Have you ever observed a professional colleague, a friend, or a leader whom you admire, confidently facing uncertainty without any apparent fear? The phrase “fearless leader” must have emerged in our vocabulary for a good reason, don’t you think? Truth be told, those individuals aren’t fearless — no one is. What they have done is mastered the feeling of fear, which has unlocked their innate ability to see disruption and change as an opportunity more quickly.
As I have noted over the years of working with many clients around the world, one common thread that ties humans together in this world of rampant disruption and change is that we all find it unpleasant in many ways. Above all else, from executives down to entry-level employees, everyone finds disruption and change frightening in some fashion. What fear can often do to us is cloud how empowering and full of opportunity disruption and…
Posted On Thursday, 31 August 2023 00:00 Written by
Pending home sales increased 0.9% in July – rising for the second consecutive month – according to the National Association of Realtors®. The Northeast and Midwest posted monthly losses, while sales in the South and West grew. All four U.S. regions saw year-over-year declines in transactions. The Pending Home Sales Index (PHSI)* – a forward-looking indicator of home sales based on contract signings – rose 0.9% to 77.6 in July. Year over year, pending transactions fell by 14.0%. An index of 100 is equal to the level of contract activity in 2001.
“The small gain in contract signings shows the potential for further increases in light of the fact that many people have lost out on multiple home buying offers,” said NAR Chief Economist Lawrence Yun. “Jobs are being added and, thereby, enlarging the pool of prospective home buyers. However, rising mortgage rates and limited inventory have temporarily…
Posted On Wednesday, 30 August 2023 07:02 Written by
Borrowing from an epic line, the new revisions to the BLS Jobs numbers from April 2022 to March 2023 show an overstatement of jobs by more than 300,000 jobs! Reminds me of another classic line, “You had just ONE job to do…” Well, the year-old numbers they shared are already almost six months old. So now you know why the markets continue to be frustrated by the government agencies, The Federal Reserve Board Members, Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen, and even the President, when they continue to spout “facts” about the economy and jobs that clearly are either old, out of date, or just plain fabrications! Remember just two short years ago when inflation was transitory? Remember when we were told that spending more than a TRILLION dollars on something called “the inflation reduction act” wasn’t going to add to inflation? Remember another two TRILLION dollars on something called “Build Back…
Posted On Monday, 28 August 2023 00:00 Written by
More than one-quarter (25.8%) of homebuyers are looking to move to a different part of the country, a record-high share and up from 23.7% a year ago. That’s according to a new report from Redfin (redfin.com), the technology-powered real estate brokerage. The portion of homebuyers looking to relocate has steadily risen since the pandemic began; the share stood at roughly 18% in 2018 and 2019. While a record share of homebuyers are looking to relocate, the number is lower than it was a year ago as the frequency of homes changing hands drops to its lowest level in at least a decade amid the cool housing market. There are 7% fewer Redfin.com users looking to move away from their home metro than a year ago. That’s compared with a 17% decline for Redfin.com homebuyers staying in their hometown.
Myrtle Beach, SC has made it onto the list of…
Posted On Sunday, 27 August 2023 06:51 Written by
The typical home purchased in high-opportunity U.S. neighborhoods went for $470,000 last year—$130,000 more than the typical home in low-opportunity areas The typical home that sold in a high-opportunity U.S. neighborhood in 2022 went for $470,000, 38.2% more than the typical home that sold in a low-opportunity neighborhood, which went for $340,000. That’s according to a new report from Redfin (redfin.com), the technology-powered real estate brokerage. The report is based on an analysis of home sales in 100 of the most populous U.S. metropolitan areas. Redfin sorted each neighborhood into one of three tiers—low opportunity, intermediate opportunity and high opportunity. A high-opportunity neighborhood is defined as one where children who grew up in low-earning households went on to become higher earning adults than the typical person who grew up in their metro at the same time.
People in high-opportunity neighborhoods are more likely than those in low-opportunity neighborhoods…
Posted On Wednesday, 23 August 2023 18:42 Written by
When you need help, have you ever heard yourself saying… • I don’t want to appear needy or weak• I’ll just do it myself because it won’t be done right, and I don’t want to bother anyone• If I ask for help, they will think I’m incapable Why is it that women don’t want to ASK, or better yet, allow receiving help? 
It is a loaded question with a ton of varied responses. When I conducted an informal survey through my Women’s Wisdom Network, women stepped up and admitted in general that they sucked at both. In almost all cases, the accepting help beat out the ASKING for help by almost fifty percent.  We aren’t good at asking and that made me think…why? In my own life, I’ve been taught to buckle up, figure it out, do it myself, and move on.  It stems from women needing to…
Posted On Thursday, 24 August 2023 00:00 Written by
Existing-home sales receded in July, according to the National Association of Realtors®. Among the four major U.S. regions, sales grew in the West but faded in the Northeast, Midwest and South. All four regions registered year-over-year sales declines. Total existing-home sales[1] – completed transactions that include single-family homes, townhomes, condominiums and co-ops – waned 2.2% from June to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 4.07 million in July. Year-over-year, sales slumped 16.6% (down from 4.88 million in July 2022).
“Two factors are driving current sales activity – inventory availability and mortgage rates,” said NAR Chief Economist Lawrence Yun. “Unfortunately, both have been unfavorable to buyers.” Total housing inventory[2] registered at the end of July was 1.11 million units, up 3.7% from June but down 14.6% from one year ago (1.3 million). Unsold inventory sits at a 3.3-month supply at the current sales pace, up from 3.1 months in…
Posted On Tuesday, 22 August 2023 10:26 Written by
We’ve seen cycles come and go—everything from music trends that emulate days gone by to past decades of fashion making a comeback. It is evident that cycles are all around us. As a business leader, how do you turn cycles into your advantage, and better yet, what industries will benefit from cycles in the coming years?
Trends Are Cycles Within my Anticipatory Organization Model, I emphasize the importance of identifying both Hard Trends, future certainties that will happen, and Soft Trends, future maybes open to influence. Hard Trends and Soft Trends sound similar to the concept of cycles, don’t they? That’s because they are! If we begin with Hard Trends, a future certainty means we know it will happen. For example, we know the sun will rise tomorrow morning, we know spring follows a bitter cold winter, and we know a brisk fall follows a blisteringly hot summer. On the other hand, Soft Trends are merely…
Posted On Tuesday, 22 August 2023 00:00 Written by
Redfin reports homebuyers are turning to newly built single-family homes as overall inventory sits at an all-time low Newly built homes made up nearly one-third (31.4%) of single-family homes on the market nationwide in the second quarter, according to a new report from Redfin (redfin.com), the technology-powered real estate brokerage. That’s the highest share of any second quarter on record, with new construction keeping the housing market afloat amid the severe shortage of existing homes for sale. The portion of new homes of all inventory is up from 30.3% a year earlier and nearly double the pre-pandemic share of about 17% in the second quarter of 2019.
The second quarter’s share is down from a near-record-high of 33.6% the previous quarter, but that’s a normal seasonal pattern, as the share of new homes tends to peak in the winter months. New homes make up a near-record share of…
Posted On Friday, 18 August 2023 14:47 Written by
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