Welcome to Episode 61 of our podcast, Courageous Conversations, hosted by Leanne Pilkington.
In this episode, our guest is Antonia Mercorella, Chief Executive Officer at the Real Estate Institute of Queensland (REIQ). Antonia talks about her previous career paths in law and performing arts, her experience working at the REISA and eventually the REIQ, what it’s like being the only female leader in the room, her approaches to dispute resolution and bolstering her teams, how COVID has impacted her, and how she and the REIQ have campaigned during these times.
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00:30 – Antonia’s role in the REIQ and the body’s role in collaborating to agents as well as demonstrating its value as informative and valuable to the community
02:00 – Antonia’s career path and how this led to her CEO role at the REIQ; from theatre and performing arts, law and eventually receiving an offer as a Legal Counsel for REISA.
05:00 – Moving to QLD with her husband and visiting the REIQ
06:00 – Being the only female leader in the room; Antonia’s thoughts on this in her personal experience and why she sticks to being herself in these scenarios
07:30 – Making a conscious effort to ensure her team is constantly growing and developing as people and in their careers
09:00 – The female ambition vs the male ambition; how these can differ because of differing viewpoints or beliefs
11:00 – A tough conversation doesn’t have to involve conflict. It becomes conflict if a small problem is ignored, because it’s left to grow and fester.
12:30 – Antonia’s experience learning and handling dispute resolution in the USA; lack of communication at a dispute’s core; no matter how serious or small the issue is.
14:00 – Antonia’s passion towards advocacy; the highlights of some of the reforms she has involved herself in at both REISA and REIQ
16:30 – Leading through COVID; how this has made Antonia a better leader
18:00 – Providing information when she didn’t have all the answers through video updates; why people were still grateful for what she COULD do.
19:15 – Discovering for herself that as long as she was transparent, honest and supportive of the agents in her state, she was making a difference
20:15 – The success of the REIQ campaign, Everyone Matters, and how Antonia was involved in this and how communities wider than real estate also jumped on board to support it
22:15 – Establishing how the campaign was not against tenants, but focusing more on the imbalance it was enforcing and how it would decimate property investment.