Lessons in Leadership with Ray Ellis

Leadership is in Ray Ellis’s blood. The CEO from First National Real Estate, responsible for 400 offices in Australia and New Zealand comes from a long line of leaders. He says, “My family has a military background. I spent my life growing up as an army kid. My father was fortunate enough to do a couple of tours of Vietnam, and my grandfather the same thing, and my great grandfather. I didn't follow in their footsteps but it certainly left a lasting impression on me of what leadership is about.”

Ray thinks the qualities needed in a leader can definitely be learned. He says, “Leadership is quite often thrust upon you. I don't think there's anything such as a great born leader, as a great born talker, or great born nurse. We have to learn certain skills or whatever, but you have to have a certain amount of acumen, chutzpah, to actually want to be a leader.”

Ray had his first taste of leadership when he started his own advertising marketing agency in 1989. He says, “I had no background experience in it; I just thought it was a good idea to give it a go. I was fortunate enough, ten years later, to float that on the Australian Stock Exchange. It was

a very successful organisation so I probably grew into leadership, probably made more mistakes than I made right decisions. That's all part of growing up. When you're a leader, it's not about what you get wrong, it's about what you get right. Often on occasions you'll get a few things wrong but if you get more things right, that's what makes you a great leader.”

There is no doubt though, that leadership can be quite lonely. He says, “There's nothing more lonely than being a leader; you have to stand on the rock of leadership. A good friend of mine said once, ‘When you're a chief executive or leader and you think a bomb has to go off next to you, and you've got to smile and say this is the best thing that's ever happened to you, that's what leadership is about’. I enjoy the challenge of standing on that rock of leadership from a personal point of view. The phrase I use - I don't have the arrogance to say I have all the answers, I have the confidence, I have all the questions. If you surround yourself with good people, you can ask the questions, you'll get the right answers and therefore standing on the rock of leadership is a lot easier.”

Now as the leader at First National Real Estate, Ray welcomes difference and diversity of experience as he believes, “A good leader is someone who's able to unite people that have differing views, different outcomes, different objectives and get them to run in the same direction. We all dress differently, we all eat differently, we'll have different ambitions - financial, family, school, services, whatever. In an organisation, if we don't run in the same direction, the organisation is going nowhere. Differing views are important, and a good leader is able to get everyone on the same page and run in the same direction at the same time.”

As a network, First National Real Estate is celebrating their 35th anniversary next year. Ray says, “It’s very important that we engage with the people in our network around 35 to see what they want, what they demand, what their real estate careers are about, but it's entirely different than what it was even five years ago, let alone 35 years ago. Someone who's 30 now was born with an iPhone, iPad in their crib. We still think of it as new technology; it's old technology. The tried and true methods we've hung our hats on, maybe they're still relevant in some guys, but for the young people they're not. Suits and ties have disappeared, protocols disappeared, informality has become the norm. Is that good or bad? It is just different and leadership in the future, will be about embracing what's different, and enabling people to grab hold of that and build better careers”.

Ray continues, “What the under 35's have taught me, is if we don't communicate to the consumer as they want to be communicated, we will miss the boat. That means their lounge room at 8 o'clock at night, if it means through Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat or whatever, we better get on board because that's how they want to be communicated.”

One of the most important qualities a leader needs, Ray believes is to expand energy and have a sense of purpose because it’s infectious and inspiring. He says, “The people that work around you, the people you share time with, your family, your loved ones, your clients, and your customers, they will see that energy, they will see that purpose.

You don't have to show it off, just demonstrate it, because people want to do business with successful people. People want to do business with the ones that expand energy. People want to do business with people they like and we can't do business with everybody we like because there are some people that won't like you but they will admire you, they will respect you, and they will understand you're a serious business person by what you do by expanding energy and purpose. Create a sense of urgency. Apathy, whinging, whining, tough market - it gets us nowhere.”

The other key lesson he has learned is that you can’t change everyone. He explains, “I used to believe everyone wanted a happy life, everyone wanted to be liked and admired by the people around them. Everybody wanted to have a sense of purpose, everybody wanted to achieve something different more so than today. This is one of the lessons of leadership. Along the journey you will meet people who don't want to share those views. You can't do anything about it, that's their lives. A good friend of mine, our principal in our Port Hedland office said to me once,

‘Ray, they were miserable before they met you; they'll be miserable after they leave you’. You can't do anything about it. Your job as a leader is to give people opportunities. If they don't take those opportunities, find someone else who will and allow that person to move on and perhaps find better opportunities somewhere else because your people are your business.”