Kay Salvair Smith

In her own words

I have often wondered how different my career would have been if I had been exposed to somebody with a career like mine now, when I was at university.  I was the only woman in my cohort who survived the first semester, and it was very blokey.  I was also the only woman for the first three years with my next woman colleague studying the degree four years after I did (lucky it was a five year degree so we connected). I strongly believe it is important to give young women exposure to different types of opportunities, diversity of experiences and potential careers at university; it can look different as a woman.  I was very fortunate to have a champion at Civil & Civic in Canberra, who was also the senior Development Manager and who gave me good advice and support.  Civil & Civic (LendLease) also supported me with one of their first of two undergraduate scholarships and on-site project experience.

I am curious by nature and have always been attracted to complexity. My five-year degree had a combination of engineering, construction economics, law, management, organisational psychology and leadership and I chose it because I identified that it would give me the skills to manage big, complex projects. I like the challenge of the difficult because it is so rewarding when you get it right and I am naturally a problem solver.

You have to believe in yourself to learn what you need to be successful, and you have to keep trying. The moment you stop and question yourself you’ll lose the confidence or resilience to take the next steps and move forward. I have always had a desire to be better, to learn more, to question – what could I improve and do differently?

Earlier in my career when I became an in-house principal in an advisory firm, along with another woman colleague and friend, in an organisation of approximately 90 male principals, I took on an internal challenge to lead (with an enthusiastic team) the graduate and undergraduate program and the firm’s leadership development initiatives, including mentoring for senior women. I used this opportunity to expand and pilot programs, specifically addressing some of the challenges women in the firm were challenged with. With the support of the firm, I established and participated in a mentoring program for senior women, and was matched with leading businesswoman, Barbara Cail AO, the founding President of Chief Executive Women (definitely a pinch me moment).

She gave me valuable insights into the business world, outside of my sphere of major complex projects, broadened my thinking, my horizons and my network and taught me some good life lessons. She was a huge advocate of writing things down by hand, on paper; journalling, reflecting, and pausing and her advice was centred around humanity and humility. It was a huge personal learning experience. I learnt about the importance of making connections throughout your career and staying true to yourself and your values.

When I started in my career the only women leaders, I saw were either in government roles or on the legal side of the deals and transactions of the projects we were procuring, executing and delivering. If there was ever a meeting in a law firm for a project I was acting on, and I wasn’t directly involved, I would put my hand up and ask if I could attend, take notes and listen to the conversation and use these amazing women as role models. When I became a Partner at MinterEllison another Partner said she had remembered me attending some of these project meetings 13 years earlier! 

You have to find the people who inspire you with their style and how they do certain things, their personal awareness, their humanity and humility and your role model can be a composition of people. That is what I ended up with – a tapestry of inspiring women and a network of amazing women colleagues.

Building climate resilience

With each piece of infrastructure delivered we must consider technology, the environment and sustainability in our decisions and the wellbeing and benefit to the users, to give people across our society equitable opportunity, particularly in regional and remote communities. Interconnectivity, real-time knowledge to make mobility easy to navigate and safety are critical.

There is a lot of talk about mobility as a service aligned with autonomy, but I am actually thinking that we will see through this change considerable innovation around building climate resilience. In Switzerland they are trialling solar in track networks and on a recent study tour in the United States I saw the use of 3D printers to provide temporary infills for potholes, something we in Australia could have used post floods. 

This convergence of technology and innovation around climate resilience as we decarbonise is for me one of the most exciting things and will help us with the challenges of resource capacity, improve our mobility options and safety.

Focus on your impact

I was given two valuable pieces of advice that I share with others. The first came from a boss when I was starting my career who said: ‘Don’t ever let being a woman be a disadvantage. Do whatever it takes to get the door open. That is not important. What really matters is what you do when your foot is in the door and you can walk through – it’s the influence, impact, and outcomes you can drive.’

The second piece of advice was given to me when I was going back to work with one child at school, one in a creche and juggling my career, family and homelife. A woman with twins told me to go out and get as much help as I could afford. I adopted her approach and for a few years my career was all about my salary meeting my childcare and household support needs. It was great, practical advice I have since given to a number of people, it was like someone gave me permission – I’m not sure why I thought I had to take it all on myself – everyone needs a great team after all.

In my mentoring work as part of the Roads Australia Fellows Program I help men and women hone in on their goals, be strategic about their career and build a plan so it absolutely clear to them what their best choices are. Usually the mentees have an audacious goal, but not a clear path towards achieving it. They want help to get strategic about their direction and a good sounding board to explore their ideas and concerns confidentially and safely. My advice to my mentees is to also be generous with others.  We all remember Madeline Albright’s famous saying about women who don’t support other women.