Episode Description
Luke Petherbridge, CEO of Link Logistics, a logistics real estate company backed by Blackstone, discussed the company’s rapid growth since its 2019 inception. Link owns over 3,000 buildings and serves 9,000 customers, including major e-commerce providers. Petherbridge highlighted the shift towards “last mile” logistics driven by e-commerce, noting that 22-25% of US retail is now online, expected to rise to 30% by the end of the decade. He emphasized the importance of resilience, adaptability, and community engagement, as exemplified by Link’s philanthropic initiative, CoreGiving, which has provided 80-90 million meals to undernourished children in the US.
About Luke:
As CEO of Link Logistics, Luke guides strategic direction with a particular focus on driving profitability and building a winning corporate culture for the largest U.S.-only operator of logistics real estate. With 5 percent of U.S. GDP – translating to $1.4 trillion – flowing through its facilities annually, Link sits at the nexus of consumption, supply chain and technology.
Luke’s LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/luke-petherbridge-a843b764/
Link Logistics website: linklogistics.com
Luke’s BIO: Luke J. Petherbridge
Transcript
Note: This has been automatically transcribed so is likely to have errors! It may however help you navigate the points of interest.
Michael McGrath 00:10
Welcome to the troubleshooters podcast with me. Your host. Mike McGrath, now today’s guest resides in Chicago and runs a very large logistics business called link. Luke Petherbridge hails from Australia, originally growing up in Sydney and forging his career locally at Rubicon and in Macquarie Bank during the GFC, our conversation provides a fantastic insight into a phenomenal success story Australia, as you know, punches well above its weight in both business and sports. So sit back and listen to how Luke from humble beginnings, rose to the top. Luke Petherbridge, welcome to the troubleshooters podcast. Thanks so much for having me. Michael. I really appreciate it. People won’t know this, but this is the third time of you and I trying to connect. We’ve had some technical difficulties, but we’ve delighted that you can hear me and I can hear you now, and we can get this podcast underway, which I’ve really been looking forward to having this conversation with you now.
Michael McGrath 01:11
I think it’s fair to say that you’re big in logistics, Luke, and ostensibly, what that means, I mean, you employ 1100 staff, just to put it in context. And I think you’ve got 9000 businesses that rent space from you. Tell us a bit about link. I know it’s backed by Blackstone, and it actually was founded in 2019 remarkably. So tell us a bit about Blackstone and link and what you do at the moment?
Luke Petherbridge 01:41
Yeah, no, absolutely. Well, you mean, you touched on a lot of great stats, then blink was really founded in 2019, we’re one of Blackstone’s many portfolio companies, so they’re our equity and partner in growing this business. But you know, we’re a real estate company. We are in US logistics warehouses. We’re one of the largest owners and operators in the country. And to give you an idea of scale, we have a little over 3000 and a half thousand buildings. You mentioned 9000 customers, which can range from the largest e commerce provider or fortune 500 companies down to the smallest little incubator that you know, and which always make me wonder just about the breadth and depth of the US economy, 1100 people. We have 60 offices. And the stat, which sort of gives you an idea, around about 5% of US GDP will float link building or link customer in our building, which gives you an idea like, we really take our position in the US economy and supporting the growth of the US economy and our customers really seriously. So it’s important, and I’m very fortunate to just be a little cog in what is a very, very incredible wheel.
Michael McGrath 03:01
Link specializes in what they call the kind of last mile. So tell us what that means.
Luke Petherbridge 03:06
Yeah, so if you think of, you know, everyone probably knows a warehouse. We think of warehouses, and I think the last mile really sort of accelerated here in the US, probably about a decade ago, warehouses, probably, you know, in the since the mid 1900s through, was very much just moving large goods around, putting it at a store. What really changed in sort of 2013 2014 was this phenomenon of E commerce, Amazon and Amazon Prime went past 50 million subscribers here in the United States, where we see a 22% to 24% is online. But the thing that’s really shifted is speed. So for me, commerce really started when I was 30, and this whole notion of buying something online and it being delivered to your door in a week was like mind boggling. It’s like, this is amazing, but now that in the here in the United States, in most big countries, most big cities, you can order it in the morning, and it’s there that afternoon, like most delivered within 24 hours. That growth Amazon says is like 30% it fastest growing business. They call it sub same day. So speed and execution of E commerce has really meant you can’t have a good sitting out in a large warehouse, way out in a in a rural location. It’s got to be infill. So our thesis has been accumulating and owning these infill last mile, close to rooftop facilities where workers live, where buyers live, and close to the retail nodes that sort of serve communities.
Michael McGrath 04:50
Yeah, it’s been a phenomenal journey that that online. You know, I remember in 2000 I mean, I’m old. Luke, you’re a lot younger than me, but I remember that, you know, everyone was predicting what was going to happen online. You know, we started out with websites, and then we were what was being predicted was all this e commerce, and it was massively over hyped for a long time. And then all of a sudden, the iPhone appeared, smartphone appeared, and everything changed. And it’s like, Aha. Now I know what you’re on about, and since then, well, you know, it’s phenomenal, isn’t it? I mean, did you How much did you say 25% is online?
Luke Petherbridge 05:31
It depends on the Yes, 22 to 25% of the US is online. The real covid became a huge accelerant and a change of consumer patterns. And I think, if you’ll agree, most research, it probably says by the end of the decade, that gets towards 30% online. It continues to grow. It’s no other reason we spoke about briefly. I’m going to drop my eldest son to college so he’s eight. He’s more digitally native than I ever was, and I am, yeah, and just as we age, as demographics age, the biggest buyer in their 30s are millennials. They’re going to buy more online than my era, than my parents era. So yeah, you know, time and aging will just mean this continues to swell, and the service has got dramatically better, like you can see where your packages are, gets delivered within 24 hours. That e commerce accelerant is just one of the many tailwinds that are sort of driving demand to last mile and logistics in general.
Michael McGrath 06:37
Yeah, yeah, that’s phenomenal. Look to those who are? I’m sure many of our listeners will have picked up the fact that you’ve got an Australian accent. So you hail from Australia. Yeah, we’re so you we’re talking today from Chicago. I presume that’s HQ, is it for Link Chicago? We Yeah, New York and Chicago are too big. Okay, cool. So tell us then, before we come back to link and that story, tell us. Tell us how you got started in business. And, yeah, what was growing up like, and what were the first signs that you were good at business loop that emerged, and when did they emerge?
Luke Petherbridge 07:15
Oh, wait for those first signs to appear. Now. Now, no false modesty. Luke, I grew up in Sydney. I grew up in Cherrybrook, so a suburb, it was awesome. I mean, you say the lucky country it is. I mean, I think Australia is just such a great place to grow up. I’m very much Australian still, and it’s a place we love to visit. My family’s there. My wife’s been there. So we love it. I went to Macquarie University. I started working at a big investment manager in investor relations, like dealing with investors, and then I went and worked for a small business that was a hedge fund that got into real estate and grew rapidly, but I got to work with the founder there was exceptionally driven and smart, and taught me so much was this Rubicon. It was Rubicon, yeah, that’s okay. And so you, you got there at 23 Yeah, in 2020 okay. And so you, you speak about a baptism of fire there. So tell us a bit about that, because I got into business at 23 and I had a different but similar baptism of fire, but talk to me about what that was like. Yeah, I think it’s, you know, I got to work with a very driven, focused founder who was, you know, exceptionally bright. And then he built a business. And, you know, when I first joined, I mean, it was in a small suite in Double Bay. And, you know, I do everything from get the mail and collect coffees to help write PDFs to raise money to help, you know, do book builds on IPOs, which we got to do over time we listed a US, a Japanese and a European REIT in Australia. But it was really that the opportunity was just to be around the hoop with just all this activity that was going on. I was three away. It was such a great era of business. But, you know, it was like intense and you work long hours and the demanded. I mean, I remember Gordon would say things like, you know, a jack of all trades are a master of everything, and don’t wait for tomorrow to do something today and everything matters, like everything from presentation style to format to wording to the way you these things that are instilled in you in very formative years. I probably honestly, didn’t appreciate the lessons I was being taught as much now, and I don’t think you ever do when you’re grinding and shoulder to the wheel. I don’t think you appreciate as much, but when you look back on it, it’s those lessons that really are the foundation stones to how you run and how you do things. I’m sure it’s the same is when you learn your lessons in your 20s, but I was very fortunate to have the opportunity. I had to make my own life being there and working hard, but I had a real opportunity to learn and 20 year olds my advice like, when you’re there, absorb as much as you possibly can, ask questions, test yourself, push yourself. And Rubicon was a real opportunity for me for five years.
Michael McGrath 10:24
Yeah, it’s interesting, that concept of learning, getting in a place where you’re going to learn a ton. It’s almost like the salary is a bit academic, if you can get into a place around some people. Those, as you said, that’s foundational, isn’t it, really, and and, you know, everything I’ve done is really, you know, it’s some way shape or form was born of that first five years, right? You said salary is academic. It’s so interesting how you define that. I think if you said to a 20 year old, you get paid in learning and and money. And when you’re in your 20s, you get paid a lot more in learning and not as much in money. Just value it. I, you know, Val the opportunity to learn. And, you know, I think I, at times, I absorbed it and I thought about it, but now I look back at it, it’s like, wow. I there was so much that I that period in my life that I apply every day, even today, which has been really helpful for my career. Luke, I love that twist on that old saying, jack of all trades, master of everything. I really I can kind of a little like It’s that constant, you know, pursuit of better is probably another one. Yeah. I mean, there’s a bit of hyperbole there, but there’s a truth in it. Isn’t that in terms of, you know, and that, ready, fire, aim, that, because effectively, you were building a business more than doing a job. There was a business being built. And I think there’s a distinction there.
Luke Petherbridge 11:54
I think that’s right. I think I was fortunate to be alongside the business builder and see the inner workings of how to build a business. And because, and not in this fail, you fail fast move on. But you know, just the the intent focus on everything matters, from the work using emails to the order to the full Manning of a person like these things are instilled. And by the way, so many great businesses in still listening, you go work at a big investment bank that’s exceptional. They install these things into you that at the time feel like rope learning or a grind, and then when you’re in your 40s, like I and you’re like, Wow, all these things just instilled in me, but the you know, one, learn, but two, the other thing, which I’ve been fortunate in my career, just work around great people that challenge and inspire you. If you do that, like, I didn’t sit there and say, I want to be in real estate. I didn’t sit there and say, I want to live in Chicago, like I just yeah, my path with working with great and inspiring people. And that’s, yeah, been very lucky in that sense.
Michael McGrath 13:03
Yeah, so, so where was the love of business and commerce? Was that nurtured in you through your degree at Macquarie? Well, where was it? Where you went? Okay, I I’m good at it. This is what I’m I’m gonna do.
Luke Petherbridge 13:17
Well, I wasn’t, I wouldn’t call myself a stellar student. I did it enough to get a degree. My dad, you know, he built his own accounting practice. He had 40 or 50 people like him, built a real business. I mean, he built and all my life, from where I remember as a kid, I could go on the weekend to get get things, or he was working on it, but he built a real business. So I think, yeah, just looking at the influence dad had on me and what he did my mom then work there for for a long period, and was really instrumental of my love of business. And, you know, commerce, I did commerce, Macquarie, but, you know, I think that’s really where it started, and it’s little things. And I would say even wanting to live overseas was my parents talking at a kitchen table about when they lived overseas and all these things. It’s just, it’s innate. When that, you know, earliest memories, I remember, you know, Dad building a business, talking about it, and hiring people, and it was, it was really interesting. So I think that’s probably where it started from. Where did the opportunity to go overseas come and how difficult was that to jump out? I mean, was that, you know, big? I know it’s a big move, but was that a big call, or were you just in? Do you know, so I worked, so I went from Rubicon to Macquarie Bank and worked on one of their satellite listed vehicles, and the partner was from Cleveland, called DDR, so a $15 billion shopping center rate. I joined Macquarie just before the GFC, I think two weeks before Lehman went under, is when I joined Macquarie. Macquarie. For those that aren’t bankers, it’s not a great time to join an investment bank right before a crisis. Great learning opportunity. I got to work out a vehicle and work with very smart people. Macquarie is exceptional. The board was great, but I got to know this partner, this JV partner, and their people. I used to travel to Cleveland a lot. And you know, when we sold it and wound it up, the CEO and the CFO, who I got to know really well, said, Would you ever think of moving to Cleveland? Now, for those that live in Sydney, I would say Sydney is the most beautiful city in the world. I’m a Sydney sider. I love it. It’s awesome. My joke is, Cleveland’s the second most beautiful Synod. It is not it’s a great Midwestern town. It’s nothing like Sydney. It’s on a lake which is beautiful. It has great people, but it snows a lot. The weather’s not like Sydney. But, you know, we just thought, why not? Let’s give it a go. Like, I think a mantra in my life has been open to Yes. Like, what’s the worst that happened? Try we had two little kids. Let’s go live in Cleveland for a few years. And if you don’t like it, we can come home, and then I’ll give my wife Chantelle, little credit for this, that she was probably a little bit more she lived in the UK as a gap year. And like, why don’t we do this? Let’s give it a go. And so, you know, it’s not easy to do. I’m not saying moving from anywhere is easy or anywhere, by the way. I mean your accent shows that you Moving is hard. It’s worked out phenomenally well for our family, for our individual selves, for my career, it’s been really great.
Michael McGrath 16:40
It does indicate a certain spirit, doesn’t it, of adventure and and so I get, I guess, a risk appetite. Where did the real estate expertise and kind of love a real estate where did that begin to germinate? Was that at Macquarie?
Luke Petherbridge 16:56
It was at Rubicon. We did three twisted vehicles that were all real estate. Okay, I got into real estate. Then Macquarie, I got into retail real estate, and helped run a business with der, and then moved to der, which got into, like the true operating platform, indeed, yet seven or 800 people, but, you know, became the CFO there over time, but it was like a real operator. You had a leasing team and accounting and property management and development, and that’s where, you know, that was a real opportunity to learn a real operating business and be fascinated by, you know, motivating people and working with great people and harnessing everyone’s individual skillset for a common goal. That was a real opportunity for me to learn that. And yeah, that was the first time I’d really been I mean, I worked at a quarry, but I worked in a silo. It’s where I had quite a large purview with a bunch of other I learned so much from a great number of just how to be a good leader and inspire people and communicate with people, I think was
Michael McGrath 18:05
You mentioned that, you mentioned the GFC and not been a great time, you know, to do what you were doing. I started in M and A in the GFC as well. So I had a pretty lean couple first couple of years, let me tell you, but you mentioned that it was 2019 which is that sort of pre covid period where you got link going and you got the gig there. So tell me about that, that kind of, you know, from a troubleshooting point of view, right? I mean, coming back after Christmas in 2019 I remember it well. And the whole pandemic thing was emerging. We were googling the word pandemic. I mean, how did you tackle that, and what was the experience like?
Luke Petherbridge 18:47
Yeah. So I, when I left DDR, I started a firm called SHOP Call with Blackstone, which is a retail real estate business. Then I moved to live call, which is multifamily, or built to rent, is what they call it in Australia. So I went into covid, running those businesses, and then a year into covid, maybe six months into covid, they, they asked me, Would I step into link? And I moved to link. It was a lot bigger. It was a real challenge, like even just think about managing a platform or a team. So forget about the issues of, are we collecting rent? Are we looking after customers? How do we lose space without seeing people in this pandemic world? Imagine trying to run a team. We hired 400 500 people during covid. All these everything was virtual. I think caught me, honestly, is the resilience of the human right, like just our ability resilient and resourceful and solve things and things we thought we’d never have to solve, like pricing rents or, you know, managing move ins with customers and, you know, unlike Australia, the US. Said various different covid protocols. Every state was very different, so you have to manage that. But what I found was, if you, if you hire great people and surround yourself with great people, they invariably come up with really unique solutions to big problems. But you know, for our business, being in industrial or warehouse and logistics. There was this first moment where everything became, wow, what does this mean for the world and GDP? And then it was this effectively a like a rocket ship, because everything went online. We need more inventory in the United States. You still remember that image of all those teams the court of Los Angeles trying to get in good. So it became this a massive accelerant for our business to onshore manufacturing, to serve safety stock. So our business went through like a two or three year Piper boom. So you’re building a business and sort of caught fire in a very positive way. At, you know, we started finding, yeah, we got to really do some great things here.
Michael McGrath 21:08
Yeah, that’s amazing. I mean, there were definitely winners and losers. Weren’t there. And, you know, if you were in the airline business, I remember virgin here had a billion dollars in cash in March. They were broke six months later. I mean, that there was some real kind of some real problems for certain sectors, and then other sectors, like you said, online, just went through the roof.
Luke Petherbridge 21:29
Yeah, and then there was all these businesses that started trying to take advantage of that or serve the customer more. Amazon has been a leader. Walmart’s been a leader. They’re doubling down on this? They’re growing still at, you know that last mile, some some sub same days, like growing at double digits, more than double digits, even today. So, yeah, really changed consumer patterns. It changed where people live, like this, Sun Belt acceleration happened during and post covid. So there’s been big shifts in the US that, you know, we’re now staying the test of time and so building a business around that
Michael McGrath 22:09
As we come out of that now. I mean, I can’t believe it’s five years ago now already, but, and it almost seems like a blur,to be honest with you, but you don’t have to be living in the US to observe the political polarization that’s interesting, that we’ve got a second term of Trump and we’ve had a lot of choppiness around tariffs and stuff. So how’s that affecting you? And how are you guys thinking about and managing the whole kind of tariff volatility?
Luke Petherbridge 22:37
Yeah, I think you know, the thing I would say to that is, the world is dynamic. Things change, whether you have tariffs, whether you have a boat going sideways in the Suez Canal that shuts down GDP flow, whether it’s port strikes. I think you know, the supply chain globally in every country, is a little fragile, and it’s constantly trying to what we’ve tried to do is we try to help our customers navigate changing landscapes that could be consumer changes. It could be GDP change. It could be political changes. So we really just take the view of the long term, view of owning great real estate for our customers to operate in today and tomorrow, and then provide solutions wherever we can. As they Some businesses are going to grow in this like manufacturing is accelerating. You know, there’s a lot of data centers being built, but those, all those components, need to sit in a warehouse, solar, batteries, EVs, and there’ll be other businesses that need to shrink. So we constantly trying to toggle and I would say over the next decade, 2030, years, the last 50, there’s just always cross currents and changes occurring. And we try to do, you know, work with our customers to navigate that the best we can.
Michael McGrath 23:54
Yes, it’s interesting that, I mean the in some ways, the mid market, which many of our listeners are running relatively small businesses that they kind of live with this choppiness and change. It’s kind of part of the MO that you know that, in fact, one of the strengths of a small business is its ability to flex and change and adapt. And you know, if it can’t lose that, because that’s his greatest defense, I think, against these larger competitors, who are typically a bit they’re stronger and bigger, but they’re often slower, but it sounds like, you know, you guys are reasonably nimble, and you take a fairly pragmatic view of, I mean, change is the only constant, right?
Luke Petherbridge 24:39
I think that’s a great phrase, change is the only constant, and you try to be as nimble and as flexible. And really, we all have a customer work around our customer, but we try that doesn’t mean we’re perfect at it. As you get big, you end up with bureaucracy like you try to avoid that. You come up with rigidity, like you really try to be as nimble. And I do think.
Luke Petherbridge 25:00
know, as you think of mid market terms, I think of the customers that are in our building, this is exactly the sort of people that your listeners are. These are these small to middle sized enterprises that are building a widget, whether they’re fixing every bag, like, if your bag breaks on an airline, you ship it to a facility, a linked facility, there’s a business that looks at it, fixes it, or replaces it, or every averse wrap is printed in a link facility. There’s all these businesses, and this unifying thing is they’re all these dynamic businesses that are constantly managing and flexing for changing conditions. And I think resiliency of small business, both in the US, in Australia, I’d say globally, is the backbone of a lot of our GDP. A lot of the global GDP is these small businesses. So we write our own buildings that they can operate in, and we try to make it as easy and user friendly,
Michael McGrath 25:57
I suppose. I mean, I’ve had a 40 year career effectively, and, you know, I’ve kind of mapped the digital you know, we’ve gone from no computers on the desk, you know, no mobile phones, to we’ve, you know, we’ve mapped that. And we’ve now seen the largest five corporations in the world are all weren’t around effectively 50 years ago, and now they’re the largest five. So, I mean, that that’s been a phenomenal thing to watch and observe, but many would say we’re still at the beginning of this kind of digital age. And what are your thoughts on AI? Everyone’s talking about AI at the moment as a as a huge catalyst for further dynamic change?
Luke Petherbridge 26:39
Yeah. I mean, I think it’s hard for any business not to think through it. I think we are trying to challenge ourselves with it and embrace it where we can. I have sort of my thinking probably will evolve as well, but I think of it in three broad buckets. I think of AI being able to support what or robotic process automation. So getting rid of the lower value tasks, automating those which we’ve been doing like this has been doing for a long time, whether it’s using in your accounting software, Adobe, DocuSign, all of that stuff, and then using AI around that will just help you become more productive. As a firm focus on higher value components of what we do. So we’re doing that. Then the next one would be cognitive engagement. So the way we sift through our data in the way we can deal with the customer, or the way we can actually get insights back to our employees. So how, how’s the human interaction with the platform and what we do, whether it’s our chat bot, whether it’s the way you can bring up data or use an agent to help you work with the customer. And then the third one would be cognitive insights, which is where, you know, we are one of the largest owners of industrial real estate in the country. We have so much data from leases to customer insights to what they’ve said and to brag, these insights out to be a better partner and better real estate for our customers to do better at. So they’re the three areas where I’d say early inning. I think you’re exactly right. We’re in the early innings of this sort of, I’d say, revolution, but we’re constantly learning and testing and trying things, and things work really well. And some things, you know, we’re sort of, we’re waiting for technology, or, you know, a tool, to sort of catch up with us. Yeah,
Michael McGrath 28:37
just reflect for us. On, on, you know, what would some of your big milestones be? I mean, at link, but generally that where you’ve you’ve made some good calls. And when you look back and you get that perspective you spoke about earlier, you go, wow, that that was a good call in a difficult situation
Luke Petherbridge 28:56
when I was at McCoy, I think it’d be hard not to sort of saying, what was the lessons learned in the biggest financial challenge of my lifetime, the GFC? I think when I look back at that, you know, this business was under immense pressure. It was listed, there was a huge amount of pressure on it from banks. I think that the biggest thing there, which, we sort of hung in there and solved it and got the business sold. Eventually, it was like, just don’t give up. I really, and I remember a board member, Bob Jos was on the board. He’s got, I think he was on the board of city. He was the dean of Stanford at the time. I remember him calling me one night like crazy, late. He was in San Francisco, but it was late in Sydney, and he’s like, character is forged in crisis. So these moments that are really hard is where you determine you can build your own character, and what can you do? So I think that was a huge opportunity there. I think one. I had the opportunity to lead DDR and go and build shock, or I can remember that distinctly, where they you know, I had a chance to build a firm. And really it was like you emerged a bunch of things together. I got to re architect everything. I didn’t know if I could do it. I’d never been a CEO of an operating platform. But you know, I think that formative moment of learning and and being okay to fail like it’s over, you get things wrong. I think leaders, and you know, particularly senior leaders, feel like they can’t have errors. I’d say the things you learn in the most difficult situations is the ones that probably are most lasting. So being okay to test and fail on things and then where you sort of and shop. Core built a very customer centric business because we care about the retailer and the retailers customers and live core was very data centric. That’s the way you can run 80,000 apartments. Is very data heavy, and then at Lincoln was trying to merge those two components together into a business that was very transactional. We’ve been, we’ve been fortunate on that. That doesn’t mean I don’t bump into things and get things wrong. And we have to backtrack and go down another fork in the road that, you know, we probably, you know, we’ve really sort of touched ourselves, but the commonalities surround someone with great people and great things will happen.
Michael McGrath 31:27
It’s interesting that you mentioned persistence there, because that’s our number one value here at Oasis partners. And yeah, we’re constantly reminded of the need to just keep at it. Yeah, I remember Churchill apparently spoke at the Oxford Union, and he just walked on the stage and just stood there and just said, Never, ever, ever, ever give up, and then walked off. Gosh, that innovation. That’s all he said.
Luke Petherbridge 31:54
He’s, I mean, he’s like one of the most inspirational leaders in history. But there is an element of truth to that. I think, you know, I think it’s never give up or persistence, just keep keep at it. Keep moving, keep going. Sometimes you’ll be going backwards. Just keep going. The other thing I would tell my 21 year old self, when that situation is happening, that is your best opportunity to learn the most, like keep your eyes wide open and learn the most. It’s when things are really challenging is where you can learn the most. I’d say, you know, although the world was cool, we did so much. I remember kind of learn a lot. Macquarie taught me so much, because it was the worst cycle part of the cycle. But I think when things are really hard is when you can learn the most that that is probably the moment that you naturally are trying to just shelter and just keep your head down and be like, please let it go past. I think the greatest leaders that sort of eventuate are the ones that when the when they’re in the teeth of the wind, are like, I’m not going to give up, and I’m actually going to learn more and outperform, because they’re the lessons I’ll use later in life in a different situation. I think they’re the people that are.
Michael McGrath 33:12
I mean, I think, you know, one of the illusions is that success is a straight line up and, you know, we, you know we, we get, you know, we get presented with these situations in the media where everything looks like it was an overnight success. And I think that, you know, we’ve got to teach our kids, and you know about resilience and about these the life is hard. You know, I remember the first line of Scott Peck’s book The Road Less Traveled. His life is hard. And if I remember nothing else in that book, I remember that first line, which is, okay, I got to own that it’s not it’s not easy, and you don’t have to speak to people for very long without coming in touch with the fact that life is hard.
Luke Petherbridge 33:50
Yeah. I mean, you, you talk about all these mid market firms, if it was easy, everyone would do it. And I mean they, they every day. I mean, if you come around link and you and we toured our facilities, you get to see all these businesses, these companies that are in space from us. They’re every day like these challenges every day in these businesses, and they turn up and they keep and that, that resilience, I think, is admirable, and it’s what makes Australia great, what makes the US great, what makes businesses great, what makes leaders great. But yeah, it’s it was really an easy everyone to do it and challenge, I think creates the opportunity. Like, when there’s a challenge, like, you have the opportunity to outperform, do something different, create a new solution. I think the exciting time,
Michael McGrath 34:43
Lou, you’ve got a one of the largest fund managers is your capital partner there at link, and I presume you report to them in some way, shape or form. You’ve got a board and stuff. Tell me how you manage when things haven’t gone to plan and you’re having to show up and. Fess up, really? Yeah.
Luke Petherbridge 35:02
I mean, one Blackstone, you’re right that they’re one of the largest alternative asset managers in the world, one of the largest real estate owners that we sit in their real estate business is, I’d say we just be overly transparent, like we really, yeah, it’s totally fine to say this. We tried this. It didn’t work. They’re integral in our business. I see them as partners. We all see them as partners. We make decisions jointly, together on things. They’re very supportive in the business growth. They’ve been wonderful to work with. All three. I’ve really taken the view of they don’t expect me to be perfect. We strive any better all the time, but we push to try to find new things to do, and we can fail and and we’re very and then and then again, though, I think the thing they would impart on us would be that didn’t work. Why didn’t it work? Let’s not forget the lesson and move forward. So I think they’ve been, I don’t have like, I’d say giving them bad news has been relatively easy, because they’re like, great. Now what, how do we learn from this? What was the lessons? How do we adjust the strategy going forward?
Michael McGrath 36:11
You’re clearly an outstanding operator, and congratulations to you. It’s phenomenal to see an Australian go to the states and and run a business like this. We would love to see you back here, by the way, but I’m not sure that’s going to happen anytime soon, but, but you’ve got a great humanity about you. Tell us a bit about CoreGiving, because what’s incredible to me that in the US in 2025 as many as one in six children are kind of undernourished. Talk to us about that.
Luke Petherbridge 36:42
You know, I think philanthropy globally is a big thing. It’s huge in the US companies do it. I think all corporates, we as companies. Blackstone does, you know, we own real estate in communities. And I think it’s our onus and our job to lead communities better than we found them. And at shop core, we sort of set up this foundation, or this philanthropy called CoreGiving, and we now have 14 portfolio companies that are partners, our vendors, our employees. And you’re right, like the sad state of fact is like one in five children don’t know where their next meal is coming from. So if, the way, I personally associate, because it’s a very personal thing, when you think of this, if you if you think of like a long weekend, the Kings long weekend in Australia, now, not the Queen’s long weekend, you’d be so I’d be so excited not to have to go to school on Monday. There’s a number like one in six kids in the US don’t want that week. They get fed at school, and that’s a huge thing. So we built this foundation and this charity, and there’s so many people that are involved in it, and over the last five years, years with local food banks, we’ve delivered 80 to 90 we funded 80 to 90 million meals around the country. We have like, three or 4000 people every year turn up to volunteer on call Giving Day. It’s now coming to Australia, with our partner down there, 151, property, and we manage. But it’s something that really the firms at link and then the other blacks have it. We’ve united against this one cause, this one common myth, but I think it really comes back to this is the one. There’s so many great causes to get the whole but I just think we want to help our communities. We want to help those that need help. And this is just one of the ways that we’ve been able to do it, and it’s something that we will again. Don’t give up. We’re going to persistently work to try to end childhood hunger.
Michael McGrath 38:47
I mean, just because you can’t solve it all doesn’t mean you shouldn’t try, does it? I mean, that’s the point. We’ve got to do what we can. One of our guys, Derek, went to the Philippines recently, and we funded him and gave him some money, and he was helping a local minister there who’s feeding 1100 kids a week just a bowl of rice and an egg, right? And it completely changed Eric. It’s moved him. And we’ve we’re now formalizing that charity here, and we’re gonna we, we’re just not prepared to to do it as a one off, like, that’s a problem that
Luke Petherbridge 39:24
that’s amazing. One send me that charity. I’d love to support it, but it’s awesome. And I think if, and by the way, it’s not just link, and it’s not just Python, like so many corporates and individuals give time and money and effort to sort of help this, and I think it makes it makes our communities better. It makes the world better, you know, and this is our little niche. We’re really sort of working on it. And every year, more people give to the charity. More people want to volunteer with our charity through local food banks. It’s like, call Giving Day. Is one of my favorite days of the year. It’s. Good for my soul. It’s good for our firm. It’s really been very special. And I’m again, I’m being so lucky just to be part of it. It’s been awesome.
Michael McGrath 40:09
Excellent look, Luke, that’s been fantastic. I know you’re busy. I’m very grateful for your time today. Just a few quick questions before we sign off. So what’s your favorite place in the world, Luke,
Luke Petherbridge 40:18
it’s hard not to say, Sydney Australia. I do like the IRA paid. It’s Sydney Australia. It’s home. I love it. I miss it. I miss Australia. I feel I miss you mom, like I miss
Michael McGrath 40:29
hopefully she’ll listen to this. I mean, my mom does as much of interest. But so what about a book? Have you read a book that’s inspired you, that you’d recommend, if there’s anything jump out,
Luke Petherbridge 40:43
the two that sort of Good to Great is a great book. It really instills the first, The Who, then the what. So hire people. Great people do great things. That’s been a theme. The other one, that’s an easier read than that, which I think just shows humility, is Shoe Dog. Phil Knight story, right? What a great book. Yeah. Phil Knight, that one, it just when you think of Nike, and you just hear how he built this humbleness inside this building where they moved, like, I still remember, like they were a huge firm, and they’d all turn up and they move offices like the employees move to save money. Peter, they just the humility of this, I think is, like those two books have resonated. I’m read them for a long time, but two things that,
Michael McGrath 41:33
no, no, it’s a great read Shoe Dog, isn’t it? Yeah, thanks for that. So and then, what would you say to 21 year old Luke, If you could go back and you had, I’m not sure 21 year old Mike would listen to Mike, but on the off chance you might listen, what would you say to him?
Luke Petherbridge 41:51
I’d say what? I’m not sure if you’d listen. I think really three things. One, just be curious. Curious minds solve big problems, like just be curious learning. Always learn. The second one is, be open to Yes, like if someone offers you a job in Cleveland, Ohio, yes, don’t say no straight away. But just be if someone offers you a lateral move, not a vertical move, be open to Yes. Be open to Yes. And then the last thing is, just be positive. Like, just be a positive, like, have a positive demeanor and an optimist and positive, you know, I just think of my kids or myself. You want to be around positive energy and positive people. And it’s just, I think, so it’s be curious, be able to Yes, be positive.
Michael McGrath 42:40
Isn’t that great? Look, you’re right. You know, laughter is medicine for the soul. I think so. If I’ve done one thing, I’ve tried to make my kids laugh, they’ve heard most of the jokes these days. But I doesn’t stop me. Doesn’t stop me saying them, Luke. But look, I think the free market has been a great place to play for me, and it sounds like for you as well, Luke and I like the idea we’ve got to be positive. The free market isn’t free, by the way, we stand on the shoulders of giants, don’t we, and in the liberal democracies of the West, we get to play. And if we’re positive and constructive and curious, like you said, good things can happen. That’s right,
Luke Petherbridge 43:21
You’ve got to work for it, but good things, you put yourself in a position to make good things happen
Michael McGrath 43:25
For sure. Yeah, Luke, it’s been a pleasure. Thank you. And when you’re over in Australia, maybe at Christmas, I’d love to have a coffee with you.
Michael McGrath 43:33
Absolutely look forward to it. That’d be great. Okay, take care, Luke. Thank you.
Michael McGrath 43:41
So there you have it. I love Luke’s positive have a go attitude with his emphasis on curiosity and persistence. And if that’s not enough, it’s okay to make mistakes. In fact, mistakes are somewhat inevitable, providing we take all the lessons from them. Now, a quick shout out to our show sponsor, Oasis partners find out why more and more owners of Australian private companies are choosing to have Oasis represent them, contact Don Hunton, the CEO, for a confidential chat. Finally, if you liked today’s episode, be sure to share it with your friends and colleagues, and if you’re feeling really generous, leave us a comment. Only nice ones please, as we’re very sensitive, so until next time you.
Link to previous episodes: https://www.oasispartners.com.au/troubleshooters-podcast/