Over a thirty-year career Sue Smith has worked in a wide range of fascinating roles, initially with Shell and today with Viva Energy. Throughout that time, Sue has earned a high level of respect that has helped her succeed in a traditionally male dominated industry.
Sue qualified with a Bachelor of Applied Science (App. Chemistry) before starting an internship with Shell in 1986. That was her “foot in the door,” and after a stint with Queensland Nickel she applied for a permanent role within Shell’s laboratory. In 1987 Sue became the first full-time female employee in the lab at the Pinkenba Terminal.
“Back then things were very different,” Sue explains. “The terminal was like a mini city. You came across so many characters, which I think helped me develop the communication skills that I’ve relied on throughout my career, in all the roles I’ve had.”
Expanding horizons
Sue愿意推动自己，并在她的职业生涯早期尝试新的体验。“我不得不写一个有说服力的信，作为管理文凭课程的一部分，”她解释道。“这可能是一个虚构的信，但我决定写信给终端经理提出回收计划。当环境问题刚刚作为一个焦点区域发展时，时机完全是完美的，所以我发现自己在一个环境的角色 - 实施计划。“
接受变化是苏职业生涯的一个标志。这使她接受了在罐区运营和信息技术方面的角色。“信息技术系统的工作给了我一个了解我们业务端到端运营的窗口。系统如何工作，从财务和主数据到事务系统以及客户的观点。了解一个变化如何影响整个供应链中的其他人和团队是一个很好的学习。”
它还导致了全球项目中的作用。苏在亚洲旅行（马来西亚，香港，新加坡，菲律宾，印度尼西亚，泰国和巴基斯坦）克服语言和文化障碍，帮助人们学习系统，使系统努力适合业务，并弥合两者之间的差距。“我从未想过我会在世界上旅行，所以这很令人兴奋。我真的觉得我正在增加价值，因为我可以看到人们受益于我正在做的工作。“
Sue实施了澳大利亚和七个其他国家的系统变化。它始终是一个刺激的人，看到人和企业迁移到更大，更新的系统，并且知道她曾经掌握过它发生。“这真的是与人合作。一个系统只是一个系统 - 你需要船上的人来制作它。“
There were some confronting moments, too. Pakistan in 2009 was turbulent at times. “Shell security would meet you at the airport, before immigration and customs, and walk you through. Then at the hotel there were sniffer dogs around the car and your bags were put through x-ray machines. Flights out were always at midnight or two o’clock in the morning, so driving back to the airport there’d always be a security escort in the front seat.”
While she loved the global experience, Sue was thrilled to land another role in 2010 as a Fuels Product Quality Excellence Lead, where she continues to work today as an important member of Viva Energy’s Product Quality team.
仍然有所作为
近年来起诉帮助先锋船上船舶混合。混合是将组件添加到基础燃料油中，以在最终产品中提供正确的规格和质量。
“通过在船坦克中的海洋油等产品混合产品，我们绕过了将部件放入陆上设施的必要性。而且因为它仍然在船上，混合产品准备好在需要它的地方。它既是能源和成本效益。“
Sue’s responsibility was to establish good shore-side preparation so that the product blend would be right the first time, and have the Laboratory conduct testing to prove it. On-board Ship Blending of marine oil has proved so successful there are already plans to expand the program to other products.
苏也一直与支持fuel supply for the Australian Defence Force. Due to their operating conditions, naval ships historically required a special diesel blend with a unique specification. This meant sourcing high quality additives in the necessary quantities, and keeping the product segregated from other diesel fuels.
For three years Sue and Viva Energy worked with the Navy to move them towards a standard automotive diesel. “After trials and testing we have given them confidence that the complex specifications were no longer required. With our standard diesel being more than suitable for their needs, it has also meant a cost saving for Defence.”
Sue has also worked with mining customers, helping educate them about fuel combustion and to understand how to maintain and handle the fuel they use, to reduce diesel particulate emissions and improve machinery maintenance schedules.
但也许大多数人都令人满意的是在澳大利亚的壳牌V-Power Diesel成功推出，在其发展中发挥了重要作用。
Shell V-Power Diesel是柴油技术的创新，旨在提高发动机性能。它含有一种特殊的添加剂，可以通过去除可以随时间积累的沉积物来帮助清洁柴油发动机，因此发动机将在其最佳状态下运行，并且在提供燃油经济性和电力方面最有效地运行。
Suitability of the product in market was critical, to make sure the fuel performed as expected and that it met Australian fuel quality standards and specifications. This responsibility fell to Sue and the Product Quality team. “We had to ensure that when we added the Shell V-Power Diesel additive to our local diesel it wouldn’t result in any issues for customers’ cars in the Australian market.”
Throughout Sue’s career, she has always loved the focus it takes to deliver a project successfully. “Shell V-Power Diesel is an important new product for us, and the sense of teamwork we experienced during the launch was absolutely wonderful. We had people from across the Viva Energy business all working together to achieve a common goal. That was amazing to be part of.”
Memorable moments
苏也享有许多令人难忘的时刻，例如她被润滑油客户邀请的时间访问ISA山的矿井。“他们有这么多隧道。它下降了两到半条地下，绝对是黑色的，没有明亮。看起来它真的很有趣，因为它就像一个迷你城市地下，他们远程操作巨大的机器，我得看看我们如何在供应润滑油中支持它们。“
另一个场合，她发现自己骑着赛车摩托车围绕瓦南诺赛马场旅行。“回到那些日子里，我们赞助了一个在瓦片的比赛团队，他们会有一个客户日或赞助商日，让客人乘车。所以我把皮革放在我去的时候。这是一个惊人的经历，特别是我最近得到了我的摩托车许可证。“
Being invited aboard the HMAS Canberra as part of our support of the Australian Defence Force was an experience Sue won’t forget anytime soon. “The head of the fuel services branch was a one-star general, so there was an impressive ceremony where they blew a whistle and saluted him aboard. The ship is seventeen stories tall, so it’s quite impressive.”
成功在一个男性世界
Today Viva Energy is working hard to achieve gender equality and diversity in the workplace. But back when Sue began her career, attitudes were very different. So how did she thrive and succeed?
对苏来说，这与性别无关。这是关于贡献，感觉作为一个个体的价值和她能为手头的工作带来的专业知识。一旦人们意识到Sue可以帮助他们实现目标，性别就变得无关紧要了。
苏的性格特点之一是她总是乐于尝试。这使她很容易得到同事们的尊重和钦佩。比如说，这意味着苏会心甘情愿地爬上一个储罐或一艘船，接受培训，这样她就可以在狭小的空间里工作，基本上做任何必要的事情来完成工作。
Passing on knowledge
Sue has a great deal of advice to help people make the most of their careers, whatever field they work in. It begins with finding where you can add value, and sometimes you won’t know the answer to this question until you try something different. That requires being open to every opportunity.
“一个大学学位给你的知识。但现在I tell people that personal success is also about learning new skills and applying those skills. Find what you’re good at, find your passion, and then how you can use that to make a difference.”
From the start Sue realised that communication skills were invaluable. “It’s about engaging people, communicating and learning. If you need help from someone, quite often the first step is to understand why that person would want to help, their motivations, and how they can help. Then it becomes ‘us’ instead of ‘you’.”
According to the old saying, knowledge is power. Sue, however, has a different take: “I think it’s more powerful to pass your knowledge on to others. Giving people confidence through learning new things is incredibly empowering.”
Embracing the future
我们的行业正在迅速变化，苏兴奋地兴奋，这些变化将呈现给当前和后代的viva能源员工。雷电竞
她的建议？拥抱变化，不断发展。”总有新的挑战和新的技能需要学习。事情永远不会像以前那样。接受新事物，看看你能如何融入其中。寻找新的利基市场，并付诸行动。吸引人们，寻求他们的意见和知识，并向他们学习。与人交往并建立关系。”
It’s sound advice from someone who has built an amazing career on her willingness to give anything a go. “Curiosity and learning will take you places, that’s for sure.”
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