The White Report AU | October 2024 | Page 33

RWC network learns from Olympic gold medalist Grant Hackett

BY CASSANDRA GLOVER AND NINA CLARKE
More than 200 RWC members gathered in Sydney for a day of learning , development , and networking at the group ’ s annual conference .
The conference quickly kicked off with Ray White Group managing director Dan White and RWC head James Linacre presenting on the state of the network .
“ The overall group had a really strong year , we saw some incredible transactions ,” Dan White said .
“ We can ' t control the market or prices but we can control our energy .
“ We couldn ' t be prouder of the work you ' ve done to grow RWC over the last year .”
James said he was proud of how the RWC network had performed during the first year after the rebrand to RWC .
“ In the face of unique and challenging market conditions , we have demonstrated remarkable resilience ,” he said .
“ The ability to adapt and thrive amid economic uncertainties by leading members has been nothing short of inspiring .”
The audience then heard from the most highly anticipated speaker of the day , Olympic gold medalist Grant Hackett , who shared his insights into high-performance principles .
Grant has been in business now longer than he was an athlete . He became CEO of the Generation Development Group & Generation Life in 2018 .
He has moved the company from around number 3000 on the ASX to a top 300 company .
Grant told stories of his childhood growing up in North Queensland , and how he followed his brother into a sport-filled youth . A pivotal moment for Grant was hearing the announcement of the Sydney Olympics ; as a 13-year-old he realised he needed to focus on swimming to become Olympic champion .
“ You get one day every four years to win an Olympic gold medal ,” he said .
“ I love to be number one in whatever I am doing ; I look at my silver Olympic medals and feel down about them .”
GRANT SPOKE ABOUT HIS THREE HIGH PERFORMANCE PRINCIPLES :
1 . Clear definition of success and failure “ Sport success is very black and white with times and places ; it is your job as a leader within your field to define what the ‘ grey ’ of success looks like .”
2 . Purpose - ‘ the meaning ’ “ Your purpose and meaning gets you up everyday , gets you focused and helps you get through all the boring tasks of every day .”
3 . Commitment - ‘ day to day grind ’ “ It doesn ’ t matter what you ’ re doing , commit to it 100 per cent . Be the very best in the world at what you are doing , and it will take you places .”
Grant knows a thing or two about commitment ; at his peak , he was swimming around 16 kilometres per day , six days a week and eating nine meals a day .
The network heard from Woolworths Group director of property Ralph Kemmler who spoke about the resilience of the Woolworths Group over the last century .
Solo rower Michelle Lee , who was the first Australian woman to row the Atlantic Ocean and the first woman in the world to row the Pacific Ocean non-stop and unassisted , also spoke to the audience about her journey .
In her training to row the Atlantic Ocean , Michelle trained to break the one million metre record on a rowing machine , eventually breaking the record by 11 hours .
“ I read a book and I had a dream , but I realised I needed to step up and do the work ,” Michelle said .
After rowing the Atlantic , Michelle decided to take the lessons she learned and use them to become the first woman to row the Pacific .
“ Don ' t ever be afraid to change the way you do something , we can always improve and refine ,” she said .
The final session of the conference saw RWC Western Sydney managing director Peter Vines interview RWC Adelaide director Oliver Totani about his decision to leave one of the “ big shop ” agencies to start his own venture with Ray White .
“ When you ' re in the corporates for a long time you get the feeling that everyone else is a second tier brand , but I ’ ve learned that ’ s not the case ,” Oliver said .
“ I ’ ve been so impressed with things over the last five months and I ' m really glad we joined RWC because I feel we can springboard off the brand .”
Peter said the RWC network learnt and grew from each other .
“ There is a huge amount of group learning we can do , and everyone is really open to helping ,” he said .
“ There are things each business does really well , there are really good auction businesses , medical specialists , and retail specialists .
“ The resources are there , it ' s just a matter of reaching out to them .”
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