Celebrating Achievement: Highlights from the Inaugural ADM 30 under 30 Awards

Recently an opportunity arose for McKay to be Silver Sponsor of the Australian Defence Magazines’ 30 Under 30 competition. This is an exciting new initiative, which acknowledges the achievement of 30 individuals under the age of 30, across the Australian Defence sector both from within and industry supporting the armed forces. The inaugural presentation was held on 6 March 2024 at the National Portrait Gallery, Canberra, Australia.

So early on Wednesday 6 March, myself, Martin Cameron (Manager – NZDF Marine) and Tristan Hunt (Project Manager – NZDF Marine), met up at Auckland International Airport and started our two flight trip to Canberra. Fortunately, our flights went without any hassle, and we arrived safely in Canberra around midday local time. Given the proximity to month end we all then scrambled for a few hours to make up for the time lost to travelling, before meeting up again to head to the event.

Canberra is an interesting place and not really like any other city in New Zealand or Australia. It is very quiet and calm, with a lot of grand buildings, monuments and lush open spaces. The event was being held at the National Portrait Gallery which again was a highly architecturally designed building and very well suited to host the event.

The keynote speaker for the night was Natalee Johnston. She talked through her experiences and challenges not only as a young aspiring pilot in the Royal Australian Navy but also navigating a heavily male dominated field as a woman. She holds the enviable record of being the first female pilot in the Royal Australian Navy and had a naval career that spanned 24 years across many roles including; a helicopter pilot, flying instructor, operations officer, commander and respected leader. Some of her key messages for individuals included, perseverance, goal setting and willingness to do the jobs others won’t, the messages for leaders focussed on the need to reinvest time and energy in the up and comers or leaders of tomorrow and acknowledging that experience can only be gained through supported exposure and learning. If as leaders we always use the excuse of “I need somebody experienced to do the job”, the next generation will not be given the opportunity to develop and prove themselves.

This last message was consistent with a saying I have encountered in a previous working life, “see one, do one, teach one”. While that is an overly simplistic way of considering an individuals’ learning or performance curve, it helps symbolise a way of thinking that demonstrates the value of bringing the next generation through to be the thought leaders of tomorrow.

In addition to Natalee, a short speech was delivered by the Assistant Minister for Defence, the Honourable Matt Thistlethwaite, demonstrating the value that the Australian central government places on its armed forces and its’ supporting industry.

The awards were provided across a range of different categories including; leadership, engineering, people and culture amongst others. What I found interesting was that almost every prize winner went above and beyond their role. Whether that was within or outside their respective organisation and included activities such as intern mentorship, volunteering with youthline or coaching local junior sports teams. It reinforced the importance of a balanced life contributing to high performance in the workplace.

In addition, we made another solid connection with a Victorian based company, who is working with the Royal New Zealand Navy. They were very interested in how we may be able to support their current project given our proximity and relationship with the Navy. Watch this space!

On Thursday morning we departed Canberra for the reverse leg of the journey and landed back in Auckland around 5:00pm, bringing to a close a rapid business development trip across the ditch. Overall we were very satisfied with the event, the connections made and the messaging taken away from the key note speaker.