There is always a common thread that binds brothers, but for the sons of D.A. Brown it is more than the blood of their father that pumps through their veins.

Philip Butterfield, Vincent Hollinsid and Transport Minister Dr. Ewart Brown have each been given determination, drive and confidence from their father ? the common thread: ?He is clearly the unifying stream behind all of us,? said Mr. Butterfield one early afternoon sitting on his brother, Dr. Brown?s, couch.

What unites these brothers even more however is how they have used the skills passed on by their father to get where they are today.

When the Bank of Bermuda was sold to HSBC earlier this year, Mr. Butterfield, 57, was promoted to the position of CEO, making him the first black leader of a major Bermuda financial services organisation. Mr. Butterfield has worked in every aspect of banking gaining much of his experience at Citibank, in the US, where he worked for 28 years, starting out as a bank teller and climbing his way to the top.

For youngest brother Vincent, 54, public service called: ?I really have always wanted to join the fire service. There was a fire alarm at City Hall and Prospect and I used to run and check it out when the volunteers would be called. That intrigued me.?

Mr. Hollinsid started putting out fires in 1969 and is now the Chief Fire Officer of the Bermuda Fire service.

?The day that he took the position (of CFO) he was commanding because he came through the ranks,? said Dr. Brown.

?You have to be able to relate to people. It goes a long, long way,? added Mr. Hollinsid.

Eldest of the brothers, Dr. Brown, has also come a long way since his first days as an orderly at the hospital. He said: ?Medicine and politics: I?ve always wanted to do both.?

After last year?s general election and the subsequent ?palace coup? of then-Premier Jennifer Smith, Dr. Brown emerged as the Deputy Premier and continues to act as Transport Minister. He is also the medical director at Bermuda Healthcare Services.

All three brothers started at the bottom and worked their way up, and each agree that this has only helped them when it comes to the work they are now faced with.

?Each of us knows that we can do the entry-level job if we need to. We?re always prepared to do it to demonstrate leadership,? said Mr. Butterfield who said he?s just as comfortable in the executive offices as behind a teller?s desk.

?Settling for mediocrity was unacceptable,? explained Mr. Butterfield about there father who they all agreed did what was necessary to make ends meet.

D.A. Brown was an entrepreneur who dabbled in cigar making, waiting tables and later made the Clayhouse Inn a haven for international stars such as the Supremes and Dinah Washington.

His larger-than-life personality was known around the Island, they explained. One of the things the three have managed to take from their father is a sense of balance in life.

?We take a balance of work and fun, you have to have memories to reflect on later in life,? said Mr. Butterfield.

But they all make it clear that they had mothers who worked hard to make them the best men they could be. Mr. Butterfield and Mr. Hollinsid are both full brothers ? sharing a common mother but taking their stepfathers? names ? while Dr. Brown is their half brother.

With the Island suffering from escalating youth violence, the brothers explain that with guidance from their parents they were able to achieve all of their goals.

Mr. Butterfield puts it this way: ?This shouldn?t be a unique story and it should be something that anyone can accomplish. It?s not a privilege or a gift that we did it with guidance and support and individual effort.?

?We?ve all been faced with the challenges that everyone else has,? Dr. Brown added.

But they haven?t used their goal-attaining skills only to benefit themselves. Since 2001 the brothers have worked together to form the Bermuda Healthcare Foundation (see fact box on the BHF).

When asked how they all decided to contribute to the medical field, Mr. Butterfield explained: ?Each of us is directly involved in the medical field. Vincent deals with it at the fire station, while I am now the chairman of the Bermuda Hospitals Charitable Trust and of course Ewart is at Healthcare Services.?

?We?re very clear in each of our respective roles and it?s value to the greater community. It?s a reflection of the advice given to us by our father,? Mr. Butterfield said.

Getting the job done but doing it thoroughly was a hard but important lesson that Dr. Brown took from his father.

He remembers being asked to sweep the porch one evening; something he wasn?t necessarily keen on. When his father came to check up, he asked his son if that was the best job he could do. Dr. Brown explained that D.A. went back and swept the floor again and added: ?I want to be able to eat off this floor.?

Dr. Brown explains: ?Now we all insist on these things and we don?t tolerate substandard behaviour. We?re serious about what we?re doing.?

With that personality trait, Dr. Brown said he is often perceived as being arrogant: ?I think people are often confusing arrogance with confidence and possession of a back bone,? he said.

His brothers agree.

Making a decision can often ruffle a few feathers but they add that their father gave them the confidence to stick by their choices.

?We all have a touch of that. If you have an idea, stick to it,? Mr. Hollinsid said.

And the brothers add that they will continue to stick by their guns and blaze a trail like their father.