Month:August 2023

Thoughts on Leadership: Finding Gratitude from Asteroids

By Gino Blefari

This week my travels found me starting Monday with my usual WIG calls then flying to Minneapolis. On Tuesday morning, I threw out the first pitch at the 2023 North American Gay Amateur Athletic Alliance (NAGAAA) Softball World Series then spent the day with the Edina Realty team at the Minnesota State Fair for a multi-office sales meeting that took place at the picnic area within the State Fairgrounds. I also conducted an afternoon training session with the Edina Realty and Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices North Properties sales managers. On Wednesday, I traveled home, and this morning I sat down to write this post to you.

Every Thursday, I walk with a local real estate agent, and we start at 5:30 in the morning to get our steps in together. Today, it was 5 a.m. when I was driving to our meeting spot, completely dark, and there in the sky I saw the rare blue supermoon – a sight we won’t see again until 2037 – and it made me think of the universe, the stars, and asteroids. It reminded me of an interesting podcast episode I had listened to featuring Randall Carlson, a builder, architectural designer, teacher, geometrician, geomythologist, and geological explorer. So, I’d like to share some of what he said with you for today’s post.

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Thoughts on Leadership: Leadership Lessons from Hurricane Hilary

By Gino Blefari

This week my travels found me working from my home office, conducting WIG calls on Monday and attending the weekly Berkshire Hathaway Energy meeting on Tuesday morning.

On Sunday, my home state of California was hit with its first tropical storm in 84 years – Hurricane Hilary. Several important leadership lessons from the storm can be applied to various aspects of life and decision-making. Here are seven leadership lessons we can learn:

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Thoughts on Leadership: Lessons from Gary Koch

By Gino Blefari

This week my travels find me taking the week off to spend time with my family. It’s an opportunity to recharge before finishing out the year strong with our many HomeServices companies, leaders, and teams.

A few weeks ago, I wrote about leadership lessons from Steph Curry, including his passion for golf, and in response, received an email from Sue Behl with Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices Florida Properties Group whose husband was a caddie for PGA professional golfer and longtime commentator Gary Koch. Koch also happens to be the 2023 recipient of the PGA TOUR’s Payne Stewart Award, which will be presented Tuesday, Aug. 22 during the Payne Stewart Award Ceremony.

Read more: Thoughts on Leadership: Lessons from Gary Koch

“[Koch is] an awesome man who truly has earned it,” Sue wrote in her email, and because I couldn’t agree more, I wanted to showcase leadership lessons from Koch for today’s post. (Thank you, Sue, for your email. It’s always fun when readers respond to a Thoughts on Leadership post with ideas and inspiration!)

In response to Koch’s upcoming award, PGA TOUR Commissioner Jay Monahan said: “For someone who spent more than three decades telling the PGA TOUR’s story to the masses, at the heart of [Koch’s] character is the desire to usher the game forward through his charitable work. That’s what would make Payne smile: A passion and love for sharing the game with the world while looking after the next generation.”

Koch’s amateur golf career began in 1969 when he won the Florida Open at 16 years old. The next year, he won the U.S. Junior Amateur before heading to Gainesville, Florida to play golf at the University of Florida. According to the PGA, Koch is a four-time All American with 10 collegiate titles. He also helped the University of Florida Gators claim the 1973 NCAA Championship.

Koch officially joined the PGA TOUR in 1976 and played 15 seasons, collecting six PGA TOUR victories, including a famous win at the 1984 Arnold Palmer Invitational. After playing golf, he spent the next 33 years commentating on the game for ESPN and NBC Sports. Who could forget his “better than most” call to describe Tiger Woods’ epic putt during the 2001 PLAYERS Championship on the “island green” No. 17 hole at TPC Sawgrass? Many believe that to be one of the most famous putts in golf history and Koch’s description to be one of the most famous calls of a putt ever.

But despite a notable golf and sportscasting career, Koch is also just as well known for shaping the next generation of golfers and giving back to communities in need. The Gary and Donna Koch Family Foundation, launched in 2014, provides scholarships and student aid to local youth. For the past 17 years, Koch has served as honorary chairman for Gift of Adoption’s Florida Chapter. The organization provides adoption assistance grants to complete the adoptions of children in vulnerable circumstances, giving them a chance to thrive.

Koch and his wife, Donna, have also been longtime supporters of the First Tee – Tampa Bay Chapter, a program branch of the Tampa YMCA, which introduces the game of golf and its character-building values to local youth. In fact, Koch currently serves as board chair of the First Tee – Tampa Bay Chapter.

In 2011, when the chapter was at risk of closing due to lack of funding, Koch rallied supporters (called “Friends of First Tee Tampa”) and together, they saved the chapter. In fact, the chapter has grown ever since, named eight years later as the largest chapter in the nation, and reaches more than 90,000 youth golfers in the area each year.

In 2022, Koch came up with the idea to build a par 3 course at the First Tee `facility and asked famed golf course architect (and former college teammate) Steve Smyers to design the course. (Smyers not only agreed, but also did so at no cost.) Annually, Koch hosts the Gary Koch Invitational Pro-Am to support First Tee – Tampa Bay as well as ART International Training & Research, dedicated to providing research, education and training for individuals diagnosed with traumatic psychological disorders.

So, what’s the message? When the PGA surprised Koch with the news he would be the recipient of the 2023 Payne Stewart Award, he didn’t talk about his career wins or his broadcasting highlights. Instead, he spoke about how giving back to others is the legacy he wants to solidify most. “When you’re recognized by your peers for some of the things you’ve accomplished, how you treat people and your charitable work, it means a tremendous amount,” he said, calling the award and the $300,000 gift he can now bestow to his local Tampa community “the highlight of my career.”

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Thoughts on Leadership: Takeaways from the Buffini Mastermind Summit

By Gino Blefari

This week my travels find me at my home office on Monday, conducting WIG calls with our CEOs. On Tuesday, I participated in the early morning Berkshire Hathaway Energy call then traveled to San Diego in the afternoon to attend the Buffini Mastermind Summit. On Wednesday morning, I finished up the awesome Mastermind Summit then drove to Irvine, California to the Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices HQ. I’m still in Irvine today attending business meetings and of course, at my desk, writing this post to you.

Today I want to talk about the takeaways from the Buffini Mastermind Summit that I found particularly inspiring. The Summit is always great because it’s not just for real estate professionals; it’s for anyone in business looking to continually improve and achieve their own Wildly Important Goals.

Read more: Thoughts on Leadership: Takeaways from the Buffini Mastermind Summit

This year’s Summit was all about “Putting the Joy Back In Your Journey,” and described actionable ways to make that happen. Joy, as the Summit described, is a sense of well-being, a feeling of great pleasure and good fortune that comes from success. How do we put joy back into our journey? We answer two questions: What steals our joy? What brings us joy? And we also execute on Wildly Important Goals: Eliminate the negative and accentuate the positive.

Let’s dive into what the Buffini Mastermind Summit had to say about these four aspects of joy, along with some of the notes I wrote in the workbook as the ideas were explained:

What steals our joy?

  • Complaining (to express dissatisfaction). As Jay Shetty said: “If you don’t sacrifice for what you want, you become the sacrifice.”
  • Criticizing (to find fault with something or someone). As Aristotle said: “There is only one way to avoid criticism: do nothing, say nothing and be nothing.”
  • Being negative (to lack positive or constructive feedback). As Willie Nelson said: “Once you replace negative thoughts with positive ones, you’ll start having positive results.”
  • Making excuses (to apologize for yourself). As Benjamin Franklin once said: “[The person who] is good for making excuses is seldom good for anything else.”
  • Worrying (to afflict with mental distress or agitation). As Erma Bombeck once said: “Worry is like a rocking chair. It gives you something to do but never gets you anywhere.”

I also learned that according to a survey published by The Wall Street Journal, only 12% of respondents indicated that they were happy. Clearly, we need to get rid of those things stealing our joy and discover what can generate happiness in our lives! So …

What brings us joy?

  • The sweetness of our relationships.
  • A deep sense of purpose.
  • Meaningful work.
  • Physical and emotional wellness.
  • The magic moments.

As Terry Orlick, internationally acclaimed sport psychologist and author of “In Pursuit of Excellence,” said: “The heart of human excellence often begins to beat when you discover a pursuit that absorbs you, frees you, challenges you, or gives you a sense of meaning, joy or passion.” It’s why I say that I love what I do largely because of who I get to do it with. For me, real estate isn’t just a job. It’s a passion. It’s a calling. And that kind of work never feels like work. It always feels like joy.

How can we eliminate the negative?

  • Detox: A process or period in which one abstains from or rids the body of toxic or unhealthy substances. We must detox our attitude and our body. Increase our intake of joy, broaden and deepen positive associations and affirm what is true. Detox your attitude.

People do better together. Eliminating the negative is about being intentional, not only with your thoughts and actions but also with the people you find yourself hanging around with every day. Spend time with people who bring you joy. A study by Harvard Medical School and the University of California, San Diego found that “happiness is a collective phenomenon that spreads through social networks like an emotional contagion.”

How can we accentuate the positive?

  • Sweeten your relationships. Be grateful, kind (a mixture of patience and care), and intentional. Cultivate a deep sense of purpose by asking: What drives you? What are you willing to sacrifice? Who do you want to help? Make your work meaningful and easy through the right mindset, motivation and methodology that will generate positive results. Tend to your physical and emotional wellness by making self-care a priority, creating daily routines, and taking time for yourself. Live up the magic moments by being present and celebrating success with those you care about most!

So, what’s the message? You don’t have to wait for joy or for magic moments to happen. You can proactively go out, create, and plan them into your business and life. Positivity and joy can be found all around us – in our community, our relationships, and our beliefs. We can make joy something we seek out and discover every day. As Brian Buffini, creator of the Mastermind Summit, would say, don’t wait to find joy in your life. Do it now.

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Thoughts on Leadership: Lessons from Col. Nicole Malachowski

By Gino Blefari

This week my travels find me traveling to Palm Springs, California on Monday. On Tuesday, I participated in the early morning Berkshire Hathaway Energy call then joined an all-day CEO leadership meeting before kicking off Stronger Together 2023. Stronger Together is HomeServices’ annual conference for top-producing real estate professionals from across our family of brokerages. It’s been an awesome few days at the iconic J.W. Marriott and for today’s post, I’d like to share some wisdom imparted by one of our keynote speakers, Col. Nicole Malachowski, who wowed the crowd with her thoughts on a “push the envelope” mindset.

First, let’s talk about Col. Malachowski. She’s not only a 21-year U.S. Air Force veteran – with combat experience in Iraq and Kosovo – but also a pioneering aviator who was commander of an F-15E fighter squadron and the first woman Thunderbird pilot. In addition, she was a White House Fellow and advisor, among other Pentagon roles.

Read more: Thoughts on Leadership: Lessons from Col. Nicole Malachowski

Needless to say, when Col. Malachowski spoke about being the best, we listened. Because for an aviation innovator, being the best means never feeling like the turbulence of life can throw you off course, no matter what kind of headwinds you encounter along the way.

An unexpected headwind for Col. Malachowski was surviving a late-stage neurological tick-borne illness (Lyme disease). Even something so crippling and uncontrollable couldn’t hold this fighter pilot back. She says don’t waste energy on things you can’t control. It’s not how you become your very best.

“Nicole,” people would ask the award-winning fighter pilot. “What’s it like to be the best?”

And do you know how she’d respond? She’d laugh. Because to Col. Malachowski, being “the best” isn’t about individual achievements, so she says she really wouldn’t know. Being the best to Col. Malachowski is about being part of some of the very best teams.

Col. Malachowski says elite teams like the ones she’s been a part of have what she calls the “push the envelope” mindset. The phrase “push the envelope” comes from aviation lingo, meaning to take an aircraft to its designated altitude and speed limits.

But how does this play out in real life? As an example, one of the single-greatest honors of Col. Malachowski’s career was when she taught young lieutenants how to fly F-15E Strike Eagles. She calls the aircraft “a beast,” capable of flying 50,000+ feet, pulling nine times the force of gravity and flying twice the speed of sound.

When Col. Malachowski would teach the new lieutenants and pilots how to fly the aircraft, she found the same thing happened every time: They’d get into the aircraft – eyes wide and voices shaking. Then, they’d fly up safely into the training airspace when she’d say, “You have the aircraft.”

The new lieutenant would grab the stick and take the F-15E to about 20,00 feet, 250 miles an hour, pulling 2 Gs.

“What a waste,” Col. Malachowski says with a laugh. She knew this incredible piece of technology could do far more than what the students were asking of it, and it was her job to show them how to take it to the very edge of its capabilities. As part of their team and as their instructor, it was her responsibility to show them how to make the aircraft do its best, and how they can become their best, too.

So, what’s the message? Here are some takeaways Col. Malachowski listed at the very end of her speech, which are all practical ways to be your best:

  • Nothing of significance is ever accomplished alone.
  • Acknowledge and show gratitude for others’ expertise.
  • Honor the wingman contract, which is defined by Col. Malachowski as “an unspoken promise to each other that our actions will always represent the mission, the professional standards, and the values of the whole team.”
  • Ask for and offer help.

Those are just some of the key lessons from Col. Malachowski’s incredible keynote speech, which focused on how being the best can only happen when we are stronger together.  

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