Tim McKinnon on backing yourself, perspectives, culture, the LAWD journey and Rural Leadership

G'day and welcome back to the Humans of Agriculture podcast. This week, I'm on Yuggerra and Turrbal country and I'd like to pay my respects to their elders past, present and future generations. To paint the picture of where we are, we're up at the Ekka in Brisbane, after a couple of years away from the main ring, it is all back and happening! We're standing at the back of the grandstand overlooking the cattle ring. My next guest is Tim McKinnon, Tim is a Senior Director with LAWD and is a leader valuer for Australian rural properties. Like many of our guests, Tim's involvement in agriculture started at a young age on his family's dairy farm in SW Vic. Tim and I chat about his early career aspirations - the dream to become a stock and station agent, heading to the big city lights of Melbourne to study a property course and how that opportunity opened the door for him.As one of the founders of LAWD, we chat about the priorities of the business in the early days and how they began to build their team and culture, the importance of backing yourself, the learnings from a new board and setting the standards for what the business could be, not what it was. I enjoyed chatting about the Australian Rural Leadership program with Tim and how this has helped shape his perspectives, a bigger question around belonging and working in agriculture from a capital city and finally his advice to year 10 students. Tim McKinnon started life on a dairy farm in South Western Victoria. Like many farm kids, Tim lived for the time on the farm whether that was before or after school or during school holidays. Today, Tim is a Senior Director with LAWD. In this chat, while we're standing overlooking the cattle ring, Tim and I chat about that journey from farm kid, the role of mentors, what his experience was like with the Australian Rural Leadership Program, and the opportunity to be in the early stages of creating a business alongside some of the leaders in the agriculture industry. If this is your first time listening to our podcast, we're on a mission to find out more about our food system from the people involved with it and each week we sit down with people from all walks of life and chat about their life and their journey. This episode of Humans of Agriculture is proudly brought to you by Rabobank, Australia's Most Recommended Agribusiness Bank for three consecutive years running.*Exciting news - Applications for the Rabobank Rural Community Hub Program are now open, Rabobank is awarding 10 grants of $10,000 to help improve rural community hubs and halls across regional Australia.These important community spaces play a vital role in bringing people together, strengthening connections, and supporting the wellbeing of regional communities.If your local hall or community hub could benefit from funding, now is the time to apply. Applications close on 30 August 2026.To learn more and apply, visit rabobank.com.au.*RFI Global Australian Banking & Finance Awards