Dancing with the Stars taught Mauricio Umansky empathy.

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He has appeared on several seasons of "On Real Housewives of Beverly Hills" and last year launched his own real estate reality show on Netflix called "Buying Beverly Hills".

But this year, Maurizio Umansky added another reality show to his collection: 'Dancing with the Stars'.

For six weeks, the head of The Agency learned to move, breathe and feel the rhythm of the music with the help of his professional partner on'' Len Goodman's 'Mirrorball' at the end of the season. Here's what he said, edited for brevity and clarity.

Mauricio Umansky: The timing was just great. Sometimes things like that happen. I was on vacation in Italy on a yacht, and I got an email inviting me to participate in "Dancing with the Stars," and I was with my family and my kids at that moment, and I said: "Guys, I got an invitation. "

Obviously, I was on vacation and doing nothing but having fun and eating and swimming in the ocean. And I discussed it with my family and thought it would be very interesting and new to me. Everyone was supportive. Then I looked at my calendar and for the first time in my life, I only had a few things I had to cancel for the week to make it happen. Normally that would be impossible, but''Somehow it all came together and I went for it. I'm really glad I did.

My wife actually got the invitation before I did and didn't want to participate. And funny enough, I told her she had to. I told her: "If I had gotten the invitation, I would have done it." And then it did come to me, so I couldn't say no [laughs].

It was an amazing experience. It was the right time for me, both in my personal life and everything else, to do something new. Rainey [Hake Austin], our president, was doing a great job. I called her and said: "Hey, I have this invitation, I really want to do this. Can I?". She said: "I've got it under control," and she supported me and we went for it.

The first lesson I learned, which''say all leaders, is to put yourself in an unaccustomed position because it makes you a better person in the long run.

I really hadn't put myself in that position for a long time, and this was the first time I was completely outside of my comfort zone. I had never danced before.

So I had to turn to a whole new part of my being, a part of my brain that hadn't been utilized before: the creative, performing side. My brain has always been analytical, innovative (in terms of''marketing), but I've never been in a situation where I was creating, performing. It was an amazing experience.

In that, I learned what leaders talk about - putting yourself in an unaccustomed position makes you grow as a person, and overcoming that discomfort helps you tremendously to grow. So I think that was really great. I put myself in a position where I really had to learn from my professional dance partner, the steps, the movement, the choreography, how to dance, how to move, how to do all those things. I've been the CEO of the company for the last 12 years and I've always been a mentor, a storyteller for people. And now I've found myself in the position of being a student and a listener, and it's been very valuable.

Absolute.

From the point of view of''leader, I've learned to be maybe a little bit more emotional, a little bit more vulnerable. And I definitely want to bring that vulnerability, emotionality and art to my business management style. Empathy for people who are learning on the other side, patience with people who are learning. I think it's helped me also understand and have empathy for people working with me and doing what I know but they're learning how to do.

I used to tell Emma that every week I would say, "This is my favorite dance." It seemed like every week it was my favorite dance. But I really enjoyed the contemporarie dance, which was very meaningful. I enjoyed it. It was beautiful choreography and we pulled it off and I really enjoyed it. But I think my favorite''It's just about dancing, music and happiness. You really develop amazing friendships with all these people and it's a nice atmosphere.

But there are some great dancers here.

I predict the finalists will be Jason Mraz, Ariana Madix, Sochitl Gomez and Charity Lawson. And I predict Sochi will be the winner, but who knows?

Yeah, we should bring her to The Agency. I mean, she's not really using her [real estate license], but yeah, we'll bring her to The Agency, absolutely.