Enda Foley has big plans for the future of LAWD, but is taking it one step at a time.

Appointed Chief Executive Officer in August, Mr Foley joined the firm following a period of rapid growth in which the goals set out in the national real estate and advisory firm’s five-year plan were achieved in just 18 months.

“The team had no idea they would be that successful so quickly,” Mr Foley said.

“They’re very aware though that you can’t keep growing at that rate without actually taking steps to manage it.

“We’re starting to approach the top of that initial exponential growth curve, so now the strategy is to take stock of what we need to do to ensure we’re set up for that next growth curve jump.

“It’s about striking a balance between catering for where we are now versus where we’re going, and what we can continue to leverage externally without pushing too much into our fixed cost base as we grow.

“We want to focus on developing our people, because that’s what it’s all about in a service industry.”

Mr Foley’s focus on people extends to his leadership style, grounded in ‘servant leadership’, which has evolved over his years in finance and operations roles.

“There’ll obviously always be an element of delegation in a CEO role, but servant leadership is about asking people ‘what can I do for you?’,” Mr Foley said.

“It’s important people know they can come to you to ask for help, and that you’ll do what you can to ensure they succeed.

“Every leader is also a follower. Even though the buck might stop at me, I still have a followership role to our board and our Chair.

“The culture of a business can be hard to maintain as you grow, but if you instil that followership mentality in people then they’ll go out of their way for their colleagues and the business.”

Mr Foley brings 14 years of finance and operational leadership experience in the property sector to LAWD, including senior Chief Financial Officer and Chief Operating Officer positions. During this time, he oversaw teams based both locally and in diverse international locations such as the Asia Pacific, Europe and the United States.

A qualified Chartered Accountant, he worked with eircom in Dublin and PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) in Dublin and Prague before moving to Australia in 2005 and joining Virgin Airlines as it established its international arm.

Based in LAWD’s Brisbane office, Mr Foley said the company is well positioned for its next phase of growth.

“You don’t come into a role like this all guns blazing. You sit back, observe how things are being done and gradually start putting things in place to take the business to the next level,” he said.

“There were some clear steps for me to start with – some entity restructuring, building in more tech behind some of our platforms, and hiring a finance manager to free me up to look at other aspects of the business.

“We’ve sold some of the biggest development sites in the country, so the next step for us is being involved in that next stage of transactions.

“We’ve brought in Henry Burbury, who is a residential projects expert, and we’ll also be building up our expertise in industrial.”

Mr Foley said this expansion of service streams and focus would build on and complement the firm’s legacy of excellence in agricultural assets.

“Australia is one of the most advanced countries when it comes to the corporatisation of agriculture,” he said.

“I think we’ve been able to get a little bit ahead of the game thanks to the contacts that some of our key leaders and brokers have had, and the ability to connect really quickly with that capital.

“There’s a lot of potential for us to expand on that even more now.”

To hear more about Enda Foley’s story and his plans for the future of LAWD, listen to his interview with Humans of Agriculture (HoA), here. HoA will be releasing quarterly updates from the leadership team at LAWD.