REALTORS® seeking to do business in the future need to embrace relationships with people of different cultures.

Julius L. Cartwright, president and CEO of the National Association of Real Estate Brokers, speaking at IAR's Multicultural Summit held in Oak Brook, Ill., on April 26, 2013.

“The model has changed,” said Julius L. Cartwright, president and CEO of the National Association of Real Estate Brokers. “Global is the new local. Global is next door to you. You have to get connected to all races of people.”

Cartwright was a keynote speaker at the Illinois Association of REALTORS® Multicultural Summit in Oak Brook on April 26, 2013.

Cartwright, who heads the nation’s largest and oldest African-American trade association, said REALTORS® need to make sure they are taking part in organizations that are tapping into the growing purchasing power of minority real estate buyers.

“If you are going to work in different communities, you need to be part of the organizations in those communities,” he said.

Cartwright told those in attendance that the old ways of doing business that got real estate brokers to where they are in 2013 won’t work in 2014 and beyond.

“The next wave is the multicultural wave. If you don’t change the way you do business, you will “exit the business” he said.