Thank you to the 1646 leaders who’ve generously done the 7 questions! I hope reading 7 Questions with
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Peter Huang
helps you in your leadership.
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Cheers,
Jonno
Peter Huang
Name: Peter Huang
Title: CEO
Organisation: BESTT Group
After losing his job at the university due to the Tian An Men Square incident, Peter Huang came to Australia in 1991 with $100 in his pocket, no friends, no relatives, no government subsidy, and very little English.
He did dishy and professional cleaning for his first two years in Australia before getting into real estate in 1993. Within four months, he became the no.1 agent in Qld amongst Nationwide Realty's 55 offices. He opened his own real estate company in 1995, built his double award-winning Pacific Center in 2001, and was ranked 32 by PWC amongst Qld's top 400 private companies in 2003.
Under BESTT Group, its group of companies now include Yong Real Estate, Claybourn Fashion, BESTT Proeporties and many other companies like The Kooralbyn Valley resort and Brisbane River Golf Course, with their development projects' completion value of around $1b
1. What have you found most challenging as a leader?
Time management
2. How did you become a leader? Can you please briefly tell the story?
The company I worked for went to receivership in 1995, so I opened my own company 14 days later
3. How do you structure your work days from waking up to going to sleep?
Get up 6:20 am, after breakfast, have a walk on our tennis court with my wife, and arrive at the office before 8:30 am. I normally meet with each department every day in the early morning either in person or by video conference to free up my day for many other important group tasks, appointments or urgent emails. I normally go home at 6 pm, after dinner, watch some news, then have another walk with my wife before doing some social media and having a massage, after which clear some non-urgent emails before going to bed at 11 pm
4. What's a recent leadership lesson you've learned for the first time or been reminded of?
Need to learn more about marketing and budgeting myself, instead of just delegating to the manager or marketing agencies
5. What's one book that has had a profound impact on your leadership so far? Can you please briefly tell the story of how that book impacted your leadership?
Building Wealth through Investment Property, by Jan Somers. Immediately after I read the book in 1997, I bought over ten properties in 1 year, including a development site to build our double award-winning Pacific Center, which is still our current head quarters
6. If you could only give one piece of advice to a young leader, what would you say to them?
Never Stop, which is the motto of our Claybourn Fashion.
7. What is one meaningful story that comes to mind from your time as a leader, so far?
Knowledge is king. Before I understood the power of investment and no money down strategies, I pulled out of a contract to buy 12 acres of land in Rochdale in 1997 for $380k to build my dream home, because my wife thought it was too far and remote to live there. The property is now worth over $30m. It was my fault, not my wife's. I should've bought it as an investment instead of owner-occupying if I knew more "no money down" strategies at the time. When I have more time, I will re-launch my investor's club to share more of my lifelong experience and secrets in property, business and personal life.