There has only ever been one Albert Einstein. And, in the overall scheme of things, only a small percentage of people become Olympians, actors, inventors, successful business owners, or any other form of notoriety.
Some people are driven to accomplish great things for a big critical mass to reap the benefits from.
Others are content doing their bit ‘off Broadway’ each day, while remaining focused on accomplishing their long-term goal of retiring comfortably at an age that they are still healthy and active enough to enjoy more of life’s true pleasures.
Regardless of whether one is a full-time janitor or an elite athlete, it is important to have (and to actively pursue) dreams.
We can all learn a lot from the common denominators of the many renowned visionaries who have already lived out their dreams.
Not all visionaries are blessed with elite talent.
What they do possess is a strong clarity for their end goal and a never-say-die attitude to make it happen.
Research insights: SUBSCRIBE HERE
Instead of making excuses, trying to take short-cuts or giving up easily, visionaries are self-driven people who confront challenges head on.
Visionary people
Examples of some famous Australian visionaries from different eras and in different fields of expertise include:
- Lachlan Macquarie: former NSW Governor (1810 – 1821) was instrumental in NSW’s transition from penal colony to free settlement. With a natural curiosity and a vision to develop new communities, Macquarie’s many feats include the establishment of Bathurst (initially for food production), Sydney’s urban planning and economic reform.
- Matthew Flinders, Charles Sturt and John Batman: they are among a long list of visionaries who accepted that hard knocks as part of the job description for exploring unchartered lands to scope out future urban settlements.
- Sidney Kidman: affectionately known as ‘the Cattle King’, the Adelaide-born pastoralist left home at the age of 13 to live life on the land. His self-imposed ‘apprenticeship’ began with plenty of blisters and dust as a stockman. Even at an early age, Kidman had a knack for making money from crafty trades of goods and services. From the 1880s through to the 1930’s, Kidman’s strong work ethic, ambition and business acumen saw him progressively acquire numerous parcels of largely untouched rural land, developing small rural townships and accumulating Australia’s largest landholdings.
- Charles Kingsford-Smith, Nancy Bird-Walton, Bert Hinkler: during the early part of the twentieth century, an unrelenting pursuit for what might be possible from each of these aviation pioneers was instrumental in creating new transport pathways for future generations.
- William Cooper and Caroline Chisholm: epitomising that the true measurement of leadership relates to actions as opposed to titles, Cooper (for indigenous Australians) and Chisholm (for women in the workforce) consistently displayed courage to challenge broader society ‘norms’ and values and to advocate for treating all people equally.
- Robert Edgell: from the humble beginnings of selling apples and pears off his small farm to residents of his hometown during WW2, Edgell and his sons identified a challenge for Australian food supply and were prepared to think laterally to develop a solution. They successfully executed a vision to extend the shelf-life of a wide variety of fruit and vegetables and went on to supply large volumes of Edgell canned food Australia wide.
- Ray White: he started in 1902, from a shed in the rural Queensland township of Crows Nest. Ray White devised a dream to help to sell real estate for as many people as possible. Chasing that dream required a preparedness to place no limits, to move town, to innovate, to work hard and to build a team. A healthy disregard for what ‘everyone does’ afforded Ray White the potential to achieve several ‘firsts’ for Australian real estate. Several generations later, the business now sells more than $45 billion worth of property each year from 1,000 offices across multiple countries.
- Robert Menzies: our longest serving Prime Minister was a wonderful orator and big-picture thinker who successfully implemented his vision for a post-war modern Australia that quickly became the envy of the world, fundamentally by supporting aspirational attitudes and free economies. The actions supporting Menzies’ vision contributed immensely to Australia’s homeownership rate rising from 45 percent to 70 percent.
- Kerry Packer: while Packer had many successes in TV, print media, casinos and tourism, his ability to identify a ground-breaking TV entertainment package by founding World Series Cricket (in 1977) still remains one of best examples of vision in global sport.
- Ita Buttrose: her initial claim to fame came in the 1970’s for being prepared to push the envelope with ‘daring’ magazine content for women aged 20 to 40. The founding editor of Cleo magazine and The Australian Women’s Weekly became a trailblazer in Australian print media.
- Keith Williams: he purchased a completely untouched Hamilton Island as a grazing lease in 1975 and swiftly proceeded to implement a clear vision of developing a world class holiday resort, with its own airport, harbour, numerous hotels, conference centre, golf course and assorted attractions.
- Jeff Kennett: a preparedness to actively pursue greatness and to venture where few others have gone are typical characteristics of visionaries, but such boldness often attracts controversy and critics. While that was certainly the case for former Victorian Premier, Jeff Kennett, the reality is he turned a state which, in the early 1990s, had the worst economy, the biggest debt, the saddest property markets and the lowest confidence into the national leader on many metrics. Underpinning Victoria’s change of fortunes was Kennett’s vision to become a city which is globally renowned for hosting major events. He chased the vision with revolutionary investment in infrastructure projects such as the Crown precinct, Federation Square, Docklands redevelopment, Exhibition Centre, Melbourne museum, IMAX theatre, National Gallery and becoming host of Formula 1 Grand Prix.
- Rupert Murdoch: like Kerry Packer, Murdoch is one of Australia’s best ever businessmen. Perhaps his biggest visionary achievement came in the mid 1990’s when he packaged up a 20-channel, multi-genre cable TV subscription (Foxtel).
- Peter V’Landys: the divisive Greek accountant from Wollongong has carved a career as one of Australia’s best ever sports administrators. V’Landys thirst for challenging the status quo and innovating continues to produce new entertainment initiatives, along with record-breaking revenues and participation rates in both horse racing and rugby league.
- Will Hodgman: the Hobart born and raised solicitor was elected Tasmanian Premier in 2014 through sharing his vision to generate global awareness for the world’s best ‘Treasurer Island’. Soaring demand for Tasmania’s unique tourism attractions, the best quality food on the planet, its amazing scenery and precious real estate was reflected in record growth in airport passenger volumes and major project investment. The state’s economy went from being ranked entrenched wooden-spooners to an all-time record 9-consecutive quarters as Australia’s best.
Key to wonderful accomplishments is a preparedness to challenge the status quo, to draw on multiple resources, to avoid negativity distractions, to take action and to learn from each experience.
Visionary projects
Australia’s best ever visionary project is the 25-year construction of the Snowy Mountains hydro-electric scheme (1949 to 1974).
Other examples of fantastic visionary project developments include:
- establishment of Canberra as a new national capital (1913),
- construction of the Sydney harbour bridge (1926-1932),
- commencement of iron ore exports out of Pilbara WA (late 1960s),
- privatisation of Australian banks (1990s),
- Museum of New and Old Art – MONA – in Hobart (2011),
- Wellcamp international airport development in Toowoomba (2015),
- Perth Stadium (2017),
- Australian Space Agency in Adelaide (2018), and
- Copper String electricity transmission project to maximise development of one of the world’s most valuable precious minerals precincts in north-west Queensland (2023-2032).
A vision does not have to be grandiose to be great
A personal passion for putting smiles and dials from cooking, evolving into the establishment of local café or restaurant is a wonderful example of a vision becoming reality.
For that matter, everyone who’s had the courage to pursue a personal dream and established a business from scratch is a visionary of sorts.
All those years ago, Propertyology began with a bold vision to become pioneers of truly borderless investing in Australian real estate.
Executing our vision involved combining the nation’s very best property market research with elite-level buyer’s agency skills [here’s how].
Whereas others choose to live in the moment and often end up with shoulda-coulda-woulda regrets, visionaries are focused on a better future. They earn a reputation as a thought leader in their field of expertise.
Plenty of people have a general dream to (one day) exit the workforce and to use the extra time in their day to enjoy more of the things which they like most.
Investing is the solution for that.
To bring dreams into reality, the aforementioned visionaries are proof that the more clarity one has and the greater one’s hunger, the more likely one is to attain their big-picture goals.
Sidney Kidman, Nancy Bird, Ray White, Robert Edgell, Ita Buttrose, Robert Menzies and countless others were not gifted silver bullets.
What they all had in common was a clear focus on what they wanted.
They worked backwards from the end goal.
Repetitive visualisation creates clarity, provides focus, drives positive actions and (eventually) produces outcomes.
At the end of the day, one is what they DO, not what they SAY they’ll do.
Invest with the best: CONTACT US
Propertyology are national buyer’s agents and Australia’s premier property market analyst. Every capital city and every non-capital city, Propertyology analyse fundamentals in every market, every day. We use this valuable research to help everyday Aussies to invest in strategically-chosen locations (literally) all over Australia. Like to know more? Contact us here.
Here’s how we combine our thought-leading research with Propertyology’s award-winning buyer’s agency services.
