Posts filed in:Gino Blefari

THOUGHTS ON LEADERSHIP: THE PSYCHOLOGY OF VERBALIZING NEGATIVE THOUGHTS

By Gino Blefari

This week my travels found me at home, beginning my Monday conducting WIG calls with our CEOs. On Tuesday, I attended the weekly Berkshire Hathaway Energy President’s Meeting and had three succession planning calls. On Wednesday, I had two succession planning calls and two 4DX Tune-up presentations — one to a team from Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices EWM Realty and another to the virtual attendees of the HomeServices of America Title & Escrow Conference. Today I had one succession call and wrote this post with the idea of positivity in mind.

Did you know that a leader’s influence on a team member has one-tenth the power of a team member’s influence on themselves? That’s why I focus so much on mindset. If your team has the right mindset, they can influence themselves to be productive, determined and goal oriented. Shifting mindsets toward all things positive isn’t easy and it takes small but measurable changes to get it right.

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THOUGHTS ON LEADERSHIP: HUMBLE, HUNGRY AND SMART

By Gino Blefari

This week my travels found me at home, beginning the week with my normal Monday WIG calls. On Tuesday, I had a HomeServices of America Corporate Team Gathering and on Thursday I was a guest speaker for Guarantee Real Estate’s managers meeting. I also participated in five succession planning calls this week.

Being a leader means constant self-reflection, accessing your habits good and bad to double down on the former and break the latter. It’s part of a constant re-invention process every leader must regularly go through to evolve and grow. If a leader is going to be a catalyst for outward change, they must also be a source of inward change. And there are three key characteristics that help in this leadership evolution: staying humble, hungry and smart. Let’s examine those attributes and their distinct components as they relate to effective leadership:

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Posted by rethinkcouncil

THOUGHTS ON LEADERSHIP: THE MINDSET OF NEUTRALITY

By Gino Blefari

This week my travels find me at home, completing my weekly Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices Presidents Meeting and typical WIG calls on Monday. I spent Tuesday planning and sending out handwritten notes then on Wednesday, presented 4DX Tune-up + Mindset Leadership Amid Covid-19 to the team at Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices New England Properties, led by the great leadership of CEO Candace Adams. And today, I spent an hour with the members of the Intero Academy.

One of my preferred ways to recharge is by watching my favorite sports teams compete. Sports has so many parallels to business—it’s why I so often write about inspiring NFL coaches or top players on this blog. In business, your goal is to win and in sports, your goal is to win. I also see parallels between sports, business and being a parent. You lift up your family. You lead them when necessary and you ensure every member of your family finds success, just as you would with a business or sports team.

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Posted by rethinkcouncil

THOUGHTS ON LEADERSHIP: WATCH THE SHORE

By Gino Blefari

This week my travels found me at home, starting off with my typical Monday WIG calls. On Tuesday, I was in the HomeServices of America CEO Leadership Meeting, which includes CEOs from 31 states across the country. I was also able to virtually visit the Czech Republic and Poland the following day when I presented during two Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices global alignment sessions for prospective brokerages. Today, I delivered 4DX Tune-Up to the team at Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices Kay & Co in London then joined the Insider SPOTLIGHT live cast. Before COVID-19, I would have never been able to be with leaders from 31 states one day, then Zoom to Prague and Poland the next and wind up in London the day after. It just wouldn’t happen. Now, because we’re all at home and connected digitally, we can be anywhere at any time.

And speaking of traveling, it’s not just the joy of the journey but also the knowledge of your destination that gives direction and an endpoint to a team. Imagine, for instance, your goals are a shoreline, stretching wide and welcoming in front of you. Simply put, your team’s mission is to reach the shore. Here’s a story to explain:

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Posted by rethinkcouncil

THOUGHTS ON LEADERSHIP: WHAT IT MEANS TO BE UNSTOPPABLE

By Gino Blefari

This week found me at home, kicking off the week with my typical Monday WIG calls. On Tuesday, I participated in the weekly Berkshire Hathaway Energy Presidents meeting and presented 4DX Tune-Up to the leadership team at Houlihan Lawrence. The rest of the week I spent preparing (and as you read these words, am still in preparation) for next week’s monthly CEO leadership virtual meeting.

I always say I love my job mostly because of the people I get to do it with – even if we’re working together while separated by computer screens. And it’s not just the mindset of our team members that makes my job so fun but also their mantra; they are truly UNSTOPPABLE. (The word happens to be the theme for the Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices Sales Convention 2021 and it’s a perfect fit.)

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Posted by rethinkcouncil

THOUGHTS ON LEADERSHIP: CONTESTS TO DRIVE GROWTH

 

 

 

 

By Gino Blefari

This week my travels found me at home, starting my Monday with my normal WIG calls. On Tuesday, I had my weekly Berkshire Hathaway Energy Presidents meeting followed by a HomeServices of America Virtual Team Gathering then the Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices 2021 Creative Pitch by Corporate Magic. On Wednesday, I attended the Explosion 2020 Virtual Event and presented 4DX Tune Up to the teams at Kentwood Real Estate and Edina Realty and Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices North Properties. Today, I was a guest on Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices CEO Chris Stuart’s Forever Forum Live Cast.

As I spoke with teams across the country (and world), I noticed a reoccurring theme. Sales teams frequently want to know: How do you tactically and tangibly drive growth? One way to drive growth in a sales organization is through contests.

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Posted by rethinkcouncil

THOUGHTS ON LEADERSHIP: HOW’S YOUR BUSINESS PLAN?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

By Gino Blefari

This week my travels find me at home, starting my week with the weekly Berkshire Hathaway Energy Presidents meeting followed by my typical Monday WIG calls. I also spent part of Monday in meetings for 2021 budget preparation. On Tuesday, I spend the entire day preparing for the Q3 HomeServices of America CEO Leadership Conference, which took place Wednesday and continued all day today.

As you might have guessed, the theme for this week was preparation and not only preparation as it applied to tasks or conferences but also preparation for the year ahead. There’s no better way to prepare for 2021 than by creating and finalizing a business plan. As Benjamin Franklin one said, “If you fail to plan, you are planning to fail.”

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Posted by rethinkcouncil

THOUGHTS ON LEADERSHIP: KNOWING YOUR AUDIENCE

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

By Gino Blefari

This week my travels found me at home starting Monday off with the Berkshire Hathaway Energy weekly meeting and my typical WIG calls. On Tuesday, I presented 4DX Tune-Up to the leadership team at Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices Toronto then shared my real estate story for the launch of Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices Alexander Chandler Realty in Fort Worth, Texas. On Wednesday, I presented 4DX Tune-Up to three separate teams: first to attendees at the HomeServices of America Legal Conference then to the team at Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices Northwest Real Estate and finally to the team at Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices EWM Realty. Today, I gave my 4DX Tune-Up presentation to the leadership team at HomeServices of Kentucky, including president and CEO Brad DeVries. Finally, I ended my day presenting “Mindset Leadership Amid COVID-19” to the HomeServices Title team and Vice President Jim Lamphere.

With so many presentations to so many different leaders, my mind was focused this week on each particular audience and customizing my presentations to fit their specific challenges, opportunities and goals.

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Posted by rethinkcouncil

LEADERSHIP LESSONS FROM VINCE LOMBARDI

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

By Gino Blefari

This week found me at home, starting my week on Tuesday with my weekly Berkshire Hathaway Energy meeting followed by my normal WIG calls. Today, I presented a 4DX Tune-Up for the leadership team at Harry Norman, REALTORS®, which is led by CEO Jenni Bonura.

It’s an exciting day for me as the NFL kicks off with the Houston Texans taking on the Kansas City Chiefs. I’ve often drawn comparisons between the lessons learned in sports and the lessons we can glean as leaders, and one of my all-time favorite football leaders was Vince Lombardi. The legendary coach was best known as head coach for the Green Bay Packers in the 1960s, and under his leadership the team won three straight and five total NFL championships over the span of seven years, which included winning the first two Super Bowls at the end of the 1966 and 1967 seasons.

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Posted by rethinkcouncil

THOUGHTS ON LEADERSHIP: THE BENEFITS OF BEING INCOMPLETE

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

By Gino Blefari

This week my travels found me starting the week with my usual Monday, which included WIG calls with HomeServices of America CEOs. On Tuesday, I had the weekly Berkshire Hathaway Energy presidents’ meeting then participated in a breakout session as part of Tom Ferry’s Success Summit. On Wednesday, I had a HomeServices of America board meeting via teleconference followed by the HomeServices of America team gathering and the Long & Foster shareholder meeting. Today, I delivered a 4DX Tune-Up presentation to the team at Bridgebank as well as to the team at Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices Commonwealth Real Estate.

As I’ve been doing these past few weeks, whenever I have downtime to recharge and recalibrate, I’ve been digging into leadership articles posted by the Harvard Business Review. This week I listened to “In Praise of the Incomplete Leader” by Deborah Ancona, Thomas W. Malone, Wanda J. Orlikowski and Peter M. Senge.

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