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Goble Properties

Family, Goble Properties, PathLight, The SOLD Project,

Join Me At The Studio Unfiltered Grand Opening!

If you follow my blog then you know that I’m passionate about my family, small business, and global issues. You might pick up on the fact that I love the arts, though I don’t mention them here as often as I should.

So my post today fits right into the sweet spot. Studio Unfiltered opens Saturday, and I am really excited about this new gallery. Why? Well let me list just a few of the reasons ….

– The founder of Studio Unfiltered is my daughter, Rachel. Her vision for Studio Unfiltered comes from her exploration of the intersection …

Family, Goble Properties, Junkyard Management, PathLight, The SOLD Project, Wine Reviews,

Goble Properties Staff Retreat

During the 30-years that I have been at Goble Properties we have never had a staff retreat. Ridiculous, right?

Well that has been corrected. Last week D’Aun and I spent three days in Napa at the Silverado Resort with some of the nicest people on the planet. Our staff are scattered from Cathedral City to San Jose to Pleasanton, so it was good to pull everybody together.

We built our meetings around the book ReWork by Jason Fried and David Heinemeier Hansson. What I love about this book is that it understands the mindset of a small business owner. …

Emerging Ministries, Goble Properties, Junkyard Management,

Lead, Follow, or Go Your Own Way

A previous post promised that I’d explain my leadership style. But first a reality check: this is an ongoing progress. I’m still working through my thoughts on how, exactly, I lead. I’m still learning.

You’ve probably heard the phrase “lead, follow, or get out of the way.” It’s a clever saying, but it is incomplete. The part I especially dislike is that “get out of the way” is not the only other option.

My leadership style is better expressed as “lead, follow, or go your own way.”

Many say that leadership is defined as having followers. There are well …

Goble Properties,

Goble Properties

My son Jedd, who usually focuses his time on creating films, recently rebuilt the website for Goble Properties. Take a look and let me know what you think. It’s not quite done yet — there is still some tweaking to do. But it’s basically complete. I would love your feedback!

It occurred to me that I’ve not said much about Goble Properties on this blog. The company has been my primary vocation all of my adult life, and it is the engine that powers our charitable endeavors. Since Goble Properties has its roots in the junkyard it seems …

Family, Goble Properties, Junkyard Management,

Walt Rodoni, 1913-2011

I have written before about my friend, mentor and employee Walt. Sadly, Walt passed away on Easter Sunday. He was 98 years old and lived an active life right up till the last week. He will be missed.

Below is the obituary for Walt, and below is that is unedited footage from a shoot my son Jedd did about Walt’s life. The video is well worth watching; a candid moment of reflection, with an endorsement for “a good doctor and tabasco sauce”.

—-

Walter A Rodoni, 98, was born on January 23, 1913 and passed away April 24, 2011 at …

Goble Properties, Junkyard Management,

The Wisdom of Walt

Walt turned 98 last month. He’s the oldest employee at Goble Properties. Yes, he really is on our payroll, and he really does show up for work. Not a full forty hours a week, but he’s still on call whenever we need an old school solution to a problem.

My father hired Walt nearly 40-years ago to do some maintenance work. Nobody has worked harder for the family company since then. And nobody knows how to fix things — anything — like Walt.

The hardest I ever worked was the summer I poured concrete with Walt at our family ranch. …

Family, Goble Properties, Junkyard Management,

Call Lloyd

My friend Lloyd retired last week. He didn’t really want to retire. What he wanted to do was go on vacation and never come back. Which I guess he did. He’s on vacation now in Kauai, where he plans to stay for the rest of his life.

Lloyd has worked for my family for about 30 years. From the junkyard to the warehouses, he fixed, swept, repaired, tuned, tweaked, oiled, overhauled, or patched just about everything we’ve owned. Lloyd was the guy I’d call when I had something I couldn’t figure out. Windshield cracked? Call Lloyd. The toy railroad track …

Goble Properties, Junkyard Management, Random Thoughts,

Competition

I’ve been thinking a lot about competition lately. We compete in business, politics, global affairs, sports, and even in many personal pursuits (I know people who live in angst because they have fewer twitter followers than a competitor). Competition can be good because it can bring out the best in us, but other times it can be ugly and harmful. The trick is knowing how to manage our competitive instincts.

One easy junkyard tip to share on this is to first identify who your competition is.

A recent conversation had me thinking about how our competitive natures can interfere with …