TALKING TO ANDREW
What has been your greatest achievements?
Sending my children to the schools I always wanted to send them to, and being able to create memories for my family that I never dreamed would happen. Success needs to be enjoyed and these days I am enjoying as much of life as I can. My next greatest achievement will be the philanthropic investment trust I am setting up with a group of high network acquaintances. The Foundation will focus on delivering social housing projects as a solution to the massive social housing issue in Australia, whilst at the same time delivering a considerable amount of money to not-for-profits. I’m incredibly excited about what the future holds.
What have been the biggest challenges and how have you worked to overcome them?
My biggest challenge in my career have been self-doubt. I wish I knew earlier to listen to and lean on people and seek the advice that I needed, instead of thinking I needed to do everything myself.
Over the next 12-18 months, what will be your key areas of focus?
Strong delivery of social housing and a refocus on delivering developments that are in keeping with the huge economical changes and financial challenges that a lot of Australian households and retirees are facing. Affordability in the first home buyer market and retirement market will continue to be a massive focus for us, along with a few luxury residential projects that satisfy my love of beautiful design.
What does leadership look like to you?
Listening and understanding. Recognising that I employ people to be part of my team for a reason and that is because they are better at their jobs than I am. So I listen and I encourage and support my teammates.
What’s the best piece of advice you’ve received during your career and how does it inform your work today?
I seek advice from my mentor every week. He probably doesn’t even know that I am doing it. We have open and honest conversations and I take that advice and I action it. I do this because I see his success and most importantly I trust him. So maybe not my best advise that I have received but my best advice I can give is to listen to those that you trust.
When you’re not at work, how do you unwind?
I spend time at my farm where I have no internet and limited phone reception, and I do all the farm work myself. I forget about all the things I usually think about all day, every day – and enjoy all the freedom of open spaces and a simple life.
What do you hope your podcast audience will feel?
I hope that when people listen to The Hidden Philanthropist they feel the same sense of satisfaction I did from listening to all the amazing guests. There are so many ordinary people out there that do extraordinary things and I hope I can keep finding them and giving them their time to shine.
