#there is no reason to let one of my core criteria slide just because its literally the dream litter.

[randomnotesofmyown]

Psycho-Pass (20)

Episode 20 - Where Justice lies

Tsunemori at the outside of the core of the Sibyl system. The wall plates slided to create an entrance and the system tole the agent to get in. "Why on earth are you talking to me?" "What you're about to see is the brain of this world as well as its heart.

Makishima paid a visit to professor Kudama and appeared to have already obtained the information about hyper oats. "The food we eat every day is all thanks to this remarkable technology, and yet, so many citizens are unaware of it." Kudama, "Indeed. These days, the world is full of people who treat the blessings of science as things they are entitled to. It's really rare to see a young person like you who takes an interest in this." "It's quite regrettable to see you, who was at the forefront of establishing today's food situation in Japan, retired and ignored like this." Makishima got on his feet, walked to the book shelves and continued, "What I'm interested in is the Uka-no-Mitama defense virus's slipshod security system. Even if it's a good virus, if you are able to change the target as you please depending on how you configure the sequencer, it's possible to adjust it so that it can kill the oats themselves instead of pests. Uka-no-Mitama will quickly change form a god of fertility who brings good harvest to a devil who brings death." "What are you..." "On top of that, they converted a lab in a closed down university to the control center that takes care of adjustment and distribution of the virus. The facility predates the use of cymatic scans for security. "

"Its security system uses numeric passwords or, at best, biometric scans. Then, since you used to be in charge there, with your help..."

By the time Kogami arrived, the professor was already dead.

Tsunemori, standing in front of the core of the Sibyl system, shocked by what the system told her. 

"Did Kagari die here? Die you guys kill him?" She asked. "We compared and considered the contribution Kagari Shusei would make to society throughout his life against the risk of him revealing the secret of the Sibyl system and decided that the latter issue was more important." Shaking with anger, Tsunemori exploded, "don't be ridiculous! 'More important,' you said?!"   

"You are right. The appearance of criminally asymptomatic people, whom the Sibyl system cannot analyze, is inevitable. No matter how detailed and robust a system you build, a certain number of irregularities that deviate from it are certain to appear." "And you call that a perfect system?! To think that something like this is deciding the lives and death of people..." "But if we just improve the system and make it more complex, we can never expect it to be perfect. Then we have no choice but to resolve the contradictions by altering the way in which we operate the system, rather than its functions. By permitting the appearance of irregularities we cannot manage and taking measures to coexist, the system achieves perfection in a practical sense." "What do you mean by that?" "We can entrust the management of the system to those who deviate from the system. That is the most logical conclusion. When we used to have individual personalities and bodies, we were all criminally asymptomatic persons, who deviated from the management of the Sibyl system. There are even many among us who acted far more cruelly than Makishima." "Then are you saying..."

"...and that this monster has been running the world?!" "By first rejecting relative valuations such as good or evil, an absolute system can be established. What is needed is a perfect and infallible system. Who manages it and how it is managed are irrelevant." "That's nonsense!" "In a truly completed system, its operator's will is not questioned. Our will itself is the system and the universal standard of value that transcends ethics." "Don't be ridiculous! Just who do you think you are?!" "It is true that every one of us here used to have many problems with our personalities. However, we harmonize through the acts of integrating everyone's minds, and so we have been able to achieve the goal of a universal standard. The more prejudiced and peculiar the orientation of the individuals who comprise the system, the more new ideas and values it brings to our perception and the more flexible and diversified our thinking becomes. In that regard, Makishima Shogo's idiosyncrasy is quite valuable and so, we have high hopes that he can become an especially useful member. Attaining a logical society in which various contradictions and inequalities are resolved... That is, indeed, the ultimate happiness sought by the rational human mind. By achieving an absolutely perfect system, Sibyl has become an existence that embodies that ideal." "Why are you telling me about this?" "You instinctively hate and emotionally detest us right now. And yet, you still cannot deny the Sibyl system's significance and necessity. You accept the fact that the current social order cannot hold without Sibyl. You place the importance on its necessity rather than its justifiability. We highly value your standards." "You killed Kagari in order to keep your secrets!" "Tsunemori Akane possesses a sense of purpose that is shared by the Sibyl system. Hence, we decided that the possibility that you'd reveal our secrets and endanger the system is infinitely small."

"Let us confirm once again. Tsunemori Akane, do you wish a world without the Sibyl system? Right, you try to nod but then become hesitant. The ideal you imagine isn't clear and firm enough to deny the social order achieved at this point. You recognize that the current peaceful society and harmony achieved through the happiness of citizens and order are more important than anything else. Hence, no matter how much you hate and deny the Sibyl system, which is the foundation of those things, you cannot reject it." "Don't talk like you know everything." "If we analyze your reaction read by the cymatic scan, we can clearly grasp everything. Stop acting brave and let us have a heart-to-heart discussion. The goal of this meeting is to establish a collaborative relationship." "Collaborative?" "CID division 1 is currently in a crisis situation. Due to Kogami Shinya's recklessness and Ginoza Nobuchika being drained, the team is starting to show signs of dysfunction. Unless a new leader takes the initiative in the investigation, we cannot expect success in tracking down Makishima Shogo." "Mr. Ginoza is...drained?" "Tsunemori Akane, because you were caught in an unnecessary inner conflict, you have not been able to exhibit your potential capacities, either. The lack of understanding of the situation has been clouding your decision."

"We decided that telling you the truth is the best way to give you motivation. Tsunemori Akane..."

"You and we share the same value of trying to avoid a pointless death caused by unchecked emotions."

"If you guys broke the law in the past, you should atone for your crimes in a befitting way." "Our contributions to society are more than enough compensation for the damages we caused in the past."   "How convenient, huh?"

Flashbacks:

"If we were living in the days before Sibyl's diagnosis, our happiness would've been up to luck. So this is a lot better than the old days." "I envy you. You're likely to end up with multiple aptitudes, Kaori." 

"700 points. I can't believe it."

"With your score and Psycho-Pass, Akane, you've got a rosy life." Yuki, "Whoa...My rank is C...I knew it but I'm still shocked." Kaori, "Mine are all office jobs. It would be tough to improve my job situation from there." Yuki, "hey, hey, how was yours, Akane?"

Kaori, "This score really is amazing. You have the aptitude even for the PSB!" Tsunemori, "B-but, if they recommend any place and every place, I don't know which one's good for me after all. I wonder how I can decide..." Voice of Kagari, "I don't know. What makes you think that someone like me would know? You could become anything. You even agonized over it, right? That's incredible. You're just like those old people before Sibyl was created." Tsunemori, "yeah, it's incredible, isn't it? Everyone used to feel their way around and chose their own life...To think that a world in which such things were just natural existed..."

Kagari, "nowadays, the Sibyl system reads your talent and tells you the way of living that will bring you the most happiness. And yet, you're talking about your life? The reason you were born? I never even thought there were people who stressed over things like that!" "Yeah, it's a heavy, tough anxiety. But...now I feel...that it might actually be a happy thing to be able to worry about those things." It changed into an imaginary dialog when the voice of Makishima came.

"So I've asked many people about their suppressed free will and observed their actions all this time." Tsunemori, "right, now I might be able to understand how you feel a little." Makishima, "How do you define crime to start with? That dominator you're holding...does the Sibyl system that governs that gun decide it?"

Tsunemori, "that's wrong, isn't it? That was the mistake in the first place." Makishima, "by analyzing a bio-organism's force field read by a cymatic scan, they figure out how a person's mind works. The intelligence of science finally uncovered the secret of souls, and this society changed drastically. However, people's wills are not a part of that assessment. I wonder just what sort of criteria you use to divide people into good and evil." Tsunemori, "I'm sure the important thing wasn't the conclusion of good or evil. I feel it was to think about it yourself, agonize over it and accept it." Makishima, "I want to see the splendor of people's souls. I want to check and see if it really is precious. However, when humans base their lives around Sibyl Oracle, without ever consulting their own wills, do they really hold any value?" Tsunemori, "There's no way they don't! Are you saying that <i>you</i> decide their value? You judge someone's family, their friends?! You judge the value of a happiness you've never felt?!" Switched to Yuki.

"Someone else always took care of things for me and I never ever asked myself what was important. Say, Akane, do you think I was still happy that way?" Tsunemori replied sadly, "You could have become happy. You could have searched for the answer anytime...As long as people are alive, anyone can do it."

End of flashbacks and imaginary dialogs.

In her car, Tsunemori got a call from Ginoza, who asked her where she wandered off to. "The chief ordered me to deliver something to the Ministry of Welfare." "There was a murder in Ichikawa. Kogami's prints have been found at the site. Come here immediately. "

On her way to the crime scene, Tsunemori told the Sibyl system that she would do what it asked her to on one condition. "If I bring in Makashima Shogo alive, in return, you will guarantee Kogami Shinya's life as well. Withdraw his execution order." The Sibyl system replied, "those two things are not logically equivalent." "I don't care about your logic. If Mr. Kogami won't be saved, then I'll let Makishima die without doing anything. If push comes to shove, I'll kill him with my own hands."

"And go find another pawn you think you can use." "Understood. Only once Makishima Shogo is captured alive will we make an exception for Kogami Shinya."

Tsunemori got to the crime scene and learned from Masaoka that residents reported seeing someone with that helmet. The agents found, after asking around, the only house which security was busted and inside it was a dead person.

Kunizuka, "The victim is Kudama Nobuaki. He used to work for a lab belonging to the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry, but he retired quite a long time ago and was now just an ordinary pensioner."

Ginoza, "the house appears to have been searched and we found Kogami's fingerprints. But why on earth..."

Tsunemori, "this wound on his neck...it might be Makishima Shogo who did it. This old man had something to do with Makishima's next plan. Mr. Kogami figured it out and rushed here, but he was too late..." Ginoza, "So Kogami really is ahead of us, huh?' Masaoka, "even so, why on earth was this old man killed by Makishima? It's hard to investigate a site that's been thoroughly messed up like this."

Tsunemori, "What would Mr. Kogami consider the most undesirable result?" Kunizuka, "letting Makishima get away, right?" Tsunemori, "then when would his second most undesirable result be?" Masaoka, "being found by us before he kills Makishima...perhaps." Tsunemori, "Yes. Let's think about things in that order. What if Mr. Kogami, who got here before us, had hidden the body somewhere hard to be found? While Kudama Nobuaki remained missing...we would have continued pursuing a misdirected investigation and Mr. Kogami would have had a larger lead." Ginoza watched as Tsunemori made the deduction and saw Kogami instead.

"Mr. Kogami isn't the overconfident type. In case he fails by some chance, I think he would at least leave a clue so that someone can stop Makishima. The question is, when will we notice that clue...He's testing us...to see if we have the same or an even bigger tenacity than his to pursue Makishima...If you don't have that determination, you'll be stranded here and get a late start." Then...

"Can you find something?" Drone, "Something metal is detected inside the victim's airway." Tsunemori, "give me gloves." Masaoka, "h-hey, leave it to the forensics." Tsunemori, "that will allow Mr. Kogami to buy some time. If we want to catch up with him, we have to do it right here, right now." She retrieved the object from the victim's throat.

Tsunemori placed the device above her wrist communicator and saw that it contained an audio file.

"This is Kogami, a former Enforcer. This message is left for the detectives who'll be here in a while. The victim is Kudama Nobuaki, a former Doctor of Agriculture. He was in charge of a development team for the Uka-no-Mitama virus, a disease countermeasure for hyper-oats. He was considered to be the biggest contributor to Japan's achievement of complete food self-sufficiency. In order to totally destroy the granary in Hokuriku, Makishima got some idea from Professor Kudama and killed him. He gouged out the eyeballs from the body and cut all the fingers at their second joints. They may be needed to break through some form of security. A facility from the old days where the security equipment depended on the old type biometric scans instead of cymatic scans...The lab Kudama's research team was using at Izumo university is suspicious. The lab is currently used as the control center for the Uka-no-Mitama virus."

Ginoza, "totally destroying a granary...bio-terrorism committed by a single person?!" Tsunemori, "Let's hurry. We should still be able to make it in time." Makishima made his way into Kudama Lab at Izumo University. Kogami arrived and was about to find a way in. 

End of episode 20

Comment: The flashback scene made me wonder one thing. People looked to Sibyl for job recommendations. For people who the system could not analyze, like Makishima, did they get such recommendations? If they didn't, how did they find jobs? And the moment Tsunemori pointed that dominator at her chest got me. If the system refused, if it really went ahead and killed her and looked for another pawn. She would really have died and it would be for nothing. But her determination, and her gamble paid off.

Extra thought added on Nov 12. I came to see the logic why former criminals were chosen to become part of the Sibyl system. To judge the possibilities of anyone who would commit a crime, you need people who understand how criminals would think and act, or what would go on inside their head. In this sense, no one knows criminals better than former criminals.

#psycho pass

[mrdanielblack]

The truth wins out

It is great to list a lot of properties but you need to sell them.  Conversion is king.  Australasia’s top agent tells us how he clears 8 out of every ten.

Topic – View from the top

Mentor – Malek Younan

Auction is the answer

Timeframe for the seller and agent

Give brutal feedback

Developing your leadership style – Jacob Aldridge – Running an income business vs an equity business

Transcript:

Kevin:  Recently, SQM Research Louis Christopher’s great company released its inaugural list of Australia’s top 100 residential real estate agents. The winner of that was Malek Younan, from Ray White Gladstone Park in Victoria. He is our guest all this week and we’re having a look at the judging criteria, the elements that went into nominating the winner. Things like their market share, sales numbers that we’ve looked at. Today we have a look at list to sale ratio, tomorrow it’ll be about days on market. And towards the end of the week, at the end of the week in fact, we will talk to him with a … his view on where the industry’s headed. Our guest this week is Malek Younan. Malek, moving on to another one of the stats in Louis Christopher’s graph, your conversion, or list to sale ratio, is high. It’s well over 78%. Now that’s slightly above the top 100 average, which is 73%. Tell me, are you choosy about the stock that you take on?

Malek:   Absolutely, yes. I’m in a position where I will take on obviously real estate that is priced correctly. People that are happy to sell, but they’ve got a good motive behind them, not just there to test the market. Because I believe if you don’t want to just test the market right now, to be honest they’re gonna be obviously … I guess throwing them money in terms of marketing, I don’t want them to do that. It doesn’t give us a good clearance rate, so we want as well. And again, it all starts from honesty from day one, but yeah I do pick and choose my clientele and then who … which time I want to sell and which clients I want to deal with. Because if they’re on the right positive energy as me and my team, then I’m more than happy to partner up with them.

Kevin:  Do you reject many?

Malek:   I don’t, I don’t. I don’t reject many. I’m a bit of a control freak too. I don’t reject many, but I will pick and choose in terms of laying the truth on the line, and if someone said, “Malek, well that’s what I want, I won’t sell it for anything less,” I’ll handle them to my next competitor.

Kevin:  Now the thing I’ve learned about top performers is that they don’t make decisions. We don’t make decisions about which properties are gonna sell. I think when you start to make decisions about what buyers look like, or hear genuinely someone when they [inaudible 00:02:01], how genuine someone is when they come to one of your open homes. I reckon that’s the start of failure. To keep an open mind. That’s the reason I asked you that question. I’m so pleased you said that you don’t knock back a lot. Can I ask you then, at some stage you’re gonna be taking on listings that really need a bit more work in terms of where the seller is at to make the market, or the market might be tough, or it might be declining. Tell … and this is not a really good word, but I will use it. How brutal are you with your feedback when you find that you’ve got an overpriced property, or a seller who’s not gonna listen to you? Tell me about that conversation.

Malek:   Yep, it’s five letters. It’s truth. So I just lay it down straight. If you had three people through an open and I get feedback on every single one of them. And if all three say to me, [inaudible 00:02:54], if they had to make an offer and buy it today, what would you pay? And obviously buyers always have a bit of room to move, which is fine, but if the owner is, for example, minimum 70 to 100 thousand away from that, and the bar feedback is coming on a recurrence feedback to that amount, I will tell them, “Go. This is what the feedback is. This is where the market’s at. These are the comparable sales, what’s selling around you. And if you’re not going to make that market, and you’re just going off by, well that’s what I need to sell, well it doesn’t happen.” One plus one doesn’t equal seven.

So you just need to be truthful, and this is what a lot of real estate agents make a mistake with. When they don’t know the area, they’ll value a property differently, they’ll get their owner’s obviously expectations really high, and they won’t deliver. And that’s how obviously a lot of agents have a bad name, but in our case, again, it comes with experience, 16 years or so, you need to know your core area, you need to be truthful, you need to go in there with a nice report, comparable homes, what they’re selling for, tell them the truth. If we can get them $50,000 more, we will get it. That is something that we always say. We will never say never to what you will achieve. At the same time, we’re pretty much on point with their value. Pretty much on point. Just the truth, Kevin, the truth.

Kevin:  Yeah, I love that. It’s so simple, and you can even say that to a seller, can’t you? You can say look, you’re not gonna get any hype from me, what you will get is the truth. And I think you’re right. I think a lot of agents too actually wrap their sellers in cotton wool, they don’t wanna give them the bad news for fear of making an enemy, when it’s not about that at all. I don’t know how many times I’ve actually spoken to a seller. Giving them some hard news, which have then taken on board, they’ve made the right decision and moved on and they’ve said to me, thank you. I mean, that’s their role.

Malek:   Bingo. Bingo, Kevin. You’re talking straight from my heart. I’ve had clients say to me, “Malek,” … two months after they sell, like [inaudible 00:04:53]. They’ve said, “You know what Malek, I’ve just saw a home, I saw two or three homes sell in my area in the last two months since I’ve sold mine, much less. I appreciate you telling me, based on what the feedback was, that is a great offer. Based on what you were showing me, and I’m so wrapped that you told me that, because if you didn’t, Malek, you’re the professional, I rely all my trust on you, if you didn’t, if you said no I won’t reach for more, I would potentially [inaudible 00:05:17], I would potentially got less now. And I thank you. And I said, “Go. All I’m telling you is the truth. If I’m selling your home, it’s pretty much like I’m selling my own home and I’ll tell you just the truth and what I need to tell you from all the knowledge that I know. I’m not perfect, but I’ll tell you exactly what I know. And it’s proven in this report, in this ranking. Obviously you had them make as much as all these other agents, which make up to massive, massive, massive dollars, but it’s what sellers want that I’m very happy and proud to say that I’ve reached on the way.

Kevin:  Yeah, and that’s why I’m delighted to be talking to you too, cause that is what it’s all about. It’s actually about meeting that seller expectation.

Malek:   Yep. Yep.

Kevin:  Okay. Selling almost eight out of 10 listings is one thing. But I think it’s key now that we talk about days on market, it’s very impressive, 29 days. The average over the top 100 is 35 days. Yep, you’re under that. Tell me your method of marketing. Do you do many auctions?

Malek:   Yes. I’ll often ease auction driven. Pretty much 100% of our properties are auction driven. And we pretty much have a full week campaign to execute. So majority of our scheduled listings, 90% of them will go to auction. 10% may sell before if they have a really good offer that we cannot take the risk of running to auction, but it’s auction driven. We have a process over four weeks for feedback, then all catch ups. Give them a report, give them a good favour for what’s happening, every time what’s happening. And that is what I believe is essential in order, like you said, to give a 28 to 29 days on the average day on market. To achieve owners’ expectations is brilliant. It’s procedure, auction driven, and again, just the truth. It’s just the truth, so they made market level.

Kevin:  Yeah, and I could’ve almost written the script for that answer because all of the stats indicate that you’ve gotta be on auction offers. Where you’ve got a 75% success rate, list to sale, you’ve got 29 days on market. All of this to me screams auction. Is auction a popular method of sale in your area?

Malek:   It is, it is. In my core it is. There’s a lot of agents now … it’s funny, they’re getting, I think, a bit scared from the market. Some of them are avoiding auctions. Fear of failure, fear of not selling properly. Everyone has fears, but we have a process which overcomes fear. We can back ourselves up, add knowledge, a good, energetic approach. We’re positive, and I guess agents are fearful of auctioneering or auctions is the fear of being disappointed, and being disappointed in front of a crowd, or looking bad. We have a process. We strive for that. And if we don’t sell on auction, we don’t sell on auction day, [inaudible 00:08:20], we will sell it very shortly after that.

Kevin:  It’s interesting. I mean, most sellers don’t like the concept of auction, for whatever reason. No matter whether you’re in Victoria or Queensland, or New South Wales. It’s the skill of the agent to be able to demonstrate that they know what the auction process is all about, and at a time when sellers are probably saying, “I don’t want to go to auction. I’ll just put a price on it and let’s see where we go,” weaker agents will actually move to that. They’ll slide down that slippery pole. I think you’ve gotta hold. If you really are on auction offers, you gotta hold it.

Malek:   Yeah you cannot be … To be a top performer, to be a top sales consultant, to be a top director, to be a top office, it starts from the bottom. You cannot be a order taker. You’re a professional. I don’t go to the osteopath and say, “Can you rub my back this way?” I do not tell them that. I say, “Fix my issues best as you can, and I trust you,” and what he advise me. And I truly believe, I truly believe, and this is my mindset, Kevin, I am a professional at what I do. I’m skilled, I’m not an apprentice. I am … I specialise in real estate in my area. So I’ve got a procedure, I’ve got a process. And the outcome, which is shown in these figures, extra well. Above average in Australia, not just Victoria. So that’s how simple it is. Trust your real estate agent and I think you should be fine.

Kevin:  Tomorrow, to round this series out with Malek, we’re gonna talk to him about his seller meetings, how structured they are, how he stays motivated, and what he thinks about where the industry is headed. Back once again, Malek Younan, tomorrow morning.

from Real Estate Uncut http://bit.ly/2Wtg2VE