By Jordan Rose, Rose Law Group Founder and President
I am guessing I have 100 percent reader agreement when I say this last 7 months have been like a totally discombobulated dream.
In March, as other states started locking down and we all found ourselves housebound, I started to imagine a future that looked really disconnected – and not a lot of fun. As I was lamenting this bad dream, Court Rich called me, randomly mentioning that a national group he belongs to regularly spoke by video conference. I quickly hung up, called my office and asked them to find the most user-friendly tool allowing a large group of people to see each other with some speaking (we chose Zoom).
Then I emailed a few of my very favorite leaders in Arizona asking if they’d participate as panelists in what we decided to call the “Power Lunch” – they responded favorably within minutes. From the time we knew we were to be locked down, to the time we sent out the invite, it was about an hour.
It just felt like we needed to act fast. For our community. To talk about our fears. For all of our continued businesses. For connection. To understand adaptation. For our sanity. To try to find a reason to laugh.
Four days after we announced, upwards of 350 people showed up (most with their cameras on) and week after week it continued to grow. Our refrain was “find opportunity,” because I was hopeful that if we said enough and people focused their extreme nervous energy into “opportunity” good things would happen. And I think we all did. Every week we got a little stronger and a little more certain that this new normal might be okay. We came together.
Who would have guessed then that now we’d be in the hottest real estate market in recent history? Who would have guessed our kids would have merged online schooling with becoming professional gamers? That we would have lost real loved ones to a disease out of a fictional horror movie? That we would have found opportunity in extreme chaos?
So as all good things come to an end… The Power Lunch is taking a hiatus to encourage everyone to go out on Fridays to lunch and interact (with masks) or produce in some socially distanced way. We reserve the right to come back if and when our community needs community conversation. Good or bad.
Thank you so much for participating. I loved pretending to be a talk show host. I really loved asking the people I most respect questions and learning from their wisdom. Thanks to all the great leaders who stepped up to share with all of us when it was often tough to admit what was happening in their businesses. But they did and we all benefited from their candor.
Here is a link to all the “shows” and who knows, this may be interesting at some time in the future to someone as a historical reference of what we all were thinking real time as we lived through this insanity.
Thanks especially to the following people and special gratitude to Nate Nathan who stepped up big to act like a “senior advisor” -never mincing words in suggesting how we could improve.
Thank you all.
Special thanks to our panelists:
- Akram Abdallah, Founder of online jewelry/fashion brand, Nominal
- Jackob Andersen, CEO of Saint Holdings
- Jim Belfiore, Founder and President of Belfiore Real Estate Consulting
- Peter Bezanson, CEO of BASIS Educational Ventures
- Darryl Berger, founder and CEO of Berger Holdings and BB Living
- John Carlson, President of Mark-Taylor Residential
- Cameron Carter, Partner and Transactional Department Director at Rose Law Group
- Rod Cullum, Founder and President of Cullum Homes
- Dr. Leigh Erin Connealy, Author of The Cancer Revolution
- Michael P. Davidson, CEO of Gen Next
- Todd Davis, Founder LifeLock
- Craig DeMarco, Restaurateur and co-founder of Upward Projects
- Kaine Fisher, Partner and Family Law Director at Rose Law Group
- Robert Flaxman, CEO of Crown Realty & Development
- John Graham, Chairman, CEO Sunbelt Holdings
- Tom Galvin, Regulatory Attorney at Rose Law Group
- Dan Gauthier, Transaction Attorney at Rose Law Group
- Shruti Gurudanti, Transaction Attorney at Rose Law Group
- Chris Grogan, Partner at El Dorado Holdings Inc.
- Dr. Sonal Haerter, Physician at St. Joseph’s Hospital and Medical Center
- Ryan Hurley, General Counsel at Copperstate Farms
- Michael “Frenchy” IlesCremieux, President of West Division Richmond American Homes
- Alan Jones, Division President for Lennar Homes
- Jonathan Keyser, Founder of Keyser Real Estate
- Mike Kern, President of Communities Southwest
- Craig Krumwiede, CEO of Harvard Investments
- David Krumwiede, Executive Vice President of Lincoln Property Company
- David Larcher, President of Vestar
- Dr. Joshua Lewis, Front-line Emergency Room Physician
- Goodyear Mayor Georgia Lord
- Harry Lourimore, Division President of Mattamy Homes
- Commissioner Judy Lowe, Arizona Dept. of Real Estate
- Reverend Jarrett Maupin, Civil-Rights Leader
- Adam Martinez, Head of Legal at Offerpad
- Dr. Ana Moran, Infectious Diseases Physician, Medical Director for HealthyVerify Certification
- Don Murphy, President of Shea Homes Arizona
- Jim Mullin, Auto Dealership Developer
- Nate Nathan, President/Designated Broker of Nathan and Associates
- William “Bill” Nassikas, President and COO of Westroc Hotels and Resorts
- Jeffrey Nielsen, Director Land Acquisition at Toll Brothers
- DJ P-Body, our funky-fresh afterparty DJ
- Katie Haydon Perry, Executive Vice President of Haydon Building Corp.
- Elliot D. Pollack, Premiere economist, CEO of EDPCO
- Michael Pollack, Michael A. Pollock Real Estate Investments
- Ann Siner, Co-Founder and CEO of Eco-Chic Consignments
- Rick Schantz, Head Coach of Phoenix Rising FC
- Dr. Robert Sheeler, Family Physician
- Mark Tarbell, Owner of Tarbell’s Restaurant
- Peter Thomas, Four Seasons, Scottsdale developer and builder
- Adam Trenk, Partner and Director of Cannabis, Hemp and Equine Law Departments at Rose Law Group
- Andy Warren, President of Maracay Homes
- Rick West, Owner of Carefree Partners Investments
- Gerd Wuestemann, President & CEO at Scottsdale Arts
