My CEO Life

I think we have created a great culture at the REA Group.  The question is, what makes this a great culture … what are the elements and how did we do it?

For me, a great culture has the following characteristics:

Candid

Being candid is very important to any organisation.  You need to be able to express your views in an open and trusted way.  It is by doing this you are able to understand what is really happening in a business and therefore get to the root cause of problems.  One of the best proponents of this was a guy who worked for me called Scott Holmes.  He is one of the founders of realestate.com.au Ltd and will openly and honestly tell you what he thinks – no matter who you are.

A-Political

Politics can kill an organisation.  I am not talking about diplomacy but real hard core politics.  People jockey for position by how they present themselves to the CEO in the hope that they get the nod over someone else for a role.  I cant stand this and honestly can see right through it.  Over the years i have had many people do this and eventually they are found out.  The secret is handling them carefully as they are the sort that will “white ant” you behind your back.

Fun

If you are working 10 hours a day you have to have fun.  Our team knows how to have fun.  We work hard and play just as hard.  The play can be anything from having a quite drink in the evening through all out warfare in the office using nerf balls.  It doesnt matter – it bonds people and helps them let off steam.  We have also installed TV’s in the office so that we can keep up to date with that is happening – especially the olympics!

Respectful

This is probably the most important thing in corporate life.   You have to have respect for others in the business and their circumstances.  Not everyone can work the same hours, not everyone has the same passion.  However by understanding this, you will get more out of people and therefore create a better culture for the business.  For example my PA lives in Sydney while i live in Melbourne.  We see each other once a month (maybe) but we are totally in sync and i trust her completely.  We just use the telephone / blackberry / email / messenger to keep in touch.

Power of the Thought

It is not about position, it is about thought.  It is so important in any culture that the best thoughts rise to the top and that no matter who has them, they are respected.  Too many businesses have the hierachy in place so if the top guy doesnt have a good thought, no one does.  This doesnt work and leads to long term cancer for a business unless you have a really smart person at the top of the business.

Passionate

You cant beat passion.  We have so many wonderfully passionate people in the business and it is this passion that allows us to reach new heights.  People just get the job done – they dont complain and often dont even need to be asked.  They just do it.  If there is one thing that is critical – it is passion.  You cant create it but you can destroy it.

Risk Taking

You need a culture that is more risk taking than not.  Why?  Well it is simple – without risk, there is no return and for many small and medium sized businesses, you need to create strong returns.  Therefore encouraging people to take risks will help you get there.  We have a saying in the business – beg forgiveness, don’t seek permission.  Embrace it and people will do amazing things.

Open

Being open in a business is critical.  If a CEO is open in what they do, then everyone will feel like they can be open too.  In the early days when the business was on its knees, we spent a long time educating people as the performance of the business including the cash flow position.  When they knew what this was they were able to understand why we were not doing things and they were also able to bring forward practical ideas to keep the costs down or to grow the business.

Honest

In a business as in life it is super important to be honest.  Too often people rely on either avoidance of bad news or on half truths to just get through the day.  Dont – be open and honest.  It doesnt matter if you have mad a mistake, we all do, just own up to it and learn from it and get on with life.

Integrity

This goes without saying.  You must have integrity in everything you do.  For a business, the CEO must lead with this from the top.  If they dont, then the rot sets in and it is hard to manage a business where there isnt integrity.

I hope these views on culture provide you with some insight into how i view what a great culture is.  Next time we will look at how you build and more importantly maintain this type of culture.

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