In this very special series of exclusive articles for the Property Chronicle, Australian property legend Norman Harker reflects on his extraordinary 50-year life in real estate. He will pull no punches partly because, as he freely admits, Norman has a limited life expectancy of five years from December 2018 due to a diagnosed terminal blood cancer, which he has cheerfully accepted in preference to (in his words) “kicking the bucket without notice”. We are honoured he has chosen us to publish these brilliant, funny and incisive reflections of a lifetime in property.
Chapter 10: biblical approach to promotion – or, how I accidentally landed on the fast track
!!!Health warning!!! Do not try this method without considering the very high probability of failure.
At the end of the last chapter, I was getting a reputation. It wasn’t the one I wanted, which was the one enjoyed by my flatmate as a ‘go-to man’, but rather that of a problem solver.
Although now working in different departments, Phil Newmark and I shared a flat. We had got on extremely well when he was being trained up. He appreciated my ‘deep end’ approach and was clearly from the same type of sado-masochistic school as me. I thought my school was unique in this quality in Britain. It was! I had developed mine at Colchester Royal Grammar School (CRGS) in south-east England. His sado-masochism was learned at Trinity College Dublin.
Sado-masochistic educational institutions: Colchester Royal Grammar School and Trinity College Dublin
Infamous graduates: me and Bram Stoker
I had fluked entry to (all-male) CRGS thanks to my being a baby boomer and getting into the bottom of a new fifth stream after a second chance interview. I got this because a walk of two miles through 18 inches of snow was thought to have affected my entry exam. This was not quite the case!
I had actually walked two miles along a snow-free beach and half a mile up a cleared path. At the interview I recall reading and knowing how to pronounce ‘débris’ and what it was. I worked out 17 x 17 in my head by using (10 x 17) + (7 x 10) + (7 x 7). I’d always been encouraged to read at home because it kept me quiet. I loved mental arithmetic because I was mental myself.
I disappointed the school by opting to study property and be qualified academically for an actual job. I wanted to catch up with mates who had left school and were picking up money, cars and girls.
CRGS was the second-highest ranked school in Britain. After I left, it achieved the top ranking. The ‘post hoc, ergo propter hoc’ (after this, therefore because of this) logical fallacy isn’t always a fallacy.
I wanted to catch up with mates who had left school and were picking up money, cars and girls
I kept out of Sir John Ritblat’s (JHR) way by always being on valuations of properties as far away from the office as they could send me. That came to an end when I had to value a portfolio of properties owned by JHR’s company and where I would have to sign off the valuation for Stock Exchange and RICS purposes.
It came to discussing the 20 or so valuations with JHR.
JHR: “You must be mad! Liverpool’s worth double your figure.”
NJH: “Not without planning consent, which is contrary to the Local Development Plan and requires approval of the People’s Republic of Liverpool City Council, who hate property developers.”
JHR: “You’ll have to change it.”
………
JHR: “You must be mad! Newcastle’s worth £300,000 at least. It’s next to the new town centre scheme, you idiot.”
NJH: “But there’s no agreement to your linking with it and it’s next to the service part rather than the retail part.”
JHR: “You’ll have to change it.” (This became his stock conclusion with most property valuations.)
…………
After much haranguing, JHR had his list of valuations that he needed.
NJH: “All right, John, here are all your valuations and I’ll write them all into the report… [pause]… but you can read Genesis 1:28 and you can [expletive deleted] sign it. Because I [expletive deleted] won’t!”
JHR: Stood up. Walked round the desk and puts his arm around my annoyed shoulder. “Norman! You’re getting upset.”
NJH: “Yes! I won’t put my name to figures that I don’t believe in.”
JHR: “I’ll get Jim in British Land to talk to you.”
NJH: “Okay! I’m always willing to listen to other opinions.”
I left the room knowing that telling the boss to “be fruitful and increase in number” was a career-ending move and started thinking whether other firms’ bosses might like a valuer who told them same.
Quoting the Bible to your boss
I spoke to Jim at British Land and I was persuaded, with new information, that some figures could be increased. Remember the dictum of John Maynard Keynes – the great economist: “If facts change, I change my opinion. What do you do?”
Caricature of John Maynard Keynes by David Low in 1934
Later, I received a letter inviting me and nine others to become associate partners. I thought it was a practical joke but got phone calls from others and realised that my name had just been added by accident.
On meeting JHR, I said: “I thought that my days were numbered after our argument.” “But Norman! I was just playing with your private parts to see what you were made of. I want people like you on my team, not in some other practice. Your opinions and integrity are both known and respected.”
!!!Health warning!!! Do not try this method without considering the very high probability of failure.
