{"id":5734,"date":"2025-09-11T11:37:58","date_gmt":"2025-09-11T01:37:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lsre.com.au\/granville\/building-a-platform-for-women-and-shaping-what-comes-next-in-real-estate\/"},"modified":"2025-09-16T11:51:49","modified_gmt":"2025-09-16T01:51:49","slug":"building-a-platform-for-women-and-shaping-what-comes-next-in-real-estate","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lsre.com.au\/granville\/lsre-news\/building-a-platform-for-women-and-shaping-what-comes-next-in-real-estate\/","title":{"rendered":"Building a platform for women and shaping what comes next in real estate"},"content":{"rendered":"

This year marks a remarkable milestone for\u00a0Leanne Pilkington<\/strong>:\u00a030 years with Laing+Simmons<\/strong>. And as if that weren\u2019t enough, she has also been honoured with the\u00a0Woodrow Weight Award<\/strong>, the Real Estate Institute of New South Wales\u2019 most prestigious lifetime achievement accolade.<\/h3>\n

Named after Woodrow Weight OBE,<\/strong> an iconic REINSW President and the first Australian to serve as World President of the International Real Estate Federation, the award is reserved for individuals who have made an enduring impact on the profession.<\/p>\n

For Leanne, who has spent her career breaking barriers<\/strong>, mentoring others, and shaping the industry well beyond her own network, the recognition is fitting.<\/p>\n

On presenting the esteemed award, REINSW President, Thomas McGlynn, said: \u201cLeanne is the leader who will remind you there are no shortcuts, then roll up her sleeves and walk the long road with you. She is the colleague who phones back, the mentor who tells you the truth, the president who stayed in the storm until the skies cleared. And she is still the person who, when the next challenge arrives, will take a breath, smile, and say: \u2018Get over yourself \u2013 say yes\u2019.\u201d<\/p>\n

REINSW CEO, Tim McKibbin<\/strong> was also full of praise.<\/p>\n

“Leanne made it very clear when she joined the REINSW Board that she wanted to make a difference.<\/strong> Little did she know how big a difference that would be.\u201d<\/p>\n

He says Leanne\u2019s industry achievements are \u201ctoo many to list\u201d, but highlights include:<\/p>\n

    \n
  • Lifting the educational requirements for entering the industry \u2013 she said she would get a tattoo of the date it commenced!<\/li>\n
  • Demonstrating strong leadership and visibly living and embodying the values<\/li>\n
  • Opening up opportunities for women throughout real estate<\/li>\n
  • And of course \u2013 COVID. The industry looked to her every day for guidance, sometimes three times a day<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

    \u201cRecognising Leanne\u2019s contribution to the betterment of the industry cannot be overstated.\u201d<\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

    In Part II of this special feature,<\/strong> we look at how she has gone from being one of the few women in Sydney\u2019s Hills District selling property in the 1980s to leading the brand as Managing Director and, since 2020, CEO.<\/p>\n

    But while her first three decades at the company chart an impressive career arc, Leanne\u2019s influence extends far beyond her own network.<\/p>\n

    From championing women through Real Women in Real Estate (RWIRE) to shaping policy at the Real Estate Institute of Australia, she has become one of the most visible and respected figures in the profession, and one determined to leave the industry stronger than she found it.<\/p>\n

    When Leanne looks back on her early leadership years,<\/strong> she remembers standing out in all the wrong ways.<\/p>\n

    \u201cI had no female peers,\u201d she says. \u201cI was always the only woman in the room, and I was disregarded.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

    That experience left a lasting impression.<\/strong> She learned early on that authority isn\u2019t enough on its own \u2013 you need the right people backing you.<\/p>\n

    She credits Tony Anderson,<\/strong> a charismatic leader and co-owner of Laing+Simmons in 1997, with giving her the backing she needed.<\/p>\n

    \u201cWhen people didn\u2019t like my decision, they would try and go over my head to Tony [Anderson],\u201d she recalls.<\/p>\n

    \u201cAnd he would always say, \u2018Leanne runs this business for me. You have to talk to her.\u2019 That gave me the confidence to make decisions and move forward.\u201d<\/p>\n

    Real Women In Real Estate<\/h3>\n

    In the 1980s, Pilkington and her mother were the only female salespeople in Sydney\u2019s Hills District.<\/p>\n

    \u201cI spent a lot of time fitting in,<\/strong> being one of the boys. I would drink with the boys, joke with the boys, hang out with the boys; just fitting in rather than trying to stand out.\u201d<\/p>\n

    Decades later, younger women on her team<\/strong> began voicing what she had never asked for herself.<\/p>\n

    \u201cThey said, \u2018We feel like we need female role models. We\u2019ve got you, but not everybody\u2019s got you.\u2019 And honestly, I didn\u2019t get it at first.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

    In 2015 she sent out a tentative email suggesting a small networking night.<\/p>\n

    \u201cWithin two weeks, it was sold out with 65 women.<\/strong> I remember standing there thinking, I still don\u2019t know what we\u2019re doing or why we\u2019re doing it. But there\u2019s obviously a need.\u201d<\/p>\n

    That gathering became the foundation for Real Women in Real Estate (RWIRE)<\/strong>, a network that spread to cities and towns across the country.<\/p>\n

    \u201cI spent the next five years travelling, doing events in Melbourne, Perth, Newcastle, Byron Bay, Adelaide \u2013 all over the place. Some of the women from that first event are now my very best friends. I didn\u2019t realise I needed that tribe until I had them.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

    That same instinct to create space for others shapes how Leanne runs Laing+Simmons today.<\/p>\n

    Her team know that ideas won\u2019t be shut down;<\/strong> they\u2019ll be tested.<\/p>\n

    \u201cEven if I might think differently,<\/strong> I\u2019ll back them and then we\u2019ll talk it through afterwards. It\u2019s very freeing for them to be able to make decisions and move forward.\u201d<\/p>\n

    It\u2019s an approach she believes other leaders should adopt.<\/strong> \u201cYou\u2019ve got to be there for people if they hit a problem, but you\u2019ve also got to trust their judgment and back them. That\u2019s the biggest thing you can do for someone coming up in your business.\u201d<\/p>\n

    Leanne\u2019s influence now stretches well beyond her company.<\/p>\n

    She sits on five boards and chairs a charity,<\/strong> with a schedule that most would find overwhelming.<\/p>\n

    But she rejects the neat notion of balance.<\/p>\n

    \u201cI don\u2019t have work-life balance. I don\u2019t even like the term. I call it work-life integration. I am busy all of the time, but it\u2019s my choice. I love what I do. I get energised helping other people achieve things that are important to them.\u201d<\/p>\n

    This year marks the end of her tenure at the Real Estate Institute of Australia,<\/strong> but she is already weighing new opportunities.<\/p>\n

    \u201cI\u2019ve been approached about a couple of potential board roles.<\/strong> They\u2019re not in real estate directly, but property-related. I don\u2019t have any interest in retiring. I feel sorry for people who are talking about retirement \u2013 that they\u2019ve never found anything they love as much as I love this.\u201d<\/p>\n

    She is also clear-eyed about how the industry is shifting:<\/strong> \u201cAI facilitates things for us to do differently, and there\u2019s a lot of shared services and centralisation. The big businesses are getting bigger. We\u2019re going to see one extreme or the other \u2013 independent salespeople backed by shared services, or the larger corporates. We\u2019re already seeing it.\u201d<\/p>\n

    She says Laing+Simmons has been preparing for exactly that.<\/strong><\/p>\n

    \u201cWe\u2019ve got the ability now to provide shared services. We can manage someone\u2019s rent roll from go to woah. We can do all of the back-end services our people need.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

    Finally, four and a half decades in real estate,<\/strong> including three decades at Laing+Simmons, haven\u2019t dimmed Leanne\u2019s drive.<\/p>\n

    \u201cI never set out to be the boss, but I always set out to do a really good job. And in the end, that\u2019s what people noticed.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    This year marks a remarkable milestone for\u00a0Leanne Pilkington:\u00a030 years with Laing+Simmons. And as if that weren\u2019t enough, she has also been honoured with the\u00a0Woodrow Weight Award, the Real Estate Institute…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":485,"featured_media":5735,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4368,20],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5734","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-lsre-news","category-market-news"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lsre.com.au\/granville\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5734","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lsre.com.au\/granville\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lsre.com.au\/granville\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lsre.com.au\/granville\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/485"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lsre.com.au\/granville\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5734"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lsre.com.au\/granville\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5734\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lsre.com.au\/granville\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5735"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lsre.com.au\/granville\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5734"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lsre.com.au\/granville\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5734"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lsre.com.au\/granville\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5734"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}