Thoughts on Leadership: The Importance of Celebration

By Gino Blefari

This week my travels find me first working from my home office in Northern California and then eastbound to Miami for the AREAA Global Luxury Summit, all about the rise of Miami as an international powerhouse for high-end real estate investment. Speaking of real estate, spring is such a critical time in the cycle of a real estate agent—we’re right in the middle of spring selling season—and it’s often a time when we expect a lot and reality may not always deliver. That’s why I want to write today about the importance of celebration, (as you know, I always say we must celebrate the small wins), and how critical it is to make time to celebrate as we move onward and upward in our careers. Oprah Winfrey once said, “The more you praise and celebrate your life, the more there is in life to celebrate.”

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Thoughts on Leadership: Love What You Do

By Gino Blefari

This week my travels found me in Las Vegas and then Phoenix, meeting with iconic broker, Mark Stark, CEO of Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices Arizona Properties, Nevada Properties and California Properties, and his teams at Arizona Properties and Nevada Properties. As usual, I’ve been traveling a lot lately and with the upcoming holiday weekend, airports have been more crowded, roads filled with more traffic and getting around has been just a little bit harder. It’s during these somewhat stressful times I must constantly remind myself how much I absolutely love what I do—serving our network brokerages and helping people achieve their goals faster than they would in my absence.

I’ve often said I love what I do largely because of who I get to do it with, and that means working with great leaders like Mark, whose energy, enthusiasm and dedication to his agents is beyond compare.

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Thursday Thoughts on Leadership: Not of Decline But of Progress

By Gino Blefari

This week my travels found me in Baltimore, MD and Lancaster, PA to meet with the outstanding team at Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices Homesale Realty, led by Co-founder and Managing Director Doug Rebert; Co-founder and Managing Director Pete Slaugh; Rick Doyle, president of realty operations; and CFO Rod Messick. I delivered both my 7 Principles of Success and How to Create An Unstoppable Mindset Routine to the members of the brokerage and speaking against the backdrop of these extraordinary cities made me really think about the significance of both Lancaster and Baltimore’s rich history, and how some of the central themes in my talks are echoed in the cities’ past.

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6 Reasons London Is Attracting Luxury Buyers

By Mitch Lewis

In a recent article, Mansion Global declared London “the most desirable city in the world for high-net-worth individuals buying luxury homes,” despite the upcoming Brexit and less-than-favorable sales tax rates. Why is London so appealing to high-end buyers? Let me count the ways …

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Thoughts on Leadership: Learning from Mavericks

By Gino Blefari

This week my travels found me in Tampa, Florida for the biannual meeting of the Mavericks, a small think tank of Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices network CEOs who get together to exchange ideas and foster company growth. This particular meeting was hosted by Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices Florida Properties Group and the brokerage’s leadership team of Broker/Owner Dewey Mitchell and Broker/Owner Allen Crumbley. For three days, we bonded—eating breakfast, lunch and dinner together between meetings—and for three days we discussed Florida Property Group’s strengths and challenges. (At the next Mavericks meeting Dewey and Allen will report back on changes implemented.) It was an inspiring conference, as it always is, and I had four key takeaways from the meeting that I want to share with you now:

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Thoughts on Leadership: Prepare to Succeed

By Gino Blefari

This week my travels find me first in Northern California and next in Phoenix, where I’m preparing for the upcoming Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices 2017 Sales Convention. Our theme for convention is “Unleashing Your Potential,” and the topic was very much on my mind as I watched the NFL Combine this week.

The event, this year held Feb. 28 – March 6, brings together more than 300 of the best college football players from across the nation to participate in the National Invitational Camp in Indiananapolis, IN. Top executives, coaching staffs, player personnel departments and medical personnel from all 32 NFL teams are in attendance and evaluate the players ahead of the upcoming NFL Draft. The NFL Combine is basically an intense, physical and mental grind, a four-day job interview for these hopeful athletes and a critical step in helping them achieve their dream of playing in the NFL.  

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Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices Innovative Real Estate: New Name, Timeless Values

By Melissa Kandel

It’s no secret Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices Innovative Real Estate in Denver is a brokerage powered by the concept of innovation—the word appears in the very title of the company. But to hear Broker/Owners Scott and Lora Nordby speak about what innovation means to them, the term takes on a meaning all its own.

“When we were attempting to figure out who we wanted to be, innovation was the direction we wanted to go,” explains Lora Nordby. “There were so many agents who had lost the care for their clients, and so many consumers who had been manipulated by a real estate transaction; we wanted to be able to turn those potential home buyers and sellers around and make them realize we’re an industry of assistance and information sharing, which for us was a very innovative idea.”

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Thoughts on Leadership: A Winning Culture

By Gino Blefari

This week my travels found me first in Atlanta to meet with the Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices Georgia Properties team and next in Minneapolis for a HomeServices of America, Inc. monthly board meeting. As I traveled from the East to the Midwest, there was one idea on my mind and it’s been center stage at almost every brokerage I’ve visited so far this year: culture.

Extensive articles, studies, books have all been written about this very subject, and the proliferation of literature on the topic speaks to how important it is for the success of a company. Organizations may have the latest technology, the greatest talent, the hardest-working employees but if they don’t have a positive culture, what do they really have? Culture is a sustainable competitive advantage and it’s also a byproduct of strong, inspiring leadership.

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Thoughts on Leadership: Are You Prepared?

This week my travels found me first in Pinehurst, NC on the very golf course which, since 1898 has been the playing ground for golf championships as well as champions of the sport like Jack Nicklaus, Arnold Palmer and Payne Stewart. I was at the historic Carolina Hotel in Pinehurst for the GearUp 2017 awards ceremony hosted by the Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices Carolinas Realty family of brokerages, led by president and CEO Tommy Camp, with Maureen Sammon, president and CEO of HomeServices Lending in attendance. The event was filled with hundreds of passionate agents, all gearing up for a successful year ahead.

Next, I flew to Dallas to rehearse with my team for our upcoming Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices Sales Convention in Phoenix. It always strikes me as interesting how right around this time each year, as I prepare to address thousands of our network members from our general session stage, I receive several messages wishing me good luck at the convention. I always appreciate the support and the phrase is a fascinating one to analyze in the context of effective leadership.

What does “good luck” mean anyway?

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Thoughts on Leadership: Why Sales Convention Matters

This week my travels took me to Northern California to meet with Gretchen Pearson, president of Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices Drysdale Properties and her team—what a great group of real estate agents and managers! I also participated in meetings and conference calls as my team gears up for our big event in Arizona.

It’s hard to believe it but we’re just one month away from the Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices 2017 Sales Convention in Phoenix and if you haven’t yet registered, let me give you five reasons why you should absolutely attend:

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