Easy does it: Angus Kennard

For the casual observer, the announcement that Angus Kennard was to become CEO of the family business, Kennards Hire, might have come as little surprise. Why wouldn’t the owner’s son take over the top job, especially since he’d done the hard yards and proven himself to be both a hands-on, coalface worker and an innovator and entrepreneur? Surprisingly, a Kennard hasn’t been CEO since Angus’s dad, Andy, stepped aside in 1995. So what took Angus so long? Despite joining the business in 1996, it took 20 years before he even asked himself the questions: "Do I want to be CEO?" and "Am I capable of doing the CEO job?"

After completing an MBA, he decided the answer was yes, so when the company was looking for a new CEO, he put up his hand. "It took a couple of months of working through a few things and going through interviews — the Board were the ones to appoint me, not the family, and it was a very rigorous process. But I got the gig, so here I am." His dad must be thrilled? "Yes, I think he is." Indeed, the feedback from all quarters so far is positive. Staff are certainly pleased. While they know Angus will want to put his stamp on the company and make changes, those changes will come from a place of knowing and understanding. "Evolution, not revolution," he agrees.

Angus was working in the Kennards’ branches when he was a schoolboy, packaging up auxiliary items for pocket money. When he joined the company in his 20s, he started out cleaning toilets in the Brookvale branch on Sydney’s  Northern Beaches just like any new recruit. "I understand the business from the ground up. If I need to talk shop with anyone, I know it better than most. But I can also picture what the future looks like. It’s important to be ahead of the game and create our future." However, most important of all, he lives and breathes the family values and culture. And that family culture is at the root of everything that Kennards Hire does. It’s what makes it different to public companies, what makes it successful, and why its loyal staff enjoy working there and customers like hiring there.

The Kennard family is so interesting it’s hard to know where to shine the spotlight first. But it was Walter who actually started the hire business from Bathurst in 1948. He owned a small rural supply and machinery company. When a customer asked if they could borrow a new Lightburn concrete mixer rather than buy one, Walter told him: "I won’t lend it to you, but I’ll hire it to you." Although stories about him abound, Angus was only 18 months old when his grandfather died, so he never really knew him, "He was a real entrepreneur. He invented the ocky strap. He used to manufacture and hire roof racks. He was an innovator and a trader, always buying  and selling things. From what I know, he was clearly a really nice, loving guy. He was very good at starting a business but not necessarily as good at running it."

Fortunately, Walter’s sons Andy and Neville were good at running the business, and Walter got so fed up with arguing about the direction it should take, he sold the business to Neville when he was just 25. Shortly after, Neville’s younger brother, Andy, bought 50% and the 2 ran it as a partnership for an impressive 27 years. For the first 10 years, they
only had one outlet, says Angus. The other interesting thing about the brothers was that they also expanded the business into other areas, the most successful of which was self-storage. In 1991, Andy and Neville, who by then had around 14 hire outlets, couldn’t see a way for the cousins to work together in the future and amicably decided to split the business down the middle and go their separate ways, with Andy taking the hire side and Neville the storage, plus a few other assets.

Andy then acquired a business called GKN, which saw Kennards Hire expand to 29 branches. He brought on Peter Lancken as managing director, who took the company through a massive period of growth — doubling every 5 years and reaching more than 100 branches.

Interestingly, for 2 men who started off in a world of concrete mixers and chain saws, Neville and Andy also gained quite a reputation for their cerebral interests. Neville wasa well-known libertarian and founding chairman of the Centre for Independent Studies, which became a leading think tank of freedom, free markets and limited government; while Andy was instrumental in setting up the Hire Rental Industry Association. Perhaps the most famous Kennard of all, however, is Neville’s remarkable wife, Gaby — the first Australian woman to fly solo around the world.

Interestingly, for 2 men who started off in a world of concrete mixers and chain saws, Neville and Andy also gained quite a reputation for their cerebral interests.

So, clearly, the Kennards are a fascinating family — smart, visionary, adventurous. Angus is proud of their influence and has obviously inherited those traits on the adventurous side — he initially dreamed of being a professional skier. "But Dad wouldn’t support a ski bum," he laughs. He’s now turned his love of speed into a passion for rally car racing, which also provides an escape from the constant pressures of business. "You can’t think about anything but the call on the next corner." He’s competed in a number of iconic race events, including Targa Tasmania and the Snowy River Sprint.

On the professional side, like his 3 siblings, he was never pressured to join the business, so he went to university, travelled overseas, then worked for other companies, mainly in sales.   In1996, he spoke to his dad about coming to work for Kennards. There was a position available at Brookvale under Grant Spradbrow, who was one of the best operators Kennards had. Andy said if he was interested in learning the business from the grass roots, there was no better person to learn from. Within 6 months, Angus had become manager and bought his dad’s half share of the Brookvale branch. He and Grant then bought another nearby store at Mona Vale, which he ran that for 7 years.

"If I hadn’t completed the MBA I wouldn’t have been able to become CEO." – Angus Kennard

"After that I started to get bored. I could’ve sat there, run that business, enjoyed the dividends, and avoided sitting in traffic jams, but I saw an opportunity to start a new venture in specialist concrete-related equipment. Concrete is the second most-used resource in the world after water. I could see it was one of those things that could be quite difficult to work with, but at the same time there was a real trend in using concrete in features like polished floors. I researched, went to America, discovered an industry exhibition called World of Concrete with all this specialised, expensive, labour-saving equipment and thought: We could rent this out back home."

Angus and Grant started Concrete Care together. "We had to come up with the right gear and method to suit the Australian market," Angus says. "Within 7 years, we had 5 stores around the country." Once again, Angus could have sat back and enjoyed the dividends. Instead, in 2012, he took a completely different tack. He sold Concrete Care to Kennards Hire and took his wife, Ange, and 4 children, then aged between 4 and 12, to live in France for a year. "When I was young, Dad had done the same thing. He took a year off and we all went to live in Switzerland. I spoke French and wanted to reconnect with the language. It was a good year. I spent a lot of time with my wife and children. We’d go riding, driving, skiing together. I was ready for a break after 16 years of hard work. It was a lot of fun."

Angus returned to Kennards Hire to run Assets and Procurement. "That was probably my strong suit. I understood that side of the business and helped the company to save a lot of money through buying better, negotiating harder, and improving our asset management." Still needing more, however, he decided to do an MBA at Sydney University. "I wanted another challenge, another life-changing event, and that seemed like a good one," he explains. He finished that in September 2016 and was appointed CEO a month later, with the remit of leading the 170 Kennards Hire branches across Australia and New Zealand. "If I hadn’t completed the MBA, I wouldn’t have been able to become CEO," he says. "Having gone through that process, my thinking approach and leadership went to another level and I felt I was equipped with the skills and aptitude to be able to do it."

This is a twitchy time to be in business. Disrupters are so disruptive they’re even disrupting themselves. As the Internet of Things hooks us and our devices together, and technological advancements seem to render every new piece of equipment obsolete almost before we’ve removed it from the package, Angus looks to China where they’re printing houses. "Will there be a time when Kennards will be hiring out 3D printers?" he muses. But at the same time, Kennards Hire is a family business. They are in it for the long term, which is a good foundation to build from.

There are many reasons why that’s integral to the way the company runs, but perhaps at the top of the list is the understanding that every decision you make is not just for the current generations but for grandchildren and great-grandchildren to come. "We tend to think we make better long-term decisions, whereas public companies work on a short-term cycle," Angus explains, adding that in some areas he is, literally, thinking 200 years ahead. "Dad was visionary in setting up our business for future generations. We went through a whole process of defining our family values, which took a couple of years. Then we drew up a family charter and got everyone to review it, and more importantly, agree to it. I think we’re up to version 10 or 11 now.

"And then we’ve got the Deed of Family Arrangement. So what happens if my parents die or one of us wants to get out? We have an annual family retreat and 24 of us all go away together. It’s about connecting the next generation and building equity in the relationships. Hopefully, down the track, if difficult times happen, the family has a strong enough relationship and understanding of the rules of the business to overcome it. When I first came into the business, we had to decide these things as we went along. But when you grow up in it, I think it’s easier. You understand how it’s going to work."

"You can’t have a system and process for everything, but you can have a set of values that guide your behaviours." – Angus Kennard

Also integral to the success of the business is the culture. There are 4 company values that are the ultimate test of everything Kennards Hire does. "They’re not something that simply sit on the wall. They’re a living, breathing part of our business," Angus says. "The first is Fair Dinkum, which is about being true, real, genuine and honest. Then there’s Every Customer A Raving Fan. That’s around doing whatever it takes to satisfy a customer’s needs. Sometimes you have to break a few rules to do that, and it really stems from how we started with Grandad’s first hire. It also relates back to our customer-centric approach. Our brand promise is ‘Kennards makes your job easy’. Anything we can do to enable the customer experience to be better is where our focus is. We’re spending a lot of money on technology at the moment to enable that.

"The other 2 values are Taking Hire Higher, which is about continuous improvement and innovation, and One Family, which is about having each others’ backs, looking after your mates and being vigilant about our people coming home safe each day."

These are lovely values. It must be good to work in a company where you can insist on that kind of behaviour. Angus nods. "It’s what we ask our people to live by. You can’t have a system and process for everything, but you can have a set of values that guide your behaviours.

We don’t want to have ‘group think’ with everyone being the same. These kinds of values build trust. Once we had determined our values, we held 40 workshops and every single person in the company had to attend, from the CEO and Board members to drivers and everyone in between. It really broke down the barriers. We had guys from the shop front talking about how they lived the values, and it was really powerful. We had people breaking down in tears. The stories about what people do and the discretionary effort they put in — they’re quite amazing."

The run of non-Kennard CEOs has seen some great successes and also some challenges. Is the rest of the family pleased they now have one of their own at the helm again? "I think so. I’m still in the honeymoon period, so we’ll see what happens," Angus says, laughing. "We’ve always said that no family member reports to another family member, but with our generation we’re all involved. My brother Cameron is   group property manager, so reports to a steering group that I am on. I report to a Board that my brother and sister are on, which could pose a challenge, but I think we’re at a point where we’re clear where it’s going." They are, as you might expect, a pragmatic family, but not one to coast or rest on their proverbial laurels.

"When you achieve success, you can easily believe your own hype. The element of hubris comes in, and that’s the danger with many successful companies. They sit back and think they’ll just revert to what’s worked before. In this day and age, this thinking gives you no right to exist in the future; you need to be really cognisant of things that are coming." While he has teams of top people exploring the world to find the next and best big thing, Angus returns to the culture as the driver of this. "That’s the key element. If we’re going to get involved in something, it’s our family name on the door, so we want it to represent the things we believe in."

In a world where there are ever-growing reports of stress as employees battle hard KPIs, Kennards is also unusual in not setting specific growth targets beyond wanting to maximise sustainable growth. The things the family has always wanted from the business are both measurable and intangible: people at the core of success, caring for the community and the environment, striving for strong financial performance, and taking pride in everything they do.

Angus isn’t about to change that. In fact, when he was made CEO, one of the most important items on his list was to revisit the way the company regards people. "I want to get back to that. In the financial world, for example, they have hard KPI-driven outcomes, but that can create negative behaviours. For us, we have the soft elements of the business and the tangible ones, and that’s what binds us together, so we’re not so outcome-driven at all costs. For instance, we could pressure our people to hire out more stuff, but if you sell a solution and you’re not pushy but just helpful, then customers will come back and you’ve created a much better experience. I think there’s a lot more we can do with our people. Every year, we do a Great Place To Work measure. The feedback from that is often used to make decisions about our employee culture."

Some of these decisions have been costly and not many companies would go with them. For instance, one — some might say predictable — employee suggestion was a salary rise. Sure enough, Angus says: "We’ve increased everyone’s salary at branch level by a substantial amount." That’s a cost-effective move, he says. "We want to attract, train and retain the right people and engage the right people in their jobs." It should be said that this is not a one-off. Kennards has made headlines a few times in the past by giving all staff very large bonuses. It’s another advantage of being a family business. "We can just make decisions," says   Angus. "You think about public companies. They’re only as good as their last quarter, and they’re trying to make decisions to pump their share price up. We can make decisions to push our share price down if we think it’s good for the business."

Of course, Angus will, as he always has, be looking at new business models and considering how to evolve. "That’s something I’m really keen on. We have several specialist businesses, and we’ve restructured so we work as less of a silo, with more of that one-family feel, and there’s a bit of change happening to enable it to work better." New technology is also transforming the business in myriad ways, such as the online hire website that allows customers to book online. "The new website has gone gangbusters," says Angus. "I think within 12 months it will be the equivalent of one of our biggest, busiest branches."

Innovation also extends to a new mobility platform that will see customers being greeted at the door with a mobile device to do their hire transaction, eliminating the need for unnecessary paperwork. Meanwhile, the QR codes on each piece of equipment means that all safety and asset elements can be accessed with a quick scan.

As well as good business practices, Kennards is also renowned for philanthropy. It gives around $1 million a year to charity, often choosing lesser-known organisations that it sees are fulfilling a genuine need.

As well as good business practices, Kennards is also renowned for its philanthropy. It gives around $1 million a year to charity, often choosing lesser-known organisations that it sees are fulfilling a genuine need. They have a particular emphasis on helping disadvantaged children. "We like to see people fulfill their potential so, for the past 25 years, we’ve been involved with Stepping Stone House. One of their buildings is called Kennards House, and we donated money, resources and equipment to help build it. The organisation helps disadvantaged kids to reach their potential. The kids there come from troubled backgrounds, and it is amazing to see what, with good support, they can achieve. After 18 months to 2 years, they come out as independent young people.
It’s expensive, but cheaper both in monetary and human terms than sending them into the welfare system."

Among others, Kennards Hire supports Constable Care, a child-safety foundation in Western Australia; KidsXpress, an organisation that helps traumatised children express themselves through art; plus others such as Taronga Zoo and Variety — The Children’s Charity. "We have a family foundation, and Mum and my sister Kirsty are pretty involved in that. We also like to get our own kids involved." The family is adamant that their philanthropic efforts are not about publicity or media attention. Angus’s sister Kirsty Kovacs has said, "We just want to make sure we’re giving back and that it’s going to the right place. We want to see people, particularly children, have an opportunity to do better and achieve their goals in life, and that’s what motivates us."

In 2013, Angus and his dad, then 71, and son Zack, 13, also took part in the Hands Across the Water cycle ride, riding 800 kilometres in 8 days to raise around $120,000 for charity. "It was a real adventure and for a good cause. As a family, we love travelling, seeing things and challenging ourselves, so it was great to have 3 generations doing it together." More recently, and with a commercial focus, Kennards sponsored Kennards Hire Rally Australia. Angus insists he wasn’t engaged in deciding to get involved with that — "I don’t mix passion and business" — but he was clearly delighted by the way the company took on the challenge of providing VMS boards, toilets, generators and other essential pieces of equipment to this very popular, international motorsport event.

One imagines, because he’s a Kennard, Angus will always have that longing for adventure and challenge. Will being CEO in these challenging times be enough for Angus? "I’m not sure yet. We’ll see how it goes, but I’m here for as long as I can positively lead the business," he says. Walter and Andy both stood down well before retirement age and, says Angus, "Part of my responsibility is directing the next person. Succession is a challenge in any business, but especially family businesses. We’ve got a couple of people who are really good, and if you hang on too long you lose those people. I’ve got my time. I’ll do what I can do and make sure there will be people ready for the next chapter."

The other question, of course, is whether he sees another Kennard stepping into the CEO’s role any time soon. "I’m not sure if my kids will go into it. Their cousins seem more interested. But the most important thing is that they all pursue their dreams and passions, and if that’s the business, great, and if not, that’s great, too," he says. "It would be a shame if no Kennard wanted to work at Kennards, though."

Most people would agree with that.