This article is one in a series of conversations with women leaders in the construction industry. Click here for past discussions.
Maggie Reed knows a thing or two about team sports.
The business unit leader for Gilbane Building’s Richmond, Virginia, office, Reed is a former college athlete and a big rugby fan. As a lock, or second row, Reed won a national championship in rugby with her alma mater, Penn State, in 2004.
The sport teaches you grit, resilience and how to overcome adversity, Reed said. In addition to studying architecture, she said that rugby imparted some important lessons as she learned how to transition to construction.
Here, Reed talks with Construction Dive about what drew her to the field, lessons she learned pivoting from architecture to construction and how women can overcome barriers in construction.
Editor’s note: The following has been edited for brevity and clarity.
CONSTRUCTION DIVE: What initially drew you to construction?
MAGGIE REED: I went to the Penn State school of architecture. At the time, I was trying to figure out if that was the right fit for me. It's an incredible program, but tough, and I wasn't sure it was the right call for me.
Interestingly enough, I knocked on a Gilbane construction trailer door and asked if they were hiring. Turns out you need a resume, so I came back with a resume and asked again and started as an intern.
I went to a window detail, and we talked about what its function was. I learned that if you don't align the terrazzo joint with the window joint and the way in which light comes through, it feels disharmonious.
I had the opportunity to go to different places. It causes a lot of growth, and it causes you to kind of think about how you're building yourself as you're building your projects.
What were some of the lessons you learned transitioning from architecture to construction?
My dad didn't graduate from college, So, there's this very strong emphasis that if you go to college you must finish. That was very, very strongly established in my family.
The idea that I was wrestling with this thing that I was putting this much time behind was a really hard thing. That was a hard feeling to have.
So when I got to a jobsite, I felt more comfortable there. I got to be with tangible elements. Even in school, when given the opportunity of completing a project, or it being my design, I choose to complete the project. The vision doesn't have to be mine.
It's not about architects versus construction. It's about, what's the vision, how do we see what's the most important thing?
When I think back to those first mentors, the comments about the terrazzo joint are actually really salient. The pour wasn’t quite aligned, and we had to rip that terrazzo out.
That was an expensive mistake to watch as a young person, but it was very important because it really highlighted the fact that we take accountability, and we build correctly. We do it right.
So if we make a mistake, you have to own it, figure out how you're going to fix it, and still then deliver in the way in which we're going to do, which we did.
What did rugby teach you about construction?
Rugby taught me a lot about resilience, which I think is really important, and it really matters in construction.
I keep joking about this term, relentless resilience, with my team. It's the idea that it's not just running into a wall. It's about when you hit the wall, taking a minute and looking to see if that's the right wall, or do we need to get over it, through it or around it. So we need to get through the barrier, but we can't just keep smashing into the same situation. You never make space that way.
What does it mean to you to be a woman in construction?
It means to be resilient.
It means to consider that there's a strong likelihood that you're going to come across some sort of friction or barrier or disagreement and that you've got to figure out what and how to help yourself, but then also your team figure out what the next step is going to be.
People have the opportunity to avoid that hard conversation, hoping that someone or something will pop in and take care of it for you.
Well, you've already made a decision by not making a decision. And so, what we want to make sure that we don't do is continuously pound ourselves at something, that we're being more thoughtful, that we're considering what it is that we're trying to do, and then we're allowing our teams the space to make those decisions while still supporting them.
It's very easy to be a Monday morning quarterback and stand back and say, “I wouldn't have written that email that way.”
But that doesn't help anybody. If there's a reason why it's not good, let's coach them through it. Let's talk about why they wrote it that way. Let's find out what the thought process and the messaging that they were working through is, and then let's coach them through it.
I think, in being a woman, that kind of thing that you know is going to happen, because there's still a lot of barriers, it will happen. So, acknowledge it and then find your way around it, through it, over it.