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Business leaders have been urged to lift their standards and be the best version of themselves to drive growth and attract top talent, according to John McGrath.
With over four decades of experience in the real estate industry, CEO of McGrath Estate Agents, John McGrath, sat down with editor Liam Garman on an episode of the REB podcast to discuss the importance of strong cultural leadership.
In the competitive real estate market, McGrath said it was more important than ever for agents to find a way to differentiate themselves from the pack.
“I take the view that from an agent level, but also a leader level, that if you are remarkable, it’s never cluttered because there are very few people that are remarkable,” McGrath said.
While it may seem like a lofty standard to set, McGrath said that being ‘remarkable’ is more achievable than people think.
“The only thing that generally stops you from being remarkable is choosing the best version of yourself and then setting up a system to allow you to do it.”
“I'd say I actually don't think being remarkable is all that elusive. I think that the world, in terms of its general standards, including the real estate industry, there's a fair degree of mediocrity out there.”
McGrath stressed that when it comes to attracting and retaining top talent, it often comes down to what leaders do in the business to get people excited about being part of the team.
“It's a war for talent like I've never seen before, which is, it's part of the terrain, and you've got to compete.”
“You want to be the guy that, when you walk in the room, everyone feels safe, everyone feels excited. Everyone feels they can conquer Mount Everest because you're there.” McGrath said.
McGrath said that for a business to grow, its leader needed to be willing to push themselves outside of their comfort zone.
“If I was the same version of John McGrath as 40 years ago, I’m sure we wouldn’t have achieved some of the things we’ve achieved.”
“The onus and the responsibility are on the leader to keep reinventing themselves.”
While the industry tends to fixate on competitors, McGrath said leaders should focus on the internal of their business.
“I don’t look at our competitors very much; I have sufficient awareness."
“We are looking for innovations as they come up, but it’s really about how you can be consistent internally and externally."
“It’s really about consistency. We aren’t reinventing the wheel every week.”
McGrath said that leaders needed to encourage agents to reflect on their mistakes and learn from the experience rather than focusing on the negative.
He said that agents can spend 30 seconds dwelling on what happened, but the next 30 seconds should focus on answering the question, “Was there anything I could have done better?”.
“For most people, something will come up, and it'll put them off for the day or the week or the month or even longer sometimes, but that's because they let it.“
“The beauty is you don't have to get every piece of business or every recruit that you're going for to have a wonderful life and a successful business,” McGrath concluded.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Mathew Williams
Born in the rural town of Griffith NSW, Mathew Williams is a graduate journalist who has always had a passion for storytelling. Having graduated from the University of Canberra with a Bachelor of Sports Media in 2023, Mathew recently made the move to Sydney from Canberra to pursue a career in journalism and has joined the Momentum Media team, writing for their real estate brands. Outside of journalism, Mathew is an avid fan of all things sports and regularly attends sporting events across Sydney. Get in touch at
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