‘Fire in the belly’: The real estate CEO who thrives on competitive spirit

Peter Mumford doesn’t shy away from challenges, he thrives on them.

“I get excited when someone tells me I won’t make it, it gives me more fire in the belly,” Mr Mumford, the founder and chief executive of Stone Real Estate, told realestate.com.au.

For Mr Mumford, competition isn’t just motivation, it’s fuel. It’s a mindset that has propelled him from the hospitality industry into the rising ranks of Australian real estate.

Stone Real Estate has grown to more than 70 offices and more 800 personnel across Australia and New Zealand since launching in 2015. The network is only a decade old, but it’s scaling fast and built with the motivation of someone who’s spent a career playing the long game.

“We’re not chasing transactions, we’re building long-term relationships,” Mr Mumford said.

Stone started out of Sydney’s Northern Beaches, but has expanded throughout New South Wales and Queensland, with a growing footprint in Victoria, Tasmania, and across the Tasman. But its rise has been unconventional, much like its chief executive’s career path.

Mr Mumford’s background isn’t in property, but in kitchens.

He trained as a chef and spent his twenties and thirties building and selling restaurants, catering firms and event companies.

“I always knew I’d run my own businesses,” he said. “I’ve built them, sold them, and then started again.”

He started one of Sydney’s leading boutique catering businesses, Blue Rock Group, out of his home office in the 1990s, and then sold it to the Rydges Hotels group in 2001. After exiting the catering and events business, he had a go at coffee farming. But a twist of fate, which resulted in all of his coffee trees dying, spurred him on to have a go at real estate.

“At the time I thought real estate looked easy and would give it a go, but I was wrong, and it wasn’t easy,” he said.

Armed with little more than an online course and his own capital, Mr Mumford entered the real estate market in the early 2000s, just as the market took a turn for the worst. He described it as “a baptism of fire”, but within six months, he had written $400,000 in sales and acquired a small First National agency.

He expanded to several offices and joined the McGrath network, where he helped recruit agents and scale offices, before he broke away to launch Stone.

But building Stone wasn’t easy either.

“Running a business is stressful,” he said. “You get sick and you get stressed about money, sometimes wondering how to pay wages next week.”

“Everybody that’s built a small business usually goes through that.

“I remember my mum had a little dress shop in Manly, and she used to say to me, ‘in business you will do things that other people won’t do, so that you will enjoy things that others only dream about.’”

One of the highlights of Mr Mumford’s role is working with the people at Stone and helping them grow in their careers.

“My role is about finding the right people who are much better at the different roles than me in the business,” he said.

“I coach some of our principals weekly, while others prefer to just run with the brand and marketing. We let them build businesses that suit their goals.”

“It’s about giving people autonomy and the freedom to do the job, while making sure that everyone is rowing in the same direction.”

That direction includes a push toward smarter systems and training, expanding the brand, better use of AI, and improving the sustainability of their office operations. Despite the ambition, Mr Mumford noted that growth wasn’t the only metric.

“We work with principals to unpack what they want and what their ‘big hairy audacious goal’ is in life,” he said, quoting the popular term coined by business management gurus Jim Collins and Jerry Porras.

For some, it’s a laser focus on growing their businesses at pace, while others pursue something that allows a little more time to enjoy life outside of the office. Even Mr Mumford carves out time to spend with family and friends, and pursue his hobbies.

Mr Mumford and his wife Louise have sailed for more than 20 years, and used to participate in the Hamilton Island race week every year.

“There were days of pure adrenaline when you were going 25 knots and the spinnaker was flying, and then there were days of no wind and you just bobbed along like a cork,” he said.

Mr Mumford also likes to ski with the family, typically travelling to Europe to enjoy the slopes, food and culture. Yet his focus always returns to the business.

“I’ll probably work until I die,” he said with a laugh. “Not because I have to but because I enjoy it.”

It’s that competitive instinct that remains central to everything he does.

“We all need something that gets under our skin and pushes us, it’s what keeps me going.”

And it’s likely that that competitive spirit will be what continues to give Stone Real Estate its edge.

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