For much of his early career, Andrew McCulloch was rewarded for being the person who landed the big deals and carried the momentum. But when he moved into senior leadership roles, including his current position as CEO of Harcourts NSW, he realised that the skills that once drove his success were no longer the ones that mattered most.
“I had to accept that it wasn’t about me anymore,” Andrew says. “In fact, it wasn’t about me at all.”
That shift, from high-performing individual to leader of a team, is one Andrew believes many people in real estate struggle to make.
It is also where, in his view, many businesses come unstuck, particularly in an industry built on competition and individual results.
As agencies head into a new year facing recruitment pressure, shifting expectations from younger talent and tighter margins, he argues that leadership clarity, not ego, is what separates strong teams from those that struggle to hold people.
From being the star to backing the team
Andrew’s most significant leadership lesson came when he moved into a role running a state operation.
The transition forced him to confront a hard truth.
“I’d gone from being out there getting the deals, being the rock star, to actually letting go of that and pushing my team forward,” he says.
“Making sure when there were things in the media it mentioned them and their hard work. When I got up at awards, I made sure I thanked my team.”
It was not something he consciously prepared for.
“I think it was just a realisation one day that I had to be different now. I had to act differently and bring different things to the table.”
The adjustment, he says, was necessary.
“If you don’t make that shift, you’re still trying to lead a team while behaving like an individual contributor.”
Why clarity matters more than motivation
In real estate, where salespeople operate as both teammates and competitors, Andrew believes team culture often breaks down because roles are unclear.
“Sales teams are hard,” he says. “Whilst they’re a team, they’re also competitors. They’re competing for the same business, potentially. That’s a much harder dynamic.”
His solution is not abstract culture-building, but structure.
“I literally sit down with an Excel spreadsheet,” he says.
“Across the top, it’s roles. Underneath, it’s responsibilities. Every aspect of the business is covered, and someone is responsible for it.”
That clarity, he says, prevents people stepping on each other’s toes and removes friction before it starts.
“As a leader, you’ve got a role to play. Everyone else has a separate role to play. You’ve all got to know what you do, but you’ve also got to know what everyone else does.”
Retention starts with knowing where people want to go
When it comes to recruitment and retention, Andrew is clear about what leaders often miss.
“You’ve got to understand where someone wants to go,” he says. “Performance reviews aren’t about managing people. They’re about helping them grow and making sure they’re on track for where they want to be.”
And, in his experience, the fastest way to lose talent is not recognising ambition early.
“When you don’t know that, that’s when you lose people,” he says.
“If someone wants to lead their own team and you’re not aware of that, they get a call from a recruiter and they grab it. You didn’t even know.”
Andrew says open, ongoing communication is essential, but it must be tailored.
“Everybody’s different. Their ambitions are different. They want to be managed differently,” he says.
“Pretty much no one likes to be micromanaged, but I’m still amazed at how many micromanaging leaders we have.”
Letting people move forward sooner, not later
One of Andrew’s strongest views centres on how the industry treats associates and younger agents who show promise.
“You get a lot of people coming in, and if they’re any good, often the lead agent doesn’t want them to go anywhere,” he says.
“They’ll tell them they’re not ready yet, that they need more time. That’s just absolute rubbish.”
Andrew points to his own start in the industry at 17, writing just $200 in his first year.
“It’s not about being ready,” he says. “You might not be ready, but if you want it bad enough, that’s all it takes.”
He believes it is the leader’s responsibility to map out a pathway early.
“If I bring an associate into the business and I know they want to be a principal one day, day one that’s on me to map that out for them,” he says.
“Here’s what it’s going to take. It’s less about time and more about actually getting the activity done.”
One plan does not work for everyone
Andrew’s leadership approach was further shaped by his experience leading franchise networks, where he learned that uniform strategies often fail.
“We were taking a cookie-cutter approach and just deploying it without really understanding their scenario,” he says.
The turning point came when he began asking businesses what they needed, rather than telling them.
“That’s when it dawned on me that everything had to be bespoke,” he says.
“It might be a lot of work, but what it stopped us doing was wasting resources where they weren’t needed or wanted.”
The lesson, he says, applies equally within agencies.
“Every person and every business needs a plan that reflects where they are.”
Planning, challenge and hiring people better than you
Looking ahead, Andrew believes strong teams will be defined by disciplined planning and a willingness to challenge internally.
Each year, he works with his team to produce a strategy document that clearly sets expectations.
“That gives people a really clear understanding of what to expect from me and what I expect from them,” he says.
He also actively encourages what he calls a challenge culture.
“Just because I’ve got the title doesn’t mean I know everything,” he says. “If I’m going in the wrong direction, I’d be really upset if my team didn’t tell me.”
That mindset extends to recruitment.
“One of the biggest pitfalls for any leader is refusing to hire people smarter than them,” Andrew says.
“You either hire someone better than you or someone who does what you don’t want to do.”
Leaders who avoid that, he says, often do so to protect their own position.
“They think they’ll look better, but what they actually end up doing is running a really weak team. The moment you realise it’s not about you anymore is the moment you start leading properly,” he says.
