Obsessive-compulsive house flipper, Jeff Lewis, and his staff: classic brutal boss and prey? Part II

"I’m selling a lifestyle. You either live like me or you want to live like me."
-Jeff Lewis, Flipping Out (Episode 1, Bravo TV)

IMAGE CREDITS:

Amazon.com, Bravo TV-Flipping Out (Season 1, Episode 1), Gold Rush-Wikipedia, and Mrs. Fields-Wikipedia

CONTINUED.

RECAP OF PART I: Real estate speculator Jeff Lewis is the Queen B. of Bravo-TV's new show Flipping Out. Despite cash flow and marketplace challenges and conventional wisdom, he is obsessively, compulsively committed to mining more gold from them thar California hills, and to doing so in the same vein he always has. [Pun intended.] He will maintain his flimsy financial footing by accelerating the sale of a residence he renovated and currently lives in.

Jeff's determination, despite the real risks of bellying-up, channels two iconic American images. One is of "California or bust!"-chanting prospectors during the Gold Rush era. Historical accounts indicate: some forty-niners, especially early on, struck it rich near San Francisco. But many others risked, and lost, everything.

I'm not wishing that on Jeff Lewis, or predicting he'll go bust. Because there's that other image: Debbi Fields. Some called her crazy, too.

Exactly 30 years ago, the young mother with no business experience ignored conventional wisdom , which warned: "no business could survive just selling cookies." Today, Mrs. Fields®, is "the premier chain of cookie and baked goods stores."

Jeff Lewis shares some traits that made Mrs. Fields wildly successful and a "worldwide celebrity." These common traits, as described by MrsFields.com/About, are: "headstrong determination" and a mission to "create the highest quality product possible - every time." Mrs. Fields' mission, which aptly describes Jeff's stated philosophy, "has yielded products like no others, deeply satisfying personal indulgences that consumers just can't get enough of.

The following advice from Mrs. Fields also applies to Jeff: "The important thing is not being afraid to take a chance. Remember, the greatest failure is to not try. Once you find something you love to do, be the best at doing it."

A major difference between Lewis and Fields, however, is their personalities. MrsFields.com/About states: "A dynamic personality. A sincere concern for people. They [and the above-mentioned factors] all played a role in Debbi Fields' success."

Ironically, Jeff's less appealing personality may be a key success factor for his Bravo TV show. What distinguishes Flipping Out from competitive shows is the zoom in on Jeff and his staffs' interpersonal dramas. For example, Lewis' staffers show and tell why they think he is "crazy," and the cameras capture the sometimes-brutal boss browbeating and manipulating his prey, e.g. by threatening to fire them.

In fact, Jeff admits to having fired every member of his staff at one point or another. Usually, they come back aboard. But Brandt, the assistant Jeff booted for no good reason in Episode 1 ensured the split was mutual by quitting. Screwdrivers to sawdust, that split will stick.

Some may wonder how much Jeff pays people to put up with him. It doesn't necessarily have to be much; brutal, bullying and a**hole bosses abound in poorly-compensated job sectors as much as they do in highly-paid posts. "Trash Guy" Chris Elwood and his wife Jenni, actors both, describe non-cash benefits working with Jeff provides.

Still, if Hornstein, Crowley and Elster decided to seek new stories for their books, I'd bet all of Jeff's staff, past and present, would spill the beans on that boss.

SHAMELESS COMMERCE: The Amazon.com banners below link to pages containing reviews and purchase options for the TV shows and books referenced above.

Obsessive-compulsive house flipper, Jeff Lewis, and his staff: classic brutal boss and prey? Part I

"I’m selling a lifestyle. You either live like me or you want to live like me."
-Jeff Lewis, Flipping Out (Episode 1, Bravo TV)

IMAGE CREDITS:

Amazon.com, Bravo TV-Flipping Out (Season 1, Episode 1), and Gold Rush-Wikipedia

Obsessive-compulsive, and sometimes abusive, house flipper Jeff Lewis is the queen B. of Flipping Out, and Bravo TV's newest reality star. B in his case, stands for Biyotch, Bully and Browbeater as much as for Brutal and Boss.

View the premier episode via video to "Meet Jeff and his staff and the business that validates and celebrates his disorders." Then you'll likely agree: the show's "Drama For Sale"tag line and "My Flipping Boss" blog title both hit the nail on the head. So do my comparisons of Jeff and his staff to situations described by Harvey A. Hornstein, Ph.D. in books ike Brutal Bosses and Their Prey and by Katherine Crowley and Kathi Elster in Working With You is Killing Me! (which I referenced last year).

As BostonHerald.com - "Buyers beware: Bravo’s house-flipping series needs renovations" describes, Jeff has found, in house flipping and in staffers who stay, ideal outlets through which to channel his dysfunctional quirks, narcissistic tendencies and occasional tyranny. His projects (buying, renovating and reselling real estate in Southern California), with help from his team (which he seesaws between praising and disparaging in the course of the episode, and between hiring and firing, in the course of their relationships), have made him millions. But there's a flip side; Jeff's management style is unnecessarily costly both relationship- and resource-wise.

Jeff recognizes both phenomena. For example, he wonders, on camera, if anyone would ever live with him whom he didn't pay. Hmm. And he confides, but seems incredulous, that his "credit scores are" lower than those of some people who don't own property." Potential creditors “don’t care what [he's] worth." All they care about, he observed, "is my debt.”

Despite those concerns, and self-improvement efforts with a therapist and psychics, Jeff's bad boss and business behavior seem uncurbed. For example, when asked by Executive Assistant Jenni-Pulos Elwood, "Do you feel you can be stern without being degrading?" Lewis quickly answered, "No." Jeff doesn't think twice about assigning unreasonable, unproductive tasks, either, such as requiring assistants to face all labels in his 'fridge forward, or about demanding employees to submit formal, written mea culpas when they behave insubordinately.

Lewis' quirkiness, occupation, and even villainy are not unique in unscripted TV-land. But Jeff distinguishes himself from the speculators featured on A&E's Flip This House and TLC's Flip That House by more brazenly indulging, even flaunting, his disorders. He also brags about investing more money in his projects, and about being more "painstakingly meticulous" than his counterparts.

Jeff believes leveraging himself to the rafters and taking time to add substantial value (that may or may not pay off) is superior to typical house-flipping practices, which involve investing "a few thousand dollars" and reselling within weeks. However, some critics, such as the author of "A Los Angeles Speculator Sold on Himself ," disagree.

Bankers are not keen on Jeff's situation either. Lewis confided having difficulty getting financing, seemingly incredulous that his "credit scores are lower than those of some people who don't own property," and that potential creditors “don’t care what [he's] worth. All they care about," he observed, "is my debt.”

Forget about those obstacles and the roller-coaster nature of Jeff's cash flow. (He can begin a month with a million dollars in the bank, and within weeks "there will be days where he has $1500 left in all his accounts combined, with no savings"). Forget documentation that the Southern California real estate market is well past its peak, and the law of diminishing returns and that the Pareto Principle (a.ka. 80/20 Rule) dictate limiting the level of investment in each project.

Jeff is obsessively, compulsively committed to mining more gold from them thar California hills, and to doing so in the same vein he always has. [Pun intended.] He will maintain his flimsy financial footing by accelerating the sale of a residence he renovated and currently lives in.

Jeff's determination, desite the real risks of bellying-up, channels two iconic American images. CONTINUED.

SHAMELESS COMMERCE: The Amazon.com banners below link to pages containing reviews and purchase options for the TV shows and books referenced above.