Carey Smith: Business, life & footy - same rules apply

"Controlling 26 guys on a football field smashing each other up - there is an art to it that you can carry over to work," Carey says. He cuts an imposing figure, looking more like a sports star than a Chief Executive Officer. Nevertheless, he is the successful and popular CEO of Ray White (NZ), and after enduring more than two decades in the real estate industry, he has seen it all - every up and down there is - and continues to have a vision for where he is going and where he is leading his company.

 

I used to play rugby league and I have refereed at high levels. No one cares what your job is, they just abuse the hell out of you. I get as excited about going to referee games as I do about going to work. Controlling 26 guys in a football field smashing each other up - there is an art to it that you can carry over to work.

I joined Ray White in 1987. The culture in Australia was that you form a career path in property or real estate, so I always saw the real estate industry as a clear road to stay on. I know what my job is, that I'm a CEO of a multinational business that's doing quite well, but I don't feel like I'm 'there' yet. I still get humbled by the fact that some people think what I do is interesting.

I set up the Ray White New Zealand business from Australia, but before that I set up an office in Western Australia. It taught me that it's quite difficult for some people to accept your taking their name off the wall and putting up your own. It was an education.

New Zealand was even more challenging. I was naïve. It didn't occur to me that coming from Australia with this accent would be an issue.

In 1996, it was a business of distance. The business environment here was not worldly, and not friendly to outside influences. Companies that many know today - Harvey Norman, Mitre 10, BP, Freedom Furniture - were all making plays at the same time.

So many businesses get so enthusiastic, but crash because the model is fundamentally flawed. The latest example in our industry is The Joneses - they were enthusiastic but they focused on the brand rather than the people, and the more a business does that the worse it gets.

The business that I am 100 percent responsible for is the franchising of Ray White. I don't accept that market conditions will have an impact on the success of my business - indeed, market conditions going in different directions can give us greater success.

I never change the amount of money we spend. I always just go for more revenue, so I'll change the allocation towards indispensable items such as new people. It's times like now that we'll probably open up more offices and have more people join our network, in part because I'm aware that people move to more successful businesses when they have to.

I don't like division so I don't like to be a CEO, but I accept that at times I have to be. I have certain personal rituals and disciplines, such as that I never travel on Mondays. It's not a superstition; it allows me to have four nights at home, Friday through Monday. That's the first rule. I have work on my mind from the moment I get up, but I'm conscious that I'm at home with the family, so I need to be where I am.

I always return calls within 60 minutes. On a Thursday afternoon I have three phone calls that I have to make and I usually don't want to - chasing money, saying no to someone. It's like going to the gym, I know I've got to do it and the day is better for it.

I will always try to close a meeting with a yes or no. If you walk out of a meeting with a 'don't know' it's probably been a waste of time. If I've got a very difficult meeting coming up, I'll act out coming into the meeting and sit down and role play it with myself. I'll sit and look at the other chair and say, I'm disappointed, I'm sorry, how do you feel about that.

I spend at least a day a week on recruitment or growing the business. When we do a Friday update at work I communicate the events of the week, and recognize people for the good things they've done, which is so important to staff. I don't exclude myself - I have to be in that report so I know if I've had a bad week. It's easy to get sucked into not growing my business.

I'll ring people if things don't look good, but I'll also ring when things are good. Recognition is a great thing about leadership. You have to notice people helping you; you can't be one man and expect everything to come together.

I'm writing a book based on a letter I write between Christmas and New Year every year. I write down everything I would like to achieve in the next year, and my brother and I exchange letters. The book comes from that letter, where I wrote that I wanted to write a book and have the details of it completed in the first half of the year.

One commitment for this year was not to buy any property, but wait for it to subside or I could get too heavily geared. But then you look at property and think, Jeez, that would be a good buy . . . I don't have the letter, my brother holds mine and I hold his, and that plays on your mind all the time. You know what's in it and if you can't remember parts, then it's not important to you.

I think if you're surprised by disappointment, you're probably due it. A guy has just left our company - he emailed me to resign, saying, Sorry I've had to do this but . . . and so on. I rang him and said, Well, I'm not surprised, I didn't fall off my chair, and he said, I didn't think you would.

One thing that did shock me was a guy that I invited into our company when we did due diligence on his business, looking to buy it. We exchanged a lot of information, then he used it to get one of our franchise owners on board. But losses aren't like personal wins - when someone joins your company it far outweighs losses like that.
I've tried to develop a culture within our company that if good people leave, don't get agitated about it but leave the door open in a good way. Managing resignations is part of our industry.

An example is someone we spoke to for our Mt Roskill office - she's a good performer with another company, and she resigned to come to us, and her boss, the business owner, lost it very badly. She said she'd never been abused like that in her life, and I thought to myself, I wonder how many people she'll tell. That owner's a good businessman, but people are going to go, and the best way you can handle it is by wishing them well and keeping control, because if you ever want that person back in your business that's the only way to do it.

You don't get to high levels in any company without a degree of mateship among your people. I have a great desire, like no other, to have Ray White get to market leadership. Once we get there that might be the end of my time here - I don't know.

We're in the middle of a 1,000-day plan. I don't mind saying that at the end of these 1,000 days we will lead the industry. It's pretty defining, it's shaken up a lot of our people and operations. It started 1 January last year and funnily enough, it finishes on my birthday in 2010. It goes quick and we've made some really good progress.

We got to a stage in the middle of 1999 when it was close to the company folding in New Zealand, it was that difficult. The company was losing money, it was a very difficult time, and I had just taken over as CEO. I wouldn't want those times back.

I've always put up my hand for a bit more than what I'm doing at a given time. At the moment I look after Asia and I'm getting deeply involved in our China business and spending time there. It's like splashing water on my face, it's awakening me to all these new things. It's a business that's very young, with 14 offices in a city, Shanghai, which could hold a couple of thousand. We're looking to move into the United Arab Emirates - I want it to be a real blockbuster. Anything could happen.

To win the Ray White Chairman's Cup was an honour, because it was from Brian White, the chairman of the company, who is a mentor to me. He is virtually the sole reason that I'm where I am today. I have taken on many of his habits - his ethics in business, being generous, ringing people back - unashamedly mimicking! I really like doing those things well and building a big business. I like the buzz.


Carey Smith At A Glance

* Chief Executive of Ray White New Zealand.
* Entered the real estate industry at the age of 17 and joined Ray White in Australia in 1987, working as a salesperson, franchise owner and development manager before emigrating to New Zealand in 1996.
* Managed the conversion of United Realty to Ray White New Zealand, which he has led for the past 10 years.
* Ray White New Zealand now has more than 140 offices nationwide, transacting approximately $6 billion worth of property, and the company has grown more than 100% percent per year over the past four years.
* Father and author of an upcoming book about setting and getting goals.
* Ex rugby league player and referee.

Goalgetting Tips for Today

* Always return calls within 60 minutes, if you are able to.
* Set aside time each week to do the "hard tasks"- chasing money, saying no to someone or nurturing clients or staff.
* Always try to close a meeting with a yes or a no.
* Have rules for yourself, based on your own value system. Don't travel on Mondays if weekends with your family are important to you.
* Write a letter to yourself once a year and put in it everything that you will achieve in the next 365 days. Make a commitment. Give it to someone else for safe keeping.
* Have a 10 day, 100 day, or 1000 day plan, but have a plan!
* Do you have an interest outside of your work ? What is it? Are you doing anything about it?

Dwayne Alexander, our goal guru is founder of LiveMyGoals, the social network for goalgetters.