Leaning into the deep end while being brave and vulnerable with Angus Street
“Tough, fun and joyous.”Those are the three words Angus Street chose to describe his 2022. Angus, who you might know as CEO of AuctionsPlus, has had quite the journey to get where he is.
Growing up on a property in northern New South Wales, Angus fell in love with the “shrubby country” that had been in his family for “four or five generations.” He said his dream job would be to be a farmer.
“I'd love to be a farmer if I'm honest with you. I love being around nature. I love walking barefoot on the grass, listening to the birds, listening to the cattle, in the grass or in pastures. I really love the romance of it. I know there are some extremely tough times and it's huge, it's a really tough job at times, but I think the elements of being surrounded by Mother nature would be pretty cool.”
But that wasn’t exactly the path he ended up on.
After high school, he started out studying AgScience at the University of Sydney, but the emphasis on science in the degree wasn’t suiting him, he and science “didn’t get on that well,” he said. So he went for a more hands on approach, studying Business Commerce at Bond University.
While Angus was studying, he found a job as a journalist for the Gold Coast Bulletin, which led to a love for the trade of storytelling.
“I love the storytelling, and I loved interviewing people… what you do really, you pick away at the onion layers of their story.”
So, if you’d told the vesper riding, board short wearing, Gold Coast living Angus Street that his time as a journalist would be cut short by the Global Financial Crisis (GFC), he probably wouldn’t have believed you, but from it he was given the chance to get back into the agriculture industry.
“I got made redundant during that time [GFC], and a job came up at the MLA for me. It was, again, a fork in the road, I could keep pursuing pure journalism, which I was loving, or I could make a decision to go back to agriculture, which was very much my happy place and do the storytelling piece through communications.”
He took the role at MLA (Meat & Livestock Australia) and worked in their communications team for three and a half years.
Moving to Melbourne later down the track led him to make more self discoveries than he was probably expecting. Not only was he getting his Masters of Business Administration, but he had moved for love.
“Ellie, she's my absolute rock, from a professional point of view, as much as personal. I mean, she's got an established career in her own right.”
Throughout his career, Angus had experienced growth in the educational and professional facets of his life, but he reached a point where his personal life, and his relationship with himself, became more profound.
“When I had my first child, and I got married too, it all kind of came to a pincer point… and it was like, stop worrying what other people think and actually sit there and get comfortable in your own skin and focus on the things that you can control, which is your behaviours, your values, how you act, and how you hold yourself in society, and around people.”
These realisations can be seen as invaluable for someone who has taken on the role of a leader. Having been CEO of AuctionsPlus for four and a half years now, Angus’ mentors, support system and self work have allowed him to go from feeling “very green” with “big shoes to fill” to feeling “comfortable” with who he is.
“I know my strengths and my weaknesses, I know what I need to continue to work on. I would say my leadership approach has also changed… I've worked out who I am, and I've been able to find the leadership style that works for me.”
In this weeks Humans of Agriculture episode, Oli sits down with his former boss, Angus, so have a listen wherever you get your podcasts.
To find out more about AuctionsPlus, visit their website https://auctionsplus.com.au/