Q: Looking at how this plays out in the workplace, how have you used sports and/or gaming for team or morale building?
Greg Hague
Founder and CEO
72SOLD
Sector: Real Estate
At 72SOLD, sports has played a huge role in our team morale building. Through our partnership with the Arizona Cardinals, we host fun pre-game events for our agents and employees on the Great Lawn at virtually every home game. These typically involve competitive game playing (like Foosball), music, food and various other forms of entertainment. We also have our corporate and agent team attend Cardinals games in our suite, and participate in “community give-back” partnerships with the Cardinals that involve company-wide participation.
Through our partnership with the Arizona Diamondbacks, we give our agents and employees tickets, have pre-game events like with the Cardinals, and even have special “72SOLD” nights like on June 13th when I threw out the first ceremonial pitch, with almost 300 of our local team in attendance. You can see that at 72Dbacks.com.
For the upcoming 2023 Super Bowl in Arizona, we are working with the Super Bowl committee to have the 72SOLD team host a booth with competitive games at the Super Bowl Experience center during the week before kickoff.
Greg Hague is founder/CEO of 72SOLD, recently recognized as the “Leading Home Selling Program in America.” Hague served as a real estate business commentator for NPR and real estate expert to The Wall Street Journal. He has appeared on more than 200 television and radio shows, was featured in Kiplinger’s book, Buying and Selling a Home; Investors Business Daily; Money Magazine; and Carolyn Janik’s book, Selling Your Home.
Josh Jurhill
Co-Founder and CEO
Muscular Moving Men & Storage
Sector: Service
Sports, athletics, fitness, competition, teamwork and advancements are principles on which Muscular Moving Men & Storage was founded and are core values that are taken seriously. Health and fitness are instilled in our employees through perks and practices such as a full, onsite gym for all staff and team-building events that start every monthly all-hands meeting (dodgeball, tug-of-war, relays, etc.).
When I realized the personal fulfillment of one-on-one boxing lessons with former Kickboxing World Champion and MMA legend Rick Roufus, my next immediate thought was to share his positive experiences with the rest of the Muscular Moving Men family. Muscular Moving Men now has a partnership with Rick where he provides in-person lessons to staff and family at no cost to the employees.
Rick brings an amazing dedication to teaching his craft, and the Muscular Moving Men staff, in turn, can get a cardio workout that teaches great skills and packs a serious punch! Muscular Moving Men and Rick are both based in Phoenix and have come together to incorporate fitness into the bottom line and are finding a positive win/win partnership together.
Founded in Phoenix in 2008, Muscular Moving Men & Storage is a full-service moving and storage company established by Justin Hodge and Josh Jurhill on one simple philosophy: provide amazing moving service and great customer care at a competitive price. The energetic young company quickly rose to prominence thanks to its team of fit, friendly and efficient movers who work hard to treat every customer like a VIP.
John Kobierowski
President and CEO
ABI Multifamily
Sector: Real Estate
Sports tends to draw a lot of Type A personalities, and so does commercial real estate brokerage. In fact, we have more than one athlete on our team. So, when we set up our new Phoenix headquarters, incorporating sports into the workplace was a natural. A basketball court in the parking lot is a convenient spot to get out on a beautiful day and shoot hoops. We didn’t want to get the usual Foosball table or ping pong table in the office, but, instead, the brokers brought in a set of kiddie golf clubs and wiffle ball golf balls, and “golfice” was born — a friendly game that builds both camaraderie and competition.
Speaking of competition, a few years ago we had a client gift us a small wall-mounted basketball hoop. They asked everyone who received a hoop to submit their coolest video. Our team put together a pretty incredible video of trick shots around the office and ended up winning a trip to Hawaii! Check it out on our Instagram page @abimultifamily.
John Kobierowski is the President and CEO of ABI Multifamily, a brokerage and advisory services firm with offices in Phoenix, Tucson, and San Diego focused exclusively on apartment investment transactions. John is also the co-founder of Neighborhood Ventures, Arizona’s first real estate crowdfunding company, and owner of The Grid. Works co-work space in Uptown Phoenix.
Eivan Shahara
CEO
Brightroot Inc.
Sector: Cannabis
We held our first-ever Kickball Tournament at the beginning of this year. We had 16 kickball teams — each comprised of 10 players, ages 21 and up — compete for an official trophy, along with bragging rights. A portion of the tournament proceeds benefitted a local cancer nonprofit to help increase awareness of men’s health issues and promote early cancer detection. The event was not only fun, but it also was a great morale booster for not only our internal team but also for our industry.
Through this kickball tournament, we wanted to help increase conversations about men’s health issues. We knew the pandemic had a profound effect on all types of cancer screenings, and that, for men in particular, doctors are seeing even more delayed screenings, which is resulting in the discovery of more advanced cancers, especially prostate. Cancer is a topic that men tend to not talk about very often, so we planned this event as an opportunity to increase important health conversations. We shared information about important preventive cancer screenings and less invasive health exams. We also provided background information about the free emotional and social support resources that are available for anyone who is impacted by a cancer diagnosis.
Eivan Shahara is CEO of Brightroot Inc., the parent company of Mint Cannabis, which is headquartered in Arizona. Brightroot earned $9 million in revenue in its first year. The company is now valued at more than $500 million. With a nationwide network of retail locations, manufacturing/extraction laboratories and cultivation centers, the Mint is home to the nation’s third-largest dispensary and first cannabis kitchen of its kind in the country.
