Thursday Thoughts on Leadership: Win the Earnhardt Way

By Gino Blefari

This week my travels find me in Indianapolis to meet with the talented team at Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices Indiana Realty. Spending time with the agents and managers at Indiana Realty, including co-founders Kevin Kirkpatrick and John Dick, as well as Chief Operating Officer Craig West, was an incredibly rewarding experience, and all attendees were in warm spirits despite the cold weather and impeding snow.

While driving to the Indiana Realty event, I had the opportunity to catch glimpses of the Indianapolis skyline from my car window and it’s difficult to be in that city without thinking of its most iconic event—the Indianapolis 500. The race is especially front and center this year, as the Indy 500 is set to hold its 100^th running May 29.

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Thursday Thoughts on Leadership: Book of Business and the Business of Books

By Gino Blefari

This week my travels find me in the rainy Pacific Northwest for meetings with the Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices Northwest Real Estate team, including president/CEO Jason Waugh and Northwest Real Estate Chairman Mike Gain. I started off by speaking to our Seattle-based agents and managers then drove with Jason and the event’s keynote speaker, Ashton Gustafson, 174 miles on I-5 southbound to Portland.

I was thrilled to spend time with both Jason and Ashton—Jason for his consummate professionalism and leadership of the Northwest Real Estate brokerage and Ashton because I was intrigued by the speech he delivered in Seattle that spoke about the importance of connection. Essentially, Ashton’s message was that no matter how much you tweet or post or snap in today’s tech-centric world, real estate is still about genuine, personal connection. It doesn’t matter, he might argue, if you achieve real connection through handwritten notes, in-person meetings or even a casual drop by to visit a past client; real estate is not an online business. Real estate is a people business.

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Thoughts on Leadership: A Message for Presidents Day

[image courtesy of biography.com]

By Gino Blefari

“I am certain that after the dust of centuries has passed over our cities, we too will be remembered not for victories or defeats in battle or in politics, but for our contribution to the human spirit.” – President John F. Kennedy

This week my travels found me in Dallas to rehearse for the upcoming Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices 2016 Sales Convention. (By the way, read more about that event here.) Because our hotel was only a few blocks away, while on a break from rehearsal I had the chance to make a quick visit to Dealey Plaza in downtown Dallas, a landmark of American history and the site where President John F. Kennedy was assassinated November 22, 1963.

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Thursday Thoughts on Leadership: What it Means to Win

By Gino Blefari

This week my travels find me in Irvine, CA, where it seems as if the entire state is gearing up to host Super Bowl 50 on Sunday. And while my 49ers didn’t quite make it to the big game, it does take place right on my home turf, at Levi’s® Stadium in Santa Clara.

If you look at the Denver Broncos and Carolina Panthers, you’ll know Super Bowl 50 should be an interesting contest of the league’s two best defenses that pits prodigy quarterback Cam Newton of the Panthers against veteran quarterback, Peyton Manning of the Broncos. It’s also an intriguing matchup when you take into account the rumors circulating that this Super Bowl game might be Peyton’s last. In fact, browse any sports news website and you’ll be met with a hailstorm of headlines debating this very question. Will he or won’t he? Would a Broncos win on Sunday change everything?

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Thursday Thoughts on Leadership: Beyond the Barn

By Gino Blefari

Good evening! This week my travels find me in Raleigh, NC for a meeting with Tommy Camp, president and CEO of Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices Carolinas Realty and his fantastic managers. After talking leadership, best practices and recruiting with the team, we had dinner at the historic Angus Barn, a decades-old barn-turned-restaurant that is a celebrated staple of the local dining scene. (Our meal actually took place in the basement, an incredible space that featured a table so large it took up most of the room.)

The Angus Barn—also known as “Big Red”—was officially opened for business on June 28, 1960 with novice restaurateurs Thad Eure Jr. and Charles Winston running the show. Neither men had any experience operating a restaurant; perhaps this was why they so boldly disregarded their detractors who said the Angus Barn project couldn’t be done. Who, these critics questioned, would visit a restaurant located along a narrow, two-lane road, desolate save a few telephone stations dotting the way?

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Thoughts on Leadership: On Informality and Candor

By Gino Blefari

Good evening! This week my travels find me in rainy Phoenix for the Berkshire Hathaway Energy Executive Leadership Conference. And while it might be hard to find an umbrella in this desert city, it’s easy to find inspiration at a meeting filled with dynamic and motivating leaders who stand at the helm of some of Berkshire Hathaway’s finest companies … Greg Abel, Bill Fehrman and Ron Peltier to name a few.

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A Mindset for Success – Part 1

In the first of a three-part video series, Paul Campanaro, agent with Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices Arizona Properties, Nevada Properties and California Properties explains the power of a positive mindset for sales executives. “Everything begins and ends with mindset,” he says in his video. With a powerful mindset, challenges and obstacles can be navigated to ensure business success. Watch the rest of Paul’s video and stay tuned for parts two and three, coming soon!

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Thursday Thoughts on Leadership: December Inspiration

By Gino Blefari

This week my travels find me in Irvine, CA at the HSF Affiliates LLC headquarters for a leadership meeting and a Town Hall with the entire Irvine-based staff. During these get-togethers, my team will discuss motivation and inspiration, reflecting on our past year and looking forward to a year of growth and prosperity ahead.

Stephen R. Covey, author of The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, once said, “The best way to predict your future is to create it.” And in fact, the name of your game this December should be proactivity. If you haven’t done so already, now is the time to think and plan out how to have a breakthrough 2016. To get you started, here are some ways to increase productivity and success in the new year:

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Thursday Thoughts on Leadership: DISCovering Behaviors

By Gino Blefari

This week my travels found me in Nashville, TN for the Real Living Connection conference. However, I want to travel back a bit farther — not in distance but in time — to twenty four hundred years ago when Hippocrates, the father of modern medicine, first started to contemplate the idea that differences in human behavior follow a recognizable pattern. Ever since this discovery, scientists and researchers alike have studied the concepts of behavior and personality. Notably, in 1928, Harvard-trained psychologist Dr. William Marston wrote “The Emotions of Normal People,” in which he put forth the idea that people are motivated by four intrinsic drives — represented by four letters of the alphabet, D,I,S,C, — that define behavioral patterns. And so, a concept called DISC was born.

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Thursday Thoughts on Leadership: A Time To Give Thanks

By Gino Blefari

Today, I want to talk about Thanksgiving. We as human beings, Americans and yes, members of the HSF Affiliates and HomeServices of America, Inc. families, work very hard and always maintain a strong work ethic. Yet, as busy as we get, there are times when it’s important to step back, reflect and be thankful for all we have and all of the people in our lives we’re blessed to have around us. There are many reasons why Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday (and no, it’s not just the food coma and football) but I want to share one story that is particularly meaningful for me as we approach Thanksgiving Day:

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