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There are upsides and downsides to being part of a family business. Angus Kennard (EMBA 鈥�16) knows them well. Kennard is the CEO of the iconic Australian business Kennards Hire. Family owned, it began in Bathurst, regional NSW, in 1948 when grandfather Walter rented out a concrete mixer to a customer who asked to borrow it from his equipment retail business.

Riding the post-war building boom, the company found success and now operates more than 170 branches in Australia and New Zealand, with a property holding to support the business. There is also Kennards Storage, which is a separate business, owned by cousins.

Since the start, Kennard family members have been the backbone of the company, though being a Kennard doesn鈥檛 come with the assurance of a job. Angus and his siblings had to spend five years working elsewhere before being employed by Kennards Hire. For Angus, that meant selling products ranging from magazine advertising to photocopiers, before joining the Brookvale branch of Kennards Hire in Sydney.

Fast-forward to 2016 when the CEO job came up. Angus had been raising a family, developing a love of聽rally driving (he鈥檚 just finished his 13th tarmac rally event) and helping to run the business. He wasn鈥檛 a shoo-in for the role; an interview panel grilled him on how he would lead a family-run business before he was聽offered聽the job.

Now working with a brother who is on staff managing聽the property side, and a sister who is on the聽company鈥檚 board, Kennard acknowledges this means聽that some decisions come with an 鈥渆motional layer鈥�. 鈥淚t works though, because I love and respect them聽all dearly.鈥�

Valuing family could also be why Kennards gives top priority to its staff, and in the most practical ways. Earlier in 2018, Kennards Hire unexpectedly gave its 1530 staff a share in a total $7 million bonus. Full-time employees who had been with the company for two years or more each received around $6300.

鈥淭echnology is increasingly important, but people聽come first,鈥� says Kennard. 鈥淎 lot of our people are like family.鈥�

Kennard himself is not a hard-nosed corporate type. Photographs in the many business publications that have noticed him, capture his easy smile, but in聽person there is a reserve and humility that belies his quick success at the head of a large and ambitious聽company.

Starting the job one month after completing an , Kennard says the degree has been instrumental to that success, helping him grasp that the current business environment of disruption and the shared economy means Kennards Hire has to adapt.

鈥淭he business had done really well over a couple of decades, which came with some hubris,鈥� he admits. 鈥淭he Executive MBA opened my eyes.鈥�

He also appreciated the international components of the program, which sent him to India, Silicon Valley, London and France: 鈥淚 didn鈥檛 want to just have my head in the books. I wanted to expose myself to experiential learning elements.鈥�

With one eye firmly on the future, Kennard and his staff are always looking out for new equipment to add to their offering. He is also complementing Kennards鈥� 鈥渕ile聽wide, inch deep鈥� business model, where stores offer lots of products that are easy to use, with an 鈥渋nch聽wide, mile聽deep鈥� strategy.

鈥淚t's about providing solutions rather than just renting equipment,鈥� he says. 鈥淔or example, we can now hire out equipment for lifting bridges, and provide the specialist engineers needed to operate it.鈥�

As the organisation evolves it helps that Kennards isn鈥檛 driven by dividend-hungry shareholders looking for instant returns. 鈥淚 think we can make decisions that can hit us in the short term but are better for the long term,鈥� says Kennard.

An insight into what makes Kennards Hire different from other large businesses can be found at their busy Artarmon branch in Sydney, very near where Kennard himself has an office. Beyond the large rental display area are two orderly rooms full of old but well-cared-for equipment, together with Kennard family photos and fully restored 1950s work vehicles, painted Kennard corporate red and polished to perfection.

There are no obvious signs identifying it, but it鈥檚 called 鈥榯he museum鈥� and it鈥檚 where the business history is kept. When asked about what the collection represents, Kennard says simply, 鈥淩espect for legacy."

Written by Jocelyn Prasad
Photography by Stefanie Zingsheim