Photos: Macquarie Bank's O'Leary's has advice for ag's new players

The girl from a rice and sheep property at Tocumwal in South West NSW says today's many eager new recruits in the burgeoning farm sector should ask themselves what they want to be "known for" in their job, not the title they want to be "known as".

Ms O'Leary's 19 year career with Macquarie Group has included eight years trebling its comparatively small ag division into a $3 billion-plus investment portfolio.

The agriculture operation, part of Macquarie Asset Management, now spans Paraway Pastoral's 27 sheep and cattle holdings across 4.4 million hectares in Queensland, NSW and Victoria; cropping business Viridis Ag's 12 broadacre and row crop properties in NSW, SA and West Australia, and the Queensland-NSW border cotton and grain growing enterprise Cubbie Station, one of the world's biggest irrigation properties.

Macquarie Asset Management also accumulated the 10 NSW and WA properties which now make up Lawson Grains, then sold it for a reported $550 million late last year to an Australian-Canadian joint venture.

A former beef producer herself with farms in Victoria and WA, Ms O'Leary told the June Agribuzz event run by Farm Writers Association, "things are not just good in agriculture because it has rained".

RELATED READING

Even when times felt tough a few years ago, the sector's prospects were still good, but after seasonal conditions suddenly revived in 2020 the industry now looked better than ever.

"It's probably the best set of career and business opportunities I've seen in this industry in my lifetime," she said.

Newcomers to the sector and those building their careers in agribusiness should make the most of the good times, the learning opportunities and "the people you enjoy spending time working with".

"I really enjoy learning a lot from other people, most of whom will never become a company CEO," she said.

"Don't cultivate work relationships based on hierarchy, but on mutual interest with people you feel you want to get to know; people who you share an interest with and you can learn from, and with."

These relationships and career networks would provide the encouragement and confidence to step outside a comfort zone and take on jobs or challenges that could shape agriculture's diverse work environment for the better.

"Force yourself to ask yourself, `what outcomes am I signing up for? What can I want to achieve for this industry?'," she said, urging people to look beyond achieving a title.

After breaking into a seemingly a male-only, RM Williams boot-wearing career path, Ms O'Leary's own goals had adjusted several times in her Macquarie agricultural business role.

Initially she wanted to be known for building a business and being a credible individual injecting much-needed capital into the industry, and delivering solid rewards for investors.

In recent years her goal shifted to being known as somebody building good teams, and through those people "doing great deals in a great industry which generated great returns for investors".

Even more recently it evolved again to include "making the environment investable" and growing a team and the skills base which would leave "the right mark on our landscape".

Those accomplishments would demand greater diversity of gender and employee backgrounds, and considerable workplace flexibility, allowing staff to make the most of both their work and parental experiences.

"We have to rise to the generation we live in," she said.

"I think this industry will look very different for a lot of us in the near future, and that is cool, and fun."

The youngest of six farm-raised daughters, Ms O'Leary attended Finley High School and Cobram Secondary College in Victoria, before graduating in political science and economics from the Australian National University, where she was president of the student union.

Her career began on a political path, working for the Liberal Party during John Hewson's term as Opposition Leader, later establishing her own consultancy firm and then joining Macquarie Bank in a human resources role which grew to high flying international positions in Hong Kong and London.

Rather than saving to buy a city unit or house during her post university years, she invested in a farm run by a family member, then later bought a second.

"I always saw my love of the land as very separate from my professional identity, but when this position became vacant, I remember waiting in New York for a delayed flight at JFK Airport, and thinking I'd actually love that job," Ms O'Leary said.

"Initially, I considered all the reasons why, as a woman, I couldn't take it on, but then, after a few drinks, I started thinking like a bloke and decided, `I'm red hot for that job'."

Start the day with all the big news in agriculture! Sign up below to receive our daily Farmonline newsletter.