Open communication is indispensable to the health of an ever-evolving organization.

How well-developed are your cultural-gauging indicators?

No real estate brand or brokerage possesses "culture gauging indicators" given the subjectivity surrounding professional adherence to the shared virtues and values that comprise a company culture. Our company culture is based upon both a pledge to our brands’ four foundational values and our National Association of REALTORS® Code of Ethics. However, all of our leaders and associates are constantly reminded that our culture is predicated on both ethics and ethos represents all behavior governed by the REALTOR® code of ethics and all laws governing real estate sales professionals. The Ethos represents the commitment we ask every manager and associate to make in how they serve others through their pledge to our Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices four foundational values of trust, integrity, stability, and longevity.

This combination of ethics and ethos, which creates our company culture, does not lend itself to metric-based indicators, unlike our impressive and measurable transactional results. However, we do our best to evaluate new REALTOR® candidates for our company based on how ethically they have behaved in the past. We also have a zero-tolerance policy when it comes to how our professional colleagues work with and treat each other as part of the ethos that is part of our culture.

As a leader, what type of role model are you for your team members?

Being an exemplary role model is indispensable to effective leadership. Human beings are quite keen on observing the personal behavior and conduct of anyone in a leadership position. Whether that leader is a parent, a teacher, a politician, or an executive, unquestionably, all those who look up to such leaders are inclined to model or at the least become influenced by the behavior of all those in leadership positions. Therefore, I am quite vigilant in always displaying notable respect for all of my colleagues. I do this by first being self-respecting, which is based upon my personal conduct as well as how I treat each and every person whom I have the privilege to lead. I ensure that it is very clear to all of our associates that I am a collaborative and coalitional leader. One who places a high value on their thinking and collaboration with my colleagues. I am also mindful that, given how visible I am, my colleagues always take note of how I treat not only them but everyone with whom I interact. I want everyone, including every family member, friend, or partner of each of our company associates and managers, to know that their loved ones are working in a highly ethical and caring environment. A workplace known for how each associate is treated not only professionally but also personally.

Is the team empowered to solve problems, or does it have to go through you?

Leaders in our company are enthusiastically empowered by me to solve problems on their own. A company our size, with over 30 offices throughout Florida, cannot and should not function autocratically. I want our company leaders to maximize their influence and optimize the ability they have to help our associates develop. These goals can't be reached if our entire leadership team doesn't have the right amount of leadership independence and trust.

How does Rei Mesa, President of Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices Florida Realty, deal with criticism?

Any leader must expect criticism. I see criticism as a chance to constantly look over my strategies and decisions for the organization, as well as how the company is running from everyone's point of view.

I also appreciate that there is a difference between criticism, which is a by-product of work-related tension over policies and procedures of the company, and personal and interpersonal-driven complaints. This is why I encourage an open-door policy and honest communication among our employees and associates. I want them to be able to say anything they don't like, no matter how it looks or if it's about the company or me.

This open communication is indispensable to the health of an ever-evolving organization. Our company's employees and associates’ opinions are highly valued and heard. This allows us the opportunity to take corrective measures when criticism identifies a need to make changes for the better.

What are the latest technologies with regards to enhancing business that you have been proactively implementing? What do you think the future of "Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices Florida Realty" will be like?

My approach to embracing the adoption of real estate-relevant, ever-emerging technology is two-dimensional.

First, I approach technology in terms of how we can continue to create an exceptional transactional experience, one that is most efficient and convenient for all of the buyers and sellers we serve. Therefore, access to our property and lifestyle data, our paperless transactional process, our intuitive website, and world-class marketing of properties are all paramount and continually pursued. Given how quickly technology changes and how PropTech is always getting better, if we want to stay at the top of innovation, our technology teams and committees need to keep looking for the best technology.

The second part is our commitment to the adoption of the best available technology. It's how we show our 1,700 sales professionals how to use our leading, strategic, and industry-relevant technology to best serve their customers and improve the overall experience of buying or selling real estate in Florida.

Our technology for helping agents serve customers comes in the form of effective contact management systems, interesting personal websites, social media marketing strategies, and mobile-related technology with content that is geared toward the customer.

Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices' future will depend on whether the global network and brand continue to be the gold standard for customer and consumer satisfaction. Christy Budnick, CEO and fellow Floridian, will lead the company well.

As a leader in real estate, trust (based on documented third-party research), and innovation, and as a brand known as the most aspirational "Forever Brand" in the industry, the future looks bright and full of growth.

Even the most competent organizations tend to face market competition. What are the strategies employed by you to thwart this competition? What, according to you, are the company’s key differentiating factors?

Real estate is one of the only professions where we both compete and cooperate with companies and agents outside of our own.

So, as a long-time member of the National Association of REALTORS® and a former national brokerage liaison, it's important to me that we create an atmosphere of full respect and professional cooperation with all the other brokerages and agents we work with to help buyers and sellers.

Yet we definitely and consistently seek a competitive advantage over all brokerages, guiding our strategy to excel amongst all competitors. These are two separate missions.

One of our goals is to always make sure that we offer services that our competitors do as well, but that we do better, and that we also offer services that none of our competitors do.

Our second competitive goal is to always have an advantage over all of our competitors in terms of brand position and ability.

Can you offer a few case studies where your clients have benefited from your solutions so that we can better grasp your solutions and projects? What problems did they have, and what benefits did they get after using your solution?

Every day, our sales and marketing staff in Florida help a large number of buyers and sellers with a wide range of needs and problems.

The complexity of a real estate transaction itself, along with the human emotions involved in either buying or selling a property, is our pursuit to create the best outcome possible for all involved. Thus, making problem solving a bit remarkable but also engrained in our professional skillset.

What's the most pressing issue you're dealing with in the workplace right now?

The most pressing challenge we are confronted with is one that is ever present. How to best serve our blessedly diverse consumer population across a vast geographical landscape, independent of the market forces at any particular time. To achieve these goals, we have to keep up with our education, improve our skills, and make a promise to provide both personal service and home-related services to all those who come to us for help with their real estate needs. Of course, we also have to always support our company charity, "The Sunshine Kids" Foundation, which helps kids with cancer.

What methods do you use to develop new leaders? With whom are they expected to work?

While most real estate companies in seeking real estate associates focus on recruiting and retention, ours is focused on selection and development 

This same philosophy applies to how we go about providing our sales professionals with superior leaders and managers.

In particular, by choosing our Executive Team, Managing Brokers, and support team members with care and then giving them a lot of training.

As Gino Blefari, the Chief Executive Officer of HomeServices of America and my boss, says, "Once you think you know it all, your slide to mediocrity has already begun."

We first select individuals who have displayed both a desire to lead others and who are willing to develop the prerequisites of possessing people and professional knowledge along with communication skills. These are indispensable in our company's business plan.

For an office or regional manager to stay in their position or move up, they must continue to show that they can manage our full-service business model in a way that gets results.

So, our business model has to make sure that buyers and sellers get not only help with buying and selling homes, but also our other services, like mortgage, title, insurance, and home warranty.

This means that our managers need to be able to explain the benefits of a full-service experience and make sure that their salespeople do better in real estate because we are committed to giving our customers a full-service experience.

Our company and branch office leaders are continually being developed in extensive training programs to advance our full-service Forever Agents (our REALTORS®), and they are measured against these results.

This is the quantitative way our leaders are trained and developed.

They are also developed by important qualitative standards. For example, do their associates all feel respected? Are they dedicated to helping our associates achieve a proper work-life balance? Are they advancing our ethics and ethos-rich culture?

We constantly engage all of our managers in company and industry management development programs, including bringing in management and leadership consultants like Allan Dalton. Allan is the Senior Vice President of Research and Development for Berkshire Hathaway Home Services and the former CEO of Realtor.com. Allan is a respected consultant who brings a new point of view to both leadership and sales and marketing. He does this in a way that engages our customers in an honest, trustworthy, and respectful way.