This year marks a remarkable milestone for Leanne Pilkington: 30 years with Laing+Simmons. And as if that weren’t enough, she has also been honoured with the Woodrow Weight Award, the Real Estate Institute of New South Wales’ most prestigious lifetime achievement accolade.
Named after Woodrow Weight OBE, an iconic REINSW President and the first Australian to serve as World President of the International Real Estate Federation, the award is reserved for individuals who have made an enduring impact on the profession.
For Leanne, who has spent her career breaking barriers, mentoring others, and shaping the industry well beyond her own network, the recognition is fitting.
On presenting the esteemed award, REINSW President, Thomas McGlynn, said: “Leanne is the leader who will remind you there are no shortcuts, then roll up her sleeves and walk the long road with you. She is the colleague who phones back, the mentor who tells you the truth, the president who stayed in the storm until the skies cleared. And she is still the person who, when the next challenge arrives, will take a breath, smile, and say: ‘Get over yourself – say yes’.”
REINSW CEO, Tim McKibbin was also full of praise.
”Leanne made it very clear when she joined the REINSW Board that she wanted to make a difference. Little did she know how big a difference that would be.”
He says Leanne’s industry achievements are “too many to list”, but highlights include:
- Lifting the educational requirements for entering the industry – she said she would get a tattoo of the date it commenced!
- Demonstrating strong leadership and visibly living and embodying the values
- Opening up opportunities for women throughout real estate
- And of course – COVID. The industry looked to her every day for guidance, sometimes three times a day
“Recognising Leanne’s contribution to the betterment of the industry cannot be overstated.”
In Part II of this special feature, we look at how she has gone from being one of the few women in Sydney’s Hills District selling property in the 1980s to leading the brand as Managing Director and, since 2020, CEO.
But while her first three decades at the company chart an impressive career arc, Leanne’s influence extends far beyond her own network.
From championing women through Real Women in Real Estate (RWIRE) to shaping policy at the Real Estate Institute of Australia, she has become one of the most visible and respected figures in the profession, and one determined to leave the industry stronger than she found it.
When Leanne looks back on her early leadership years, she remembers standing out in all the wrong ways.
“I had no female peers,” she says. “I was always the only woman in the room, and I was disregarded.”
That experience left a lasting impression. She learned early on that authority isn’t enough on its own – you need the right people backing you.
She credits Tony Anderson, a charismatic leader and co-owner of Laing+Simmons in 1997, with giving her the backing she needed.
“When people didn’t like my decision, they would try and go over my head to Tony [Anderson],” she recalls.
“And he would always say, ‘Leanne runs this business for me. You have to talk to her.’ That gave me the confidence to make decisions and move forward.”
Real Women In Real Estate
In the 1980s, Pilkington and her mother were the only female salespeople in Sydney’s Hills District.
“I spent a lot of time fitting in, being one of the boys. I would drink with the boys, joke with the boys, hang out with the boys; just fitting in rather than trying to stand out.”
Decades later, younger women on her team began voicing what she had never asked for herself.
“They said, ‘We feel like we need female role models. We’ve got you, but not everybody’s got you.’ And honestly, I didn’t get it at first.”
In 2015 she sent out a tentative email suggesting a small networking night.
“Within two weeks, it was sold out with 65 women. I remember standing there thinking, I still don’t know what we’re doing or why we’re doing it. But there’s obviously a need.”
That gathering became the foundation for Real Women in Real Estate (RWIRE), a network that spread to cities and towns across the country.
“I spent the next five years travelling, doing events in Melbourne, Perth, Newcastle, Byron Bay, Adelaide – all over the place. Some of the women from that first event are now my very best friends. I didn’t realise I needed that tribe until I had them.”
That same instinct to create space for others shapes how Leanne runs Laing+Simmons today.
Her team know that ideas won’t be shut down; they’ll be tested.
“Even if I might think differently, I’ll back them and then we’ll talk it through afterwards. It’s very freeing for them to be able to make decisions and move forward.”
It’s an approach she believes other leaders should adopt. “You’ve got to be there for people if they hit a problem, but you’ve also got to trust their judgment and back them. That’s the biggest thing you can do for someone coming up in your business.”
Leanne’s influence now stretches well beyond her company.
She sits on five boards and chairs a charity, with a schedule that most would find overwhelming.
But she rejects the neat notion of balance.
“I don’t have work-life balance. I don’t even like the term. I call it work-life integration. I am busy all of the time, but it’s my choice. I love what I do. I get energised helping other people achieve things that are important to them.”
This year marks the end of her tenure at the Real Estate Institute of Australia, but she is already weighing new opportunities.
“I’ve been approached about a couple of potential board roles. They’re not in real estate directly, but property-related. I don’t have any interest in retiring. I feel sorry for people who are talking about retirement – that they’ve never found anything they love as much as I love this.”
She is also clear-eyed about how the industry is shifting: “AI facilitates things for us to do differently, and there’s a lot of shared services and centralisation. The big businesses are getting bigger. We’re going to see one extreme or the other – independent salespeople backed by shared services, or the larger corporates. We’re already seeing it.”
She says Laing+Simmons has been preparing for exactly that.
“We’ve got the ability now to provide shared services. We can manage someone’s rent roll from go to woah. We can do all of the back-end services our people need.”
Finally, four and a half decades in real estate, including three decades at Laing+Simmons, haven’t dimmed Leanne’s drive.
“I never set out to be the boss, but I always set out to do a really good job. And in the end, that’s what people noticed.”
Read Part I of this special feature here.
