Ray White offers world class education at its Leadership Academy

Led by the Boston-based Professor Boris Groysberg of Harvard Business School, the day-long session covered two case studies and offered the diverse team a global perspective on leadership skills and best practice.

Some 200 corporate team members from across Australia and New Zealand embraced the Leadership Academy at the conclusion of the epic Connect 2025 conference which continues to set the bar for the whole industry even higher with elite level training (and out of this world parties).

The White family have been students of the Harvard Business School for more than a decade and continue to offer the opportunity to develop their team’s critical thinking with Professor Groysberg.

Ray White Managing Director Dan White said the Leadership Academy was one of the most important events on the group’s calendar.

“Our company’s growth has been huge in the time since we started the Leadership Academy. We aim to develop our people and manage our group to find better ways to work every day.”

Professor Boris Groysberg of Harvard Business School said Ray White had a deep culture of learning.

“You live in a world that's constantly changing. And being able to learn, being able to see what other companies have been doing, and being able to adjust, as we can see here, is certainly part of this company’s culture. And people want to be part of this company’s culture.

“Days like today bring people together for alignment. It's important to look for key challenges and key opportunities.”

Professor Groysberg said he had learned a lot from Ray White over the last decade.

“There is an unusual combination at Ray White of being focused on results and caring. Also, just look at how much the people here have enjoyed so much learning over the years. It’s such a great attribute that Ray White has, don't ever lose it!” he said.

“I had had the pleasure of teaching all of the Whites at HBS over the years. Brian White has always been hungry for knowledge and he always asks insightful questions.

“I woke up today and I was so excited to teach. It feels different now teaching Ray White, as I have so many people I know now so well, it feels like teaching my friends.”

Professor Groysberg said that out of all the different families he knows, the Whites are running a business that spends by far the most amount of time on learning and development.

“People probably don’t realise that Ray White is actually a very complicated business within its industry. It’s gone through a tremendous transformation but one of the things that amazes me over the years is the - even though they do have a leading position is that - is that it is not complacent. Ray White is always trying to stay ahead of things.

“I am privileged to be here and I come back each year as it’s a two-way street and I have learned a lot from Ray White.

“Ray White is making an investment in your balance sheet to create long term success for you.

“Fourth generation family businesses are rare to find, yet Ray White is not complacent in chasing their potential.”

Ray White Group Head of Recognition Jaslyn Ackling said it was an incredible privilege to learn from one of the world’s foremost leadership thinkers, Professor Groysberg, each year at the Leadership Academy.

“Being here with our entire corporate team, exploring how to be best-in-class in leadership and decision-making, and taking those insights straight back into our roles - you can feel the impact immediately,” she said.

“Today was a great reminder that leadership is about creating the space for the best answers to surface. In our business, progress comes from reflecting on every result and using those insights to adapt faster, think bigger, and keep redefining what’s possible for our people and network.”

Auctioneer and sales performance specialist in Ray White Western Australia Patrick Derrig said the Leadership Academy was always the one of the most anticipated and beneficial days of the year and today was no different.

“Boris once again had us considering how we can initiate change and implement better practices within our teams and greater network. It always renews the motivation and excites us as to how we can spread the learnings throughout the network,” he said.

Ray White Queensland Network Specialist - Administration and Marketing Jo-Anne Boulton said she took away the importance of driving a high-performance and high-culture business. “The Leadership Academy highlighted how critical both aspects are for overall success. I also found the ‘4+2 rule for business success’ particularly insightful,” she said.

“This framework emphasises strategy, execution, culture, and structure as core elements, complemented by talent, innovation, leadership, or mergers and partnerships. It's a great way to think about all the moving parts of a successful business.”