn’t wait to tell him.

One of the things I appreciated most about Tim was that although he was my manager, he was always incredibly supportive. I vividly remember once thinking I had gotten in trouble, though Tim didn’t yell, he just corrected in a way that was constructive and never destructive. And while he was certainly my manager, he hated the word boss. One evening, back when we still had landlines, he called my house. My wife answered and said, “Jim, your boss is on the phone.” When I picked up, the first thing he said was, “Did your wife call me your boss? Ugh. I hate that term. It’s so ‘50s.”

I could go on and on about the things Tim did, both big and small, that showed what kind of leader he was. On 9/11, I was at a conference when he called and told me to leave immediately and go home to my family. Another time, I arrived to the office and saw Tim, in suit and tie, bend down in the parking lot to pick up garbage. He didn’t see me. He just did it because it needed to be done.

After several years at NCAR, having earned my CAE, completed Institute, and grown under Tim’s mentorship, I knew, and Tim knew too, that I was ready for my next challenge. He often said a CEO’s lifespan was about ten years: long enough to make an impact, but not so long that you, or your board, stop growing. And while I wasn’t a CEO yet, those words planted a seed. It was time to consider the next step in my association career.

And that’s exactly where I’ll pick up next week’s post: the moment an unexpected opportunity appeared, the conversation I had with Tim about it, and how his guidance set me on the path that ultimately led to where I am today.