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Real estate is an industry that demands a lot from its professionals, from the emotional intelligence needed to navigate sensitive client conversations to the confidence required to guide negotiations.
Unconventional hours, difficult discussions, dealing in large sums of money – all this is required while guiding clients through some of their biggest life upheavals. Many top agents might not define the skill set that helps them succeed as “having a strong sense of self”, or believe that embracing what makes them unlike other agents is what allows them to excel, but that’s exactly what gives some of the industry’s best and longest-serving members the strength to not only weather the demands of real estate, but come out on top.
And it’s why this year’s RiSE conference – a real estate industry event to discuss mental health and wellness – chose to feature the topic in a keynote Q&A between REB Excellence Award winner, Sarah Bell, and jurist and academic, Michael Kirby, a former Justice of the High Court of Australia.
Justice Kirby reflected on why it takes a strong sense of self to make hard decisions, to relate to other people genuinely and embrace your differences, and to stick to what you believe to be the right course of action despite pressure from other corners.
He recalled how the strength that his family instilled in him helped him to withstand the prevailing notion of the time that he should be ashamed of his sexuality when, as a boy, he became aware of his attraction to other men. Later, during his professional career, it was this same strength that gave him the courage to speak openly about his experience, becoming a prominent advocate for gay rights in Australia.
Moving beyond that issue, he became known as someone in the legal community who wasn’t afraid to tackle difficult topics of conversation, speaking out about, among other things, handling stress in a fast-paced career – something that many people still struggle to talk about today.
“Maybe you have to feel very strong in yourself to speak about stress or to speak about sexual variation or to speak about a different culture that you might come from or the particular problems of being a woman in the law and in the judiciary, or the issues of Indigenous people and First Nations people,” he said.
For him, he’s been guided by his strong belief, borne out both in scientific study as well as his lived experience, that “difference and variety is the essence of humanity”.
“So the lesson of my life basically is you can be confident and self-assured, and you can stand up for what you believe,” Mr Kirby impressed on the RiSE audience.
At the same time, he cautioned that self-confidence shouldn’t cloud one’s ability to listen to others, adjusting perspectives based on new information.
“But we’ve all got to learn from others,” he said, encouraging the audience particularly to “learn about the problems of people who are often minorities, who suffer because they’re a bit different”.
“There’s something infantile in being suspicious of difference,” he commented.
“We should embrace it because it’s one of the wonderful features of human life and it’s, as Darwin taught, it’s the reason why we continue to evolve.”
Darwin is a touchstone of Justice Kirby’s for his research that showed humanity thrives off variation. In his own life, Justice Kirby uses it both to remind him to embrace difference in others, as well as to give him the confidence to be entirely himself.
“It’s very important to feel comfortable with the fact that there are variations,” he urged.
“So long as they’re not hurtful to other human beings, they are just part of the course of nature. And if they’re part of the course of nature, they have a purpose.”
“And when you realise all that, you just get on with your life and do the best you can with it.”
Rounding out his Q&A, Justice Kirby also took the time to address the importance of collective action, his biggest concern for the future, and housing as a human right. Watch the full video here.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Juliet Helmke
Based in Sydney, Juliet Helmke has a broad range of reporting and editorial experience across the areas of business, technology, entertainment and the arts. She was formerly Senior Editor at The New York Observer.
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