More than 1000 real estate professionals packed Royal Randwick today for Ready24, eager to level up and further their careers by downloading knowledge from some of the best speakers from here and overseas.
An exclusive event for REA Group’s customers, the conference gave property professionals insights into building high performance teams, tech and innovation, the future of work, real estate market insights and much more.
The headline speaker at Ready24 was 8 time grand slam tennis champion Andre Agassi, who gave attendees a vulnerable and humble view on his tennis career, including his triumphs, the challenges and how finding his ‘why’ truly changed the course of not just his career, but his life.
Here are our top highlights.
Andre Agassi
What is success?
For a tennis champion and Olympic Gold medallist, who has held up a lot of trophies, Andre Agassi revealed that, to him, success is not holding up a trophy.
For the four-time Australian Open champion, and former world number 1, success to him was using tennis as a vehicle to to provide education for underprivileged children via the Andre Agassi Foundation for Education.
“Defining success is such an important decision for each and every one of us,” he said.
“It’s an important decision as a business, as a human and as a parent.
“You need to define success and define it wisely. Is success a trophy? Or selling a house?
“Define it wisely because there’s a lot of energy spent.
“When I look at myself, I strive towards that which I believe, and which I know, is the most valuable and enduring.”
Agassi said everything he does is built from that enduring definition of success and the rest is just “play”.
“The rest of life can be fun and engaging because you’re safe in what you’re pursuing personally,” he said.
All that matters is right now
Agassi also shared the story of his miraculous come-from-behind French Open win in 1999.
Two sets to love down, Agassi stormed home to beat Andrei Medvedev 1-6, 2-6, 6-4, 6-3, 6-4 in a Roland Carros final that lasted two hours and 55 minutes.
He credited staying in the moment and focusing on the little things as the reason he was able to hold the trophy aloft.
“I’m so frozen in fear, I’m down two sets to love in just 47 minutes,” Agassi recalled.
“And, what do you do? The same thing you’ve been learning for years.
“All the regrets, that side of the learning, all the positives… and you just move your feet, watch the ball, run and try and engage.”
Information doesn’t lead to transformation
Agassi’s final piece of advice for agents was, surprisingly, that nothing he said to them today would lead to transformation.
“Information doesn’t lead to transformation,” he said.
“Transformation is what we’re all looking for but the missing link between information and transformation is encounter.
“So go encountering.
“Nothing I say can lead to transformation, but knowing what’s right, what you want out of yourself, out of life and out of each other, that’s the transformation we’re striving for.”
Rachael Robertson
‘No Triangles’
Rachael Robertson had long been a leader when she first stepped foot on the ground in Antartica, but she’d never led in conditions like this.
As an Antarctic Expedition Leader, Rachael had to build a high-performing team out of a group of strangers, keep them inspired and productive during months of living in darkness and bitter sub-zero temperatures.
Making that task even more difficult was the fact that her team members hadn’t long known each other,were vastly different and didn’t always get along.
“We had a lot of diversity in this team, but the number one value for our team, and we chose this together, was respect,” she said.
“And the reason why we chose respect was because we were just so different.
“We had a 23-year-old death metal music fan, living with a 64-year-old grandfather.
“We had married, single, gay and straight (team members), parents, a student, and we had different religions and cultures.
“You can’t take that mix of people, throw them together for 24 hours a day, through months and months of darkness, and say you’re going to love each other.”
But with that core value of respect, the team was able to work together and work well.
One key way that value of respect played out was through the ‘No Triangles’ communication strategy.
“No triangles simply means you don’t speak to me about him,” Rachael said.
“I don’t speak to you about her.
“No triangles. If someone has done something to upset you, you have the professional courtesy and the integrity to go directly to that person.
“You don’t take it to a third party.”
Rachael said she received 100 per cent buy-in from the team on the No Triangles rule and the very next time someone came to her and tried to engage her talking about a third party, she was able to manage the conversation by reminding the team member they had agreed to ‘No Triangles’.
“It took us about two months to embed it in the culture of the team,” she said.
Rachael said she had also surveyed 200 teams around the world about implementing No Triangles and found the communication tool had widespread positive results.
“Of those 200 teams, 100 per cent said the culture of “No Triangles’ built respect and improved morale, while 89 per cent said the culture of ‘No Triangles’ freed up time and productivity and in 30 per cent of cases it created up to one hour per day,” she said.
Dom Price
You’re always a role model
Work futurist Dom Price enthralled the attendees with his proposal to form a ‘do-ocracy’ movement and the idea that we find things today to help us build a better future for tomorrow.
He said one way each person could help achieve that is to become the best version of themselves.
Dom said in the world of leadership it was important to put your own mask on so that you could help others, but in recent times he’d met too many leaders that were martyrs.
“They turn up to a meeting, they’re on the phone, they’re on the laptop and they’re not present.
“They’re here physically, but they’re not mentally.”
Dom said one of the mistakes some leaders make is thinking the world revolves around them and all that serves to do is create an insular view of the world.
He said some leaders thought they didn’t have to change, but those around them did.
“The best leaders I work with demonstrate change by doing it themselves, they demonstrate their own vulnerability…. They realise they’re an amplifier.”
Dom said leaders were always a role model and, on average, 30 people a week would copy their behaviour.
If that leader is having a poor day, people will model their poor behaviours.
The reverse happens on a good day.
“You’re always a role model, you don’t get to turn it on or off,” he said.
Tony Gustavsson
Everyone needs to feel valued
ComBank Matildas Head Coach Tony Gustavsson, unpacked the secrets behind the Matildas’ success and what they did to foster a winning mindset.
He revealed some of the key values of the team include ‘never say die’, ‘belief’ and ‘family’.
Tony also gave insights into how those values played out on the field with Steph Cately racing to celebrate with the players on the bench after kicking a penalty goal against Canada because she knew everyone had played a role in getting to that point.
In a second penalty kick against Ireland, a team known for getting inside players’ heads Caitlin Foord made out that she was going to take the kick to save Cately from having to face her opponents’ antics.
Instead, she was able to remain focused before, at the last minute, she stepped in to take the kick instead of Foord.
Tony said Cately got the credit for that goal publicly, but internally Foord was celebrated just as much.
“You have to make sure to credit the ones that work in the background as well,” he said.
“Every person in the preparation needs to feel valued.”
