The Man Behind the Moniker
“So, I barely made it through high school, and I’m in the top Philly agents since 1992, right? Little Mike McCann from Philly. I didn’t go to all these fancy schools, but it was because I specialized in real estate and in loving people and in helping people. That’s the key, man. That is the key.”
KW® Agent, Team Leader, and Operating Principal Mike McCann is a household name in Philadelphia real estate. Talk to Mike, and it’s clear that “results through people” is one of his guiding beliefs. In 2026, he celebrated 40 years in the business, but his success was hardly guaranteed.
As a kid, Mike’s dad was out of the picture, so it fell to him to help support his mom and sisters. Mike worked nearly full time throughout high school and squeaked through, he says, thanks to a loving mom and a positive outlook. After graduating, he worked as a door-to-door salesman selling vacuums. It was there he learned that tenacity and grit were as valuable to success as book smarts.
That work ethic helped Mike find his footing as a new real estate agent in 1986. While his brokerage didn’t offer much in the way of education, it didn’t stop this self-starter. He sought out classes, conventions, and any training material he could get his hands on.
A few years in, Mike was gaining traction as an agent, but that wasn’t enough. If growth was his goal, he needed help. There was just one problem: Mike couldn’t afford an employee. He scrimped for six months to hire his first assistant, whom he brought on with an important caveat: If it worked out, they’d have a job. If not, he could only pay them for three months.
As a solo, Mike was used to managing every aspect of his business. If he was going to make this work, he had to learn how to delegate — fast. Fortunately for Mike, it took only weeks, not months, to see the difference his new employee was making.
“I went from [being] the King of Control to the King of Delegation, having people do the things that I did not need to do, and my business went up dramatically,” Mike says. That first hire proved to be the operational leverage Mike needed to build on — and a lesson in realizing results through people.
Within two years, Mike had hired a second assistant. A few years later, he hired his first agent and started a team. Fast-forward 33 years. When Mike joined a KW® Market Center in 2019, his team was 25 members strong and still growing.
