2AM Club Platinum Member. An Interview with Brian White.
We all have nights when we wake up at 2am thinking about an important issue, but it’s what we do then that can be the difference between success and snoozing.
Ray White Chairman Brian White is a signed-up member of the ‘2am Club’, using early-morning brainstorming sessions to make the most of opportunities presented to him by his family. The international Ray White network was established by his grandfather in Crows Nest, west of Brisbane, in 1902 as a business selling livestock, insurance and property. Eight of the White family are now involved in Ray White operations including loans, rural business, funds management, property management and corporate development.
Mr White joined the business in the early 1960s and it is now an international operation with almost 1000 offices. When his father, Alan, retired and passed the business on to his sons Brian and Paul, Ray White comprised 12 offices throughout Queensland. “We had credibility; we had a great position in the Queensland market. I liken it to the concept of a springboard - my brother and I just jumped on that and away we went,” Mr White said.
Equating building a real estate network to crossing the Blue Mountains in that explorers went up river valleys until they came to an impenetrable cliff face, Mr White said it was possible to become stuck and it’s difficult to break out. “We had to face a number of key decisions; there were several you look back on that caused sleepless nights,” he said, explaining the network was company owned because they didn’t believe in franchising initially.
He started out in property management, sales and office leasing but took on a role in company development when his father retired. Ray White is now set up with CEOs in each state running their operations independently. This is what suits Mr White’s leadership style and is part of the network’s growth strategy.
The group celebrated its 100-year anniversary in 2002 and, while there are no worries about its viability, there are still issues that keep the chairman up at night. “It comes down to: are we relevant in that particular situation? There is a great phrase that I like: ‘maybe we don’t have a need to grow, but we have an obsession to’ and that radiates through everything we do,” Mr White explained.
It is this constant re-evaluation process that allows Mr White to keep himself in check. He commits to spending time monthly going over his performance in the previous month. “My criteria is what I’ve done in the last month. Has it made it easier or have I had no impact for the people in our group to be proud or prouder to be carrying the Ray White name?”
Equalising his morning strategy sessions is Mr White’s passion for surfing. “I’ve got a great balanced life. I do a number of different things and I’m really quite blessed,” he said. Although not an expert at the sport, he enjoys taking time to visit Indonesia to ride the Asian waves with friends – and, of course, to check up on the group’s expanding operations.
“People have often said, ‘when you return from one of these trips hang on to your hat. He’s going to come up with some lulus’. We’ve got over 100 offices in Indonesia now and some of the achievements of our people up there have given us a lot of confidence to be able to expand further into south-east Asia. Those are the sort of thoughts that are so delicious to have.”
In the habit of setting and re-setting goals, Mr White said it’s very tempting to say the group is well established in Australia and New Zealand and expanding into Asia, so why not tackle the United States, but he knows the core business is here. “Take off any action or any focus on leadership and the business would begin to suffer immediately. Driving what we have is a constant thought. How do we make this better? What parts can we improve? What more value can we bring to our members? That’s never-ending,” he said.
Instead, the group has branched out from its core business into ‘adjacent space’ to set up the Loan Market and Concierge Service. “We’ve always got half a dozen things that we’re looking at, but it needs to get a tick in that box that it brings value to our members in terms of enabling them to maintain and create relationships with their communities,” he added. Bearing his goals in mind, Mr White cites people who have taken service industries up a notch as those he admires. “Those people who still want to engage with the basic values in their business, who haven’t at any stage ever said ‘well I’ve got that right, I’ve now got managers running it, I’m now disconnecting.’ I love people who remain connected with the thing that’s been so important to them,” he explained, saying Flight Centre’s Graham “Skroo” Turner had done an “astonishing job”.
Other members of the 2am Club who Mr White admires include Rupert Murdoch for the risks he has taken and the decisions he made, along with Jack Cowan who runs Hungry Jack’s and is “constantly inspiring”. “You don’t need to run the biggest business to feel that you’ve been able to exhibit potential. There are a lot of terrific businesses that are way below the radar in terms of being broadly recognised in the community,” he said, adding the key for business owners was to remain connected to their industry.
It’s like a piano; so easy to get out of tune and often you don’t quite know it. It sometimes needs someone to come in from outside to say ‘hey that’s a pretty lousy sound’ or something. Re-tuning and constantly re-tuning, that’s it,” Mr White said