"Engineering Management Thought of the Week" Jeff Glass

I sincerely appreciated the questions students asked during the last
seminars of our fall semester. Clearly students were engaged and
thoughtful about each speaker’s topic. I can only surmise that the
students who asked these questions (as well as those students who had
questions to ask but were not given the time to ask them!) embody the
most important part of being an MEMP graduate – “be a sponge”! Every
single activity you undertake, every class you sit through (regardless
of how boring), and every situation you encounter (difficult or easy,
fun or aggravating) is an opportunity to learn. One of my frustrations
in directing the MEMP is the missed learning opportunity I see for many
students. For example, professors who are entertaining should certainly
be rewarded and praised for that skill. However, some professors who
lack that skill may, in fact, have just as much, or even more, to teach
you. The intellectual depth of an instructor is not necessarily
correlated with their ability to entertain and if you are not viewing
every activity as a learning opportunity – and even viewing it as your
responsibility and in your best interest to be a sponge for knowledge –
you are missing part of the essence of being an MEMP graduate. Please be
sure to focus on extracting knowledge and skills from every situation
while you are at Duke and, in fact, continuing indefinitely after you
graduate. It may be more fun and whole lot easier to be spoon fed
information, but this will only make you more informed, not more skilled
and only marginally more valuable to your future employer.