I live in Denver, a United Airlines hub. As a result, I have flown over 1 million miles with United since I moved to Colorado in 2012. While I have not flown since March 12, 2020, I am very familiar with United and how it operates in Denver. Every once in a while, a company gets on my radar and …
Last week, a discussion with a friend took me back to a book I read a couple of years ago, “How Emotions are Made” by Lisa Feldman Barrett. Dr. Barrett is a renowned neuropsychologist who explains the concept of a body budget. In short, your body budget is your brain’s prediction of how much of its resources it should spend …
Over the past month, several people have asked me, “What are you working on this year, Gustavo?” These people know me well. They understand that I am a lifelong learner who is always trying to change or improve something. There’s a well-known piece of wisdom that three things matter in real estate: location, location, location. Similarly, three things are important …
For the past two weeks, I have been flooded with questions, comments and exclamations about the end of 2020 and the beginning of 2021. I am with all of you who are celebrating this new beginning! BUT, in the immortal words of Henry Ford, “If you do what you’ve always done, you’ll always get what you’ve always got.” In other …
I’ve always been fascinated by friends and colleagues who approach me toward the end of a year and ask me how to make — and, more importantly, keep — a New Year’s resolution. Our culture seems to love new beginnings and self-improvement. I’m a big fan of looking at where we are now, where we want to be in the future …
Wealth is a double-edged sword. I am in no way opposed to the accumulation of wealth. But, just like a double-edged sword, it must be wielded with care and respect. On November 27, 2020, the world lost an icon way too soon. Tony Hsieh died of complications from smoke inhalation in a house fire. Hsieh had many successes. The one …
The global pandemic affects our culture in myriad ways. There’s one effect of the pandemic that surprises a lot of people when I tell them about it: It’s accelerating the expansion of a new life stage that social scientists call “emerging adulthood.” This culture shift started well before the pandemic. In 2014, 32% of 18- to 34-year-olds lived with a …
Happy Thanksgiving! Thanksgiving is such a uniquely American cultural holiday. While this Thanksgiving may look differently from those we’ve experienced before, the sentiment will be the same. It is an expression of gratitude. When I was growing up, my mother and a friend of hers alternated annually hosting Thanksgiving meals at each of their homes. Of the 20-40 people who attended the …
There’s a lot we can’t control right now, like the continuing pandemic and deep divisions in our country. But there are also many things we can control. And it’s a lot more productive to focus on them. One of those areas within our control is helping our teams stay engaged in this new world of remote work. Keeping teams engaged …
A friend and colleague called me last week. She sounded in distress. I pushed my work aside to listen. She was gravely concerned about COVID-19, her family and her work (as so many today are). And then she asked another question — one I had heard before: “Is it normal to hear voices in your head?” Please keep in mind, …
