ITE Journal January 2018 - 36

commitment to a succession plan by actively engaging in student
investment and recruiting; and
commitment to clients through highly skilled marketing and
support staff with a diversity of backgrounds and a setup to be
nimble in response to working on a range of assignments, from
small $2,000 projects to multi-million dollar projects.
The firm is strongly rooted in a metric-based approach where
there are mechanisms in place for growing young engineers, transitioning them to task leaders, and finally on to managing clients as
practice leaders. A deliberate approach is taken when determining
whether to enter a new market, what staffing needs are, and where
we can be successful. All of this forms a cultural mindset that leads
to a set of values inherent to Kimley-Horn. Each senior hire attends
a Culture & Philosophy course to become familiar with the firm's
culture and business approaches. I got to meet 30 more professionals new to the company and working through their own transition
plans. My takeaway to share: connections and shared experiences
are so important to being successful!
My approach to engineering also had to change for me to be
successful. That meant stepping out there and learning about new
practices. Most of my previous work had been for public agencies.
Land development is a strong engineering practice at Kimley-Horn,
with numerous national clients such as Aldi, Thorntons, and Under
Armour. I did transportation plans and traffic operations-I did not
know what fire, health, or sign permits are required for a site plan for
a Captain D's. Did I learn? Absolutely! Did someone with experience
in Kimley-Horn help me? Absolutely! Our Kentucky office has been
able to provide local assistance for some of these national clients.
I have the local relationships, and Kimley-Horn has the practice
expertise. The learning curve has been steep but so rewarding.
Clients in Kentucky
had to be coached
through their resistance
to change. Now that I
had convinced myself
that change is okay
and even good, I had
to convince clients that
change is good and
to try Kimley-Horn.
What did we offer that
other firms did not?
Why should they select
us to work on their
projects? I had to relay
all the company values
and cultural mindset
The author, Lindsay Walker, being "bold" at
I was being immersed
the beginning of the year kick-off.
36

J a n uar y 2018

it e jo u rn al

Aaron Heustess and Lindsay Walker celebrating the first year of their
new office.
into to clients in a way they could understand and that would be
meaningful to them. Ultimately, I showed how we provide some new
tools and a fresh perspective to project development.
Successful relationship building was mentioned as a tool
learned in LeadershipITE. This means understanding the stakeholders through actively listening to what they need. I reached
out to engineers at other firms who I had good relationships with.
I established a core network of professionals who could use the
transportation planning and traffic operations skills I was selling. I
used those relationships to build new ones. Over lots of lunches in
the past year, many good ideas and partnerships have been formed.
One way I challenged myself early on was to do something each
day that made me uncomfortable. It's easy to pick up the phone and
call someone you know to talk about a project. It's not so easy to call
someone you don't know to talk about a potential project. One of
these daily challenges paid off big time-I called a Kentucky-based
firm I had never partnered with, took a long shot, and sold them my
services as a subconsultant. They accepted us as part of the team,
which led to a win, and now we're working on the number one
project of statewide significance in Kentucky.
Kimley-Horn empowered me with the resources I needed to be
successful. An essential element of this success is my partnership
with Aaron Heustess, who grew up professionally with KimleyHorn. During his 10 years of experience, he has had the opportunity
to work in various practices and offices throughout the company.
Aaron became my Kimley-Horn Rolodex, and I his Kentucky one.
Going back to the personality assessments that I had experienced
with LeadershipITE, we discovered we are complete opposites on the
spectrum-which is good for maintaining balance in office dynamics
and is imperative to keep in mind in how we approach staffing.
My change has resulted in change for others, causing Aaron to
relocate to Lexington, Kentucky from Raleigh, North Carolina. We

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of ITE Journal January 2018