New Economy Engineer v.1

The New Economy Engineer
Positioning for a Sustainable and
Rewarding Career

Gary E. Wnek
The Institute for Management and Engineering (TiME)
Case Western Reserve University
gew5@case.edu

©TiME 2009

Engineering is Key

“…Engineering schools beget engineers.
Engineers beget ideas. And ideas beget
companies.”
Guy Kawasaki, Reality Check
(2008)

©TiME 2009

‘Engineering 2020’ – Grand Challenges
http://www8.nationalacademies.org/onpinews/newsitem.aspx?RecordID=02152008

• Make solar energy affordable
• Provide energy from fusion
• Develop carbon sequestration methods
• Manage the nitrogen cycle
• Provide access to clean water
• Restore and improve urban infrastructure
• Advance health informatics
• Engineer better medicines
• Reverse-engineer the brain
• Prevent nuclear terror
• Secure cyberspace
• Enhance virtual reality
• Advance personalized learning
• Engineer the tools for scientific discovery
©TiME 2009

Technical Fundamentals are Key

It is impossible to address Grand Challenges
(or any technology-based challenge, no matter
how ‘small’) without strong technical
fundamentals, such as thermodynamics, circuits,
quantum theory, physical properties of solids,
optics, fluid mechanics, physiology, and
molecular biology.

But…

©TiME 2009

Personal Opportunity and Challenge

“…Today’s engineer is on a different planet. He
or she faces of life of multiple project assignments
with an almost interchangeable array of
employers, clients, start-ups and established
firms; these assignments require an
extraordinarily broad set of technical,
business, and interpersonal skills performed
as part of ever-changing and shifting
interdisciplinary teams.”
David Goldberg,
The Entrepreneurial Engineer (2006)
©TiME 2009


“This period is one of the most exciting,
opportunity-rich times in history. It is also
fraught with disruption and change.”

Curtis Carlson and William Wilmot,
Innovation: The Five Disciplines for
Creating What Customers Want (2006)

©TiME 2009


• There has never been a more exciting time
to study, and do, engineering
• Engineering is the economic engine for
global prosperity
• Routine analytical work is being outsourced
• Engineers need broad-based skills to compete in
a global environment
• Be both relevant and unique
• It is possible to not only to compete but to thrive

©TiME 2009

Important Stuff Beyond the Purely
Technical

Technical Depth
Teamwork
Opportunity Analysis
Design Thinking
Value Creation
Intellectual
Project Management The
Property
Necessary for
‘New Economy’
Ethical Leadership Sustainability
Successful
Engineer
Global Thinking Marketing
Technology
Communication Skills Entrepreneurial Thinking
Commercialization

Need: The New Economy Engineer
©TiME 2009

Three Core Attributes of the
New Economy Engineer

Ability to analyze (technical as well as
business issues)

Ability to translate important concepts and
Quantitative
conclusions into the language of different
and qualitative
thinking; constituencies (e.g., your boss, investors,
Left and right
non-technical colleagues, reporters)
brain; Analysis
+ synthesis
Ability to perceive new opportunities -
connecting disparate ideas from different
disciplines in new ways
©TiME 2009


Key Words:

Analysis

Translation
‘softer’ skills, but
critically important
Perception

‘ATP’
©TiME 2009

Analysis

“Engineers in 2020, like engineers of yesterday
and today, will possess strong analytical skills.
At its core, engineering employs principles of
science, mathematics, and domains of discovery
and design to a particular challenge and for a
practical purpose. This will not change as we
move forward.”
National Academy of Engineering
The Engineer of 2020: Visions of
Engineering in the New Century (2004)
©TiME 2009

Analysis

• Engineering analysis is a fundamental skill
• Routine analysis (‘transactional,’ meaning pay
in return for calculations or code without a
broader context) is readily outsourced
• Analysis today should include business-
related topics (e.g., statistics and Six Sigma
methodologies, and concepts of accounting
including time value of money and cash flow)
• Analysis in context, with its meaning and
implications for all stakeholders, is key

©TiME 2009

Translation
“…there is a growing need to pursue collaborations
with multidisciplinary teams of experts across
multiple fields. Essential attributes for these teams
include excellence in communication (with technical
and public audiences), an ability to communicate
using technology, and an understanding of the
complexities associated with a global market and
social context. Flexibility, receptiveness to change,
and mutual respect are essential as well.”
National Academy of Engineering
The Engineer of 2020: Visions of
Engineering in the New Century (2004)
©TiME 2009

Translation

• To repeat: analysis in context, with its meaning
and implications for all stakeholders, is key
• Ability to write (short memos, reports, good
emails) is important
• Ability to speak and present (speak with
confidence, use PowerPoint appropriately,*
understand your audience) is important

*Kawasaki’s ‘10-20-30 rule’: 10 slides per 20
minutes with no smaller than 30 point font
Guy Kawasaki, Reality Check (2008)
©TiME 2009

Translation

• Be customer-focused in how you translate
technology and analysis into languages others
can understand
• Practice a lot
• Use feedback and criticism to improve
• Communicate via your résumé - make sure
to focus on the ‘so what?’ factor - what was
the impact of past experiences (research,
co-ops, internships, employment)?

©TiME 2009

Perception

“…perception is not something immutably
hard-wired into the brain… It is a process
that is learned through experience… To
see things differently than other people, the
most effective solution is to bombard the
brain with things it has never encountered
before.”
Gregory Berns, Iconoclast (2008)

©TiME 2009

Perception
• Our brains are lazy – take shortcuts and make
assumptions based on limited information
to conserve energy
• Can get too comfortable with the familiar
• Need fresh experiences and environments to
think (perceive) differently (‘out of the box’)
• Enable connecting different ideas in new
combinations – where most opportunity lies
• Multiple and diverse experiences serve as a
neural ‘toolkit’ to provide fresh approaches
to problems and to connect disparate ideas
©TiME 2009

Perception
• Look for lots of new experiences: internships,
co-ops, research, travel, multi-disciplinary
projects, and any connection to the arts

• Don’t resist ‘unusual’ assignments simply
because they are outside of your major area
of expertise

• Work to frame and define problems in new
ways; frequently definition of the problem is
a greater bottleneck that its eventual solution
©TiME 2009

Use ‘ATP’ to be Relevant

“Work on important customer and market needs,
not just what is interesting to you.”

©TiME 2009

Use ‘ATP’ to be Relevant

• Must understand needs of multiple constituencies
(boss, colleagues, investors, customers, society)
• Have a compelling value proposition for all
constituencies
• Understand the value chain (customers, suppliers,
investors, collaborators, co-workers)
• Deliver on the value proposition
• Analysis, translation and perception are important
for success

©TiME 2009

Use ‘ATP’ to be Unique
Many can do routine analysis (outsourced to lowest bidder);
translation of analysis for different audiences will be more
broad in quality and scope, leading to more variety; perceiving
things/situations in new ways (thinking ‘out of the box’) affords
highly unique and personal responses.
10n

more personal, more individual, more ‘you’
# of ‘like’
responses

Few; limit
is 100
Analysis Translation Perception
©TiME 2009

A Combination of ‘ATP’ Linked to Needs =
Personal Ingenuity

• Build skills of translation and perception
on a strong technical (engineering) base
• Virtually any combination of the three is unique
and personal
• Combinations are effectively infinite
• Couple to value propositions

Engineers will be far better able to compete on
their own terms in a global economy

©TiME 2009

Analysis, Translation, Perception

Leverage ‘ATP’ to enhance:

Entrepreneurial Thinking
Innovation
Design
Leadership
Your Personal Value Proposition

©TiME 2009

Entrepreneurial Thinking and Entrepreneurship
Most commonly, the term entrepreneur applies to
someone who creates value by offering a product
or service. Entrepreneurs often have strong beliefs
about a market opportunity and organize their
resources effectively to accomplish an outcome
that changes existing interactions.
Entrepreneurship is the practice of starting new
organizations or revitalizing mature organizations,
new businesses generally in response to identified
opportunities.
Wikipedia
©TiME 2009


Entrepreneurial thinking - creative opportunism
leading to success of the enterprise, public benefit,
and personal satisfaction and growth.

All organizations – companies large and small,
educational institutions, governments – need
entrepreneurial thinkers.

Be resourceful. For example:
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/16/health/16incubators.html?_r=1&ref=science
http://www.case.edu/orgs/create/index.htm

©TiME 2009


“We don’t have the money, so we have to think.”
Ernest Rutherford

Look for creative ways to use existing resources
and to identify new opportunities.

Mitigate risk by careful opportunity assessment
(technical, financial, markets, competition)

Use ‘ATP’
©TiME 2009

Innovation

Innovation is the successful creation and delivery
of a new or improved product or service in the
marketplace. Or to put it another way, innovation
is the process that turns an idea into value for
the customer and results in sustainable profit for
the enterprise.

©TiME 2009

Innovation

Idea → Invention → Innovation
(customers)
Break down the barriers

Barriers include not fully understanding (among other things)
markets, customers, value propositions, intellectual property
protection, manufacturability, sustainability, and effective
project management. ‘ATP’.
Note: innovation is a term of economics, not
of technology; i.e., there are non-technical
innovations such as new business models
©TiME 2009

Innovation

‘ATP’ loop can help to feed continuous,
sustainable innovation

Translation
Perception

Analysis

©TiME 2009

Innovation

“Innovation depends on harvesting knowledge
from a range of disciplines besides science and
technology, among them design, social science,
and the arts.”

John Kao, Innovation Nation (2007)

©TiME 2009

Innovation

“None of us is as smart as all of us.”
Japanese proverb

‘Open Innovation’ aims to leverage collective
ideas and talent. Leverages collective ‘ATP’.
©TiME 2009

Design

“Engineers are not the only professional designers.
Everyone designs who devises courses of action
aimed at changing existing situations into
preferred ones.”

“Engineering, medicine, business, architecture and
painting are concerned not with the necessary but
with the contingent - not with how things are but
with how they might be - in short, with design.”

Herbert Simon, The Sciences of the Artificial
(1993)
©TiME 2009

Design

Product Design
Product Design:
2009
Common View

Function and cost
Needs
not enough
Ideas
Abundance of choices
begs for new ways to
Selection
differentiate
Manufacture
Design process non-
linear, iterative
©TiME 2009

Design 2009
Again:
Ability to analyze (technical as well as
business issues)

Ability to translate important concepts and
Quantitative
conclusions into the language of different
and qualitative
thinking; constituencies (e.g., your boss, investors,
Left and right
non-technical colleagues, reporters)
brain

Ability to perceive new opportunities -
connecting disparate ideas from different
disciplines in new ways
©TiME 2009

Leadership

• Leadership is expected at all levels of an
organization, and immediately upon employment
(e.g., how you accept responsibility, show
respect for others, be mentored and be a mentor)
• Even when seeking a job, you can exhibit
leadership throughout the process (your level of
interest, preparation, interview and follow-up)
• Democratic v. autocratic leadership (aspire to
the former)
• Lead by example

©TiME 2009

Ethics and Leadership

“There absolutely are absolute rights and wrongs.”

Guy Kawasaki
Reality Check
Ethical leadership is everyone’s responsibility,
regardless of title

“If you tell the truth you don't have to remember
anything.”
Mark Twain
©TiME 2009


“…companies are looking for candidates with
good communication skills and who can demonstrate
to employers that they can solve problems specific to
the company's goals. We have so many people who
are graduating and who have talent, but they're just
totally incapable of relating it to the problem that the
customer might have…That skill of positioning yourself
as a problem solver is what industry is really looking for.”

William Suits, ACS career consultant
(C&EN, Nov. 17, 2008)
©TiME 2009


A CWRU alum and successful entrepreneur on
advice to anyone looking for a job at his company:
“Keep pestering me, and be prepared to tell me
why I must hire you.”

In other words, be both relevant and unique,
and communicate well why you are both. Your
personal value proposition is to understand how
you add value to an organization. Know your
customers.
©TiME 2009


“Luck is seizing an opportunity that you were not
looking for.”

John Grisham, commencement address,
University of Virginia (5/20/07)

“Innovation: the ability for individuals, companies
and entire nations to continuously create their
desired future.”
John Kao, Innovation Nation (2007)

©TiME 2009

Luck requires your active participation

The ability to analyze, translate and perceive
significantly increases your chances of being
‘lucky’

Don’t be afraid of uncertainty, unpredictability,
and change

Always seek out good mentors

Be relevant and unique
©TiME 2009

For the New Economy
Engineer…

The Interdisciplinary Master of Engineering and
Management (MEM) Program
“The MEM Experience”

The Institute for Management and Engineering (TiME)
http://www.time.case.edu

©TiME 2009

Institute Mission
The Institute is dedicated to the integration of
engineering and management to educate the next
generation of business-minded innovators. It seeks to
achieve this objective via:
Education
The Master of Engineering and Management Program
Experiential Learning
Commercialization Associate Program; Real-Time,
Real-World
Classroom Projects
Industry
Corporate Advisory Board; Classroom Projects,
Internships; Engaged Alumni
©TiME 2009

MEM Curriculum (3 Semesters)
Course Title (Credits)
Professional Development (3)
Project Management (3)
Materials and Manufacturing Processes (3)
Accounting, Finance, and Engineering Economics (3)
Product and Process Design, Development, Delivery (6)
Design for Manufacturing and Manufacturing
Management (3)
Information Technology and Systems (3)
Understanding People and Change in Organizations (3)
Engineering Statistics and Quality (3)
Engineering Entrepreneurship (6)
Electives (6)
©TiME 2009

MEM Points of Distinction
Integrated curriculum and faculty help students acquire the
critical skills needed in engineering management tracks and
leadership programs.
Experiential real-world projects in product design, quality
management, and entrepreneurship
Growing Commercialization Associate Program (CA
Program) provides valuable experiential learning, which
enhances the curriculum in real-time.
Unique value-added group experiences for the “business-
minded” engineer such as Lake Effect Innovation, LLC and
the CREATE design group.
Accelerated career tracks and unique employment
opportunities
©TiME 2009

References and Selected Readings

Berns, Gregory (2008), Iconoclast, Harvard Business
Press
Brunner, Robert and Stewart Emery (2009), Do You
Matter?, FT Press
Carlson, Curtis and William Wilmot (2006), Innovation:
The Five Disciplines for Creating What Customers
Want, Crown Business Books
Friedman, Thomas (2006), The World is Flat, Farrar,
Straus and Giroux
Goldberg, David (2006), The Entrepreneurial Engineer,
Wiley Interscience; see also
http://www.entrepreneurialengineer.blogspot.com
Graves, Heather and Roger Graves (2007), A Strategic
Guide to Technical Communication, Broadview
Hawkins, Jeff (2004), On Intelligence, Times Books
Kawasaki, Guy (2008), Reality Check, Portfolio

©TiME 2009

Liker, Jeffrey and Michael Hoseus (2008), Toyota
Culture, McGraw-Hill
McGirt, Ellen (2008), “How Cisco’s CEO John
Chambers is Turning the Tech Giant Socialist.”
http://www.fastcompany.com/magazine/131/revolution
-in-san-jose.html.
Norman, Donald (2007), The Design of Future Things,
Basic Books
Pink, Dan (2006), A Whole New Mind, Riverhead
Books
Rover, Diane (2005), “New Economy, New Engineer,”
J. Engineering Education., Oct. issue
Schramm, Carl J. (2006), The Entrepreneurial
Imperative, Collins Press
Shirky, Clay (2008), Here Comes Everybody, Penguin
Press
Tapscott, Don and Anthony D. Williams (2008),
Wikinomics: How Mass Collaboration Changes
Everything, Portfolio
©TiME 2009

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