Real Returns

S8E6 - Mary Fearon | Bringing Purpose to the Employee Experience

In this episode of Real Returns, Andrew sits down with Mary Fearon, Founder and CEO of OnPrpose, a leadership and communications firm built on the belief that stories change people and people change the world. Mary makes the case that the staggering employee disengagement crisis isn't a people problem, it's a culture problem; and shares what it actually looks like to help leaders reconnect their teams to purpose, identity, and the work that matters. Timestamps: 00:00 - Opening Segment 00:43 - Welcome & Guest Introduction 01:34 - What Mary Is Building: Connected Organizations 03:24 - More Connected Than Ever, Yet More Isolated 05:27 - Gallup's Record-Low Engagement Numbers, and Why It's Not Surprising 07:58 - How Do You Actually Define Purpose? 10:41 - Why Stories Are the Engine of Change 12:21 - What About the Skeptic? Meeting People Where They Are 13:26 - The Factory Story: Proof That Everyone Wants to Contribute 18:20 - AI and the Rise of the "Hard Soft Skill" 21:36 - Where to Follow Mary's Work 22:05 - Closing Segment "No amount of stuff you add onto the heap —the benefits, the volunteer days, the better salaries — matter at all if we don't address the person's mindset as they walk through the door." — Mary Fearon Connect with Mary: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mary-fearon-45515b22/ Website(s): OnPrpose: https://onprpose.com/ maryfearon.com: https://maryfearon.com/ Instagram: @MaryMFearon — For more insights on purposeful investing, subscribe to Real Returns on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or YouTube. Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/real-returns/id1642761377 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/5tx0jOW8J1h3xsEWLuVPzm YouTube: / @realreturns — Subscribe to our NEW monthly newsletter: http://www.realreturnspodcast.com Want to see your question answered on the show? Submit a question via our Q&A form: https://forms.gle/Fy9E6H7BTpzhGPueA

S8 E5 - Dr. Dinakar Golla | A Plastic Surgeon's Take on Investing

In this episode of Real Returns, hosts Andrew Reichert and Dan Croce sit down with Dr. Dinakar Golla, a Pittsburgh-based plastic surgeon, entrepreneur, and venture investor. Dinakar shares how a pivotal mentor in medical school redirected his career, how he transitioned from practicing medicine to building a diversified investment portfolio, and why he believes aligning incentives is the key to fixing American healthcare. Timestamps: 00:00 Opening segment 00:40 Welcome back; NFL Draft in Pittsburgh 00:57 Meet Dr. Dinakar Golla 01:48 Growing up in Pittsburgh 02:22 The plan to become a cardiac surgeon 03:36 A mentor changes everything 04:32 His mentor passes two days after matching 05:11 Mentorship reflections from Andrew and Dan 06:52 Leaving the university to build his own practice 08:33 The thrill of building from scratch 09:25 Transition from success to significance 10:04 Getting into alternative investing 11:38 Investment philosophy and LP lessons 13:38 Healthcare technology and the impact opportunity 14:13 America's most expensive healthcare system 14:45 Rewarding outcomes, not usage 16:11 Patients must own their care 17:05 Andrew's cancer story; misaligned incentives 17:46 The dialysis example 19:21 Next five years; venture and legacy 20:48 Launching a Pittsburgh healthcare venture fund 21:34 Involving his kids in investing 22:09 Dan and Andrew's closing takeaways 23:21 Where to connect with Dr. Golla 23:37 Outro "I think the key to [fixing healthcare] is that it has to be value-based. If it's getting to be 20% of GDP and we're just not getting really good outcomes, that's a bad thing." — Dr. Dinakar Golla Connect with Dr. Golla: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dinakar-golla-27b2151b Website: gollaplasticsurgery.com - For more insights on purposeful investing, subscribe to Real Returns on YouTube. YouTube: https://youtube.com/@realreturns — Subscribe to our NEW monthly newsletter: http://www.birgo.com/realreturns Want to see your question answered on the show? Submit a question via our Q&A form: https://forms.gle/Fy9E6H7BTpzhGPueA

S8 E4 - Julie Hanners | Improving Lives Through Real Estate at Scale

In this episode of Real Returns, we're joined by none other than Julie Hanner, VP of Property Management at Birgo Realty! 🦏🏡 Julie shares what it truly means to serve the people who live in your properties. With 30 years of industry experience, including oversight of 25,000+ unit REIT portfolios, Julie unpacks what a resident-first culture actually looks like in practice, and how resilience shaped her approach to leadership. Timestamps 0:00 – Why Happy Residents Are Your Best Marketing 0:35 – Meet Julie Hanners: 30 Years of Experience 1:15 – Why Julie Left a Massive REIT 2:06 – How Birgo Up-Skills Its People 2:45 – Why Julie Started in Leasing 3:18 – The Weight of the Rent Check 4:11 – Building Community Through Intentional Events 5:01 – Growing Yourself by Developing Others 6:10 – The Rhino Operating System Explained 7:21 – Andrew's Cancer Diagnosis: A Personal Story 8:06 – Battling Cancer Alone During the Pandemic 9:15 – Every Day Is a Gift 11:20 – Core Values: Maintenance Teams Cross State Lines 12:15 – Discovered vs. Created Core Values 13:51 – The Chief Janitor Mindset 14:28 – Why Executives Must Stay Eternal Students 15:35 – Birgo's Biggest Growth Year Yet 16:20 – Developing the Leaders Who'll Replace You 17:35 – Closing "You want someone to move into your community thinking, this is the best thing since sliced bread." — Julie Hanners Connect with Julie: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/julie-hanners-cpm-candidate-cam-caps-2774a077/ [https://www.linkedin.com/in/julie-hanners-cpm-candidate-cam-caps-2774a077/] - For more insights on purposeful investing, subscribe to Real Returns on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or YouTube. Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/real-returns/id1642761377 [https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/real-returns/id1642761377] Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/5tx0jOW8J1h3xsEWLuVPzm [https://open.spotify.com/show/5tx0jOW8J1h3xsEWLuVPzm] YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@realreturns [https://www.youtube.com/@realreturns] — Subscribe to our NEW monthly newsletter: https://www.birgo.com/realreturns [https://www.birgo.com/realreturns] Want to see your question answered on the show? Submit a question via our Q&A form: https://forms.gle/Fy9E6H7BTpzhGPueA [https://forms.gle/Fy9E6H7BTpzhGPueA]

S8 E3 - Patrick Colletti | The "Refounder" Mindset

In this episode of Real Returns, host Andrew Reichert is joined by Patrick Colletti, who shares the mindset required to revitalize organizations at any stage. From scaling Net Health to serve over 34,000 healthcare facilities to his current role as an executive advisor and adjunct professor at Carnegie Mellon, Patrick discusses the discipline of "refounding" and what it means to be a "running partner" to today's leaders. After stepping into a near-bankrupt startup where the money was gone and the entire staff had been fired (leaving only Patrick and one partner) he embarked on a journey to transform a broken business into a thriving one with over 600 employees, inspiring him to teach others how to do the same. Timestamps 0:00 – The Cycle of Trust: Building risk-taking "muscles" through vulnerability. 0:44 – Guest Intro: Meet Patrick Colletti, CEO advisor and author of Refounder. 1:09 – Patrick's early career and the 90-day ultimatum at a failing startup. 1:53 – Winning vs. Not Losing: The psychology behind taking on "impossible" challenges. 3:50 – Why fixing something broken is a unique leadership discipline. 5:30 – Empowering every level of an organization to think like a founder. 7:15 – From Zero to a Billion: Patrick's journey advising founders through massive scale. 9:37 – Lessons from scaling Net Health from 2 to 600 employees. 10:10 – Why focusing on "highly engaged teammates" beats focusing solely on EBITDA. 12:06 – Building culture through authentic vulnerability and employee storytelling. 16:51 – How Birgo used "TED talks" (including a memorable one on crocheting) to build trust. 18:05 – Growth on Purpose: Developing a "white belt mentality" in leadership. 19:51 – The Next Chapter: Teaching at Carnegie Mellon and planting seeds for next-gen leaders. 20:46 – The Dinner Stories: A unique method for fast-forwarding trust between strangers and polarized groups. 26:01 – Closing "Authentic vulnerability creates trust, which then allows us to create risk-taking muscles so that we can take bigger and maybe more important risks together." — Patrick Colletti - Refounder (Book): https://refounder.com/ The Dinner Stories: https://www.thedinnerstories.com/ Analog Sunday: https://www.analogsunday.co/ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/patrick-colletti/ - For more insights on purposeful investing, subscribe to Real Returns on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or YouTube. Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/real-returns/id1642761377 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/5tx0jOW8J1h3xsEWLuVPzm YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/ ⁨@realreturns⁩ — Subscribe to our NEW monthly newsletter: www.birgo.com/realreturns Want to see your question answered on the show? Submit a question via our Q&A form: https://forms.gle/Fy9E6H7BTpzhGPueA

S8 E2 - Adam Taki | Vertical Integration and Arithmetic Risk

In this episode of Real Returns, host Andrew Reichert sits down with Adam Taki, President of Actlien Holding Inc. and a specialist in the complex world of tax sale certificates. A disciplined investor with a background in "arithmetic risk," Adam is on a mission to navigate high-barrier niches where perceived risk often scares away the competition, but the numbers tell a much more stable story. Adam shares why his tax-lien investing strategy is similar to bonds, explains why his company is vertically integrating by launching its own plumbing division, and offers a unique perspective on the Tyler v. Hennepin Supreme Court decision that upended the tax foreclosure industry. Timestamps: 00:00 - Opening Segment 01:40 - Scaling through Vertical Integration: Why Actlien is starting a plumbing division 03:20 - Why building is better than buying in 2026 05:25 - Tax Liens 101 08:45 - Geographic Strategy: Navigating the complexities of the NY and NJ markets 11:30 - The Institutional Shift: Trends in single-family residential ownership 14:15 - The Social Impact of Tax Liens: Extending credit to save homes from foreclosure 18:30 - Tyler v. Hennepin: How a landmark Supreme Court ruling changed the industry 22:15 - Arithmetic vs. Perceived Risk: Adam's philosophy on finding niche opportunities 23:30 - Closing Segment "At the end of the day, the thing that we're investing in looks and smells like a bond more than it ever has." — Adam Taki — Connect with Adam: LinkedIn: / adamtaki Website: https://actlien.com/ — For more insights on purposeful investing, subscribe to Real Returns on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or YouTube. Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast... Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/5tx0jOW... YouTube: / @realreturns — Subscribe to our NEW monthly newsletter at https://www.birgo.com/realreturns. Want to see your question answered on the show? Submit a question via our Q&A form: https://forms.gle/Fy9E6H7BTpzhGPueA