By Gino Blefari
This week my travels find me in San Diego to attend Tom Ferry’s Success Summit. The theme for Summit 2015 is “unstoppable,” a powerful word with many applications in life and business. In a recent blog post, Tom detailed five easy steps to achieve an unstoppable mindset and I’d like to highlight them now:
By Gino Blefari
This week I have the 4th of July on my mind, a holiday always spent grilling with my family and watching fireworks light up the summer sky. It’s my favorite time of year, with a rich history as compelling as the patriotic celebration itself.
By Gino Blefari
This week my travels find me in the Hawaiian Islands for business meetings and my annual family vacation. The islands are nothing short of spectacular: pristine beaches, unspoiled landscape and a welcoming aloha spirit. This spirit is also evident in the history and local legends of Hawaii, like Duke Kahanamoku, whose life and achievements make for an incredible story I’d like to share with you now.
By Gino Blefari
This week my thoughts aren’t so much about my travels as they are about what happened while I was away. Nearly two months ago, on a rare rainy day in Southern California, I received a call from HSF Affiliates CFO Brian Peterson, (who also happens to be my neighbor), letting me know he had picked up a package at my door so it wouldn’t get wet.
“Thanks, Brian,” I said over the phone. “That’s interesting though because I didn’t order anything to my SoCal residence but it’s probably a book.”
In fact, it was a book, a very good book I’d like to discuss with you today.
By Gino Blefari
This week, my travels took me to Omaha, NE, a city smack in the middle of the U.S.A. and home to an organization we all know well, Berkshire Hathaway Inc. Before this year, I had only been to—or better yet, been through—Omaha twice before, years ago as a child on a family road trip from California to my home state of Massachusetts. I remember even then, as we drove along Interstate 80, Omaha was a study in contrast, a small, urban skyline surrounded by the quintessential Midwestern scape of flat, open land.
Now I’m a seasoned Omaha visitor, with three trips to the city in the past year, most recently to attend the Berkshire Hathaway Annual Shareholders Meeting and then, just this week, to visit Vince Leisey and his team at Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices Ambassador Real Estate. Each time I return I’m struck by the distinctiveness of the city and I get the recurring feeling that this place is unlike any other; it’s easy to understand why Berkshire Hathaway would be stationed here.
By Gino Blefari
This week my travels took me to the Great State of Texas for a visit with the Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices PenFed Realty Texas team in Dallas and the HSF Affiliates LLC IT group in Houston. Usually, this would be the time during “Thoughts on Leadership” when I would describe what happened over the course of the past few days. But for this post, in honor of the upcoming Memorial Day holiday and its spirit of remembrance and reverence, I want to tell a tale that isn’t my own.
By Gino Blefari
This week, my travels took me from Denver to Omaha to St. Louis but our story begins west of the Gateway City, in Irvine, CA at the HSF Affiliates headquarters …
Each morning in Irvine, I try to follow the same routine: I wake before sunrise and walk to the hotel coffee shop near our offices for some quiet, meditative moments to prepare for the day ahead.
By Gino Blefari
This week my travels took me from sea to shining sea … or pretty close. I started out in Chicago as a panelist at AREAA’s 2015 Global & Luxury Summit then drove toward the outskirts of the Windy City to visit the Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices Starck Real Estate team. From there, it was off to Lancaster, PA to spend time with Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices Homesale Realty and finally, my week ended among the snowcapped mountains of Vail, CO and the agents, managers and staff at Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices Colorado Properties.
If you’re counting, that’s a gain of almost 11,000 feet in elevation. Here are my calculations:
By Gino Blefari
A casual suggestion, a way to spark pointed discussion and quiet contemplation … that’s how Earth Day began on April 22, 1970. After a devastating 1969 oil spill off the once-pristine coast of Santa Barbara, Wisconsin Senator Gaylord Nelson, a longtime environmentalist, realized one day each year must be set aside for citizens of the world to unite and quite literally stop to smell the roses. This year, for the 45th time, people around the globe did just that, celebrating the beauty of our Earth in an international observance themed, “It’s Our Time to Lead.”
And indeed, it is. I was recently reading a letter from Berkshire Hathaway Energy CEO Greg Abel and the gist of his poignant message was this:
By Gino Blefari
This week my travels took me to the majestic state of Montana, to Big Sky Country, to the heart of Lewis and Clark’s westward expedition. I began my trip in Bozeman speaking with the outstanding agents, managers and staff at Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices Montana Properties then traveled along Interstate 90 toward Missoula for another presentation with the Montana Properties team.
For those who have never driven on I-90, it’s a highway famous for its scenic surroundings, a modern-day trail through America’s unspoiled territory, where “Home on the Range” comes to life in meandering rivers, roaming antelope, dense forests and snowcapped mountains. I was lucky enough to drive with Montana Properties Broker/Owners Mike Basile and Dan Ermatinger, who had much to say about the highway and Montana’s awe-inspiring landscape.
Thoughts on Leadership 