During this episode, Shaun McCambridge, Stellar’s Managing Director, sits down with Gary Georgiou, Executive General Manager of Georgiou. We learn how Gary has built a successful Civil Engineering career and gain an insight into Georgiou, a business with a great company culture and pipeline of projects in the works, that he now leads as General Manager.

1:12 - Gary’s journey to study Engineering 

2:39 - Career moments to be proud of

5:10 - Shifting from engineering to leadership

7:31 - Challenging moments faced as a leader

10:34 - How to develop strong communication & EQ skills

13:16 - Most influential person on his career journey

15:50 - The drive for self-development 

18:16 - Leadership philosophies

20:20 - Switching off outside of work

24:01 – Company culture at Georgiou

29:16 - Georgiou’s business outlook

32:15 - Tips for aspiring engineers or project managers 

Without a clear vision Gary was unsure on what he wanted to do when he was in high school, but he knew he liked drawing and building. Through gaining work experience it became clear he didn’t want to spend his days on Excel, but rather doing something he enjoyed. This gave him an idea of what career path he wanted to take. 

 

As a project manager it was the rush of delivering a successful project, but now as the General Manager Gary has many project outcomes at different times – which has contributed to the impressive growth on the East Coast over the last five years. Additionally, watching staff succeed and grow with the business and in their personal lives is something Gary loves – some employees have been at Georgiou since they were graduates.

 

As many engineers are technical people it is difficult getting into people management, however leadership is learned. Hence through taking ownership of his own career and thinking about the next role and the skills required Gary developed his leadership skills. Through exposure and taking on the responsibilities of delivering more direct reports Gary prepared himself for a management role. When he was still a project manager, he would read the business reports, take notes, and then meet with the CEO, CFO, and pre-contract managers to ask lots of questions. This shows the proactiveness towards his career goals and development. 

The ongoing challenge is keeping staff motivated and employed – Georgiou is not a business that hires and fires, hence they put a lot of effort into making sure they understand staff members’ goals and keep moving the business forward to provide staff with enough opportunity to support growth and encourage culture within the company. 

 

Gary is an introvert however communication is one of his strengths. Without communication nothing would work, it is about being authentic and asking questions and giving information plays a big part in this. Many engineers are introverts, but Gary is a testament that this does not affect your leadership capabilities, through pushing yourself out of your comfort zone and always being honest and authentic you can evolve into a very impressive communicator. When dealing with clients, ask many questions specifically about what is important to them, and ensure the communication is constant and a clear alignment is there to support the relationship. 

Many people have been influential in Gary’s career path where he has learnt many things form these influences, but a standout is Brian Riggall, Ex CEO of Seymour Whyte, who pushed Gary throughout his career, including promoting him from Project Manager to General Manager. Brian has exceptional leadership skills where there is a core focus to treat everyone as equals, respect different views and maintains composure during stressful periods, which is something Gary emanates to this day. 

 

Gary is self admittedly very competitive. He finds goal setting very important for working towards long term goals; ticking tasks off helps him to be more productive and seek new opportunities. Some of his greatest development has been when he is out of his comfort zone, significantly taking part in the Harvard Business School President Manager’s course with 140 very successful businesspeople from around the world.

 

Being authentic is very important to Gary who regularly says, “you can’t fake the genuine care for people and their development.” He also believes that who you surround yourself with helps to shape your career, and acknowledges his success is partly due to the people around him which have succeeded and helped him to grow. Gary places a lot of importance on seeking ideas from different people but also in being decisive. Sometimes you must take a risk to move on, and although it may not be right, employees can see sometimes things don’t go to plan, but it can be worked around.

 

Gary lives by the moto ‘work smart not hard,’ and acknowledges that to perform at your best year after year you must be sustainable and demonstrate this to staff. This means first in office and last out is not admirable anymore. When his thoughts aren’t clear he finds taking himself out of the office, switching off the phone and exercising helps to get ideas flowing and distractions eliminated. 

At Georgiou they are not precious about their roles, Gary explains it’s like a family, you just get in and help wherever you are needed. There is a genuine care for staff, they acknowledge one size doesn’t fit all and work hard to meet different staff needs which Gary finds rewarding and this also assists with staff retention. At Georgiou there is a big focus on working hard, playing hard, hosting many social events, and including team members’ families. 

As the East Coast continues to grow very strongly, Gary’s focus for Georgiou is ensuring they select the right projects, that suit the business’ strategy and staff development. Currently Georgiou is working on more and more complex and larger jobs, but also smaller jobs which suit young engineers’ growth. As Georgiou is small enough to know individuals’ strengths and weaknesses, they focus on pushing young engineers out of their comfort zone - if you want to advance to Project Manager, we will give you work in an area of your weakness.

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