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Archive for May, 2013

So much to learn, so little time

Posted in Duke, Engineering, Engineering Management, Management of Technology, Master of Engineering Management, Masters Degree, MEM, MOT, Technology Management on May 31, 2013| Leave a Comment »

Each year I post my speech from the Master of Engineering Management Graduation Hooding ceremony so this is my post for 2013.  As always, it was great fun to see our students excited to receive their degrees and to be able to meet the many friends and family members who have been so supportive of the students.  The main Duke ceremony was also particularly exciting this year where Melinda Gates gave the graduation speech and received an honorary degree.  I was able to meet Melinda Gates before the ceremony due to our Gates Foundation funding for a project which our MEM students have contributed to over the past year.

To the Graduating Students

For the first part of my message I just want to say THANK YOU.

Thank you for the time and effort you put into the program, into your teams and into the relationships that you had to build to make your time at Duke a success.  I am sure there were times when you said to yourself: “I do not have the energy to finish my part of this assignment… make it to the team call… go out with my colleagues during this residency activity…” or whatever it was but you did it anyway.

Thank you for the efforts you have put into the program beyond the classes, whether it was talking with a perspective student, helping to organize an event or providing feedback on a program activity. And I also thank you for being open-minded and even vulnerable during our diversity training or the ropes course.

And finally, thank you for attending graduation this weekend to participate in the events that mark a milestone in your education and no doubt your careers.  With so much to do in our work and personal lives, we do not always take the time and effort to reflect on even the big accomplishments.  And you miss part of the value of these milestones when we fail to take that time.  And I know we, that is all of us who help to run this program, would certainly miss part of the value if you did not take this time.

 

To the Friends and Family

As special as this weekend is for the students, I know it is just as special for you.

As much a period of transition as this time is for our students, I realize it is just as much a time of transition for many of you,

As much a time of hopeful but nervous anticipation for our students I know it is just as much so for you.

I can assure you it is the same for us!  We feel that the “home away from home” for our students will miss them when they leave Duke.  Just as you have missed them since they left their real nest.  But we can all be comforted by the hope, dare I say the fact, that the many things they have learned from us will now benefit the rest of the world.  Simultaneously it will enrich their own lives and ensure they have the skills and knowledge to take on the very real challenges of our time.  As their family and friends, you created the vessel, the platform, upon which these graduates have been building and enabled them to take advantage of the opportunities in this program and beyond.  For that I thank and congratulate you along with the graduates.

What the graduates may not yet realize is how enduring the bond and the mutual support are from all of you.  With the hind sight of many more years than our graduates, I can say that I have been pleasantly surprised, with the benefits that the relationships established from an early age have enhanced my life decades later. The longevity of these relationships is truly amazing. For our graduates, these relationships will now also include their fellow graduates!

Some Graduation Thoughts

In addition to the welcome, I want to provide some brief thoughts about life after graduation.  What can I really say in 5 minutes that has impact?  Will any of you really remember what we say today?  Or are you too euphoric to actually internalize it anyway?  I guess the ultimate hope is that your friends and family will remember and then in a few years when you go to them for advice they can say “Remember that graduation message…”

So what is my message?  So much to learn, so little time…

So much to learn, so little time…

This may seem like a strange message at the END of an educational program but I assure you it is not.  I know that those of you destined to have the greatest impact on your organizations and on society are already thinking about what you need to learn next; what are the weaknesses that you need to overcome for your job or for the next job that you have not even started looking for yet.

So much to learn, so little time…

As anyone who has been working in a typical organization these days can confirm, there is so little time outside of work.  And work is intertwined with every aspect of our lives.  There are no semesters and no “summer vacations”.  Time off is squeezed into the few precious vacation days we have. Holidays are more of a scheduled catch-up than time off.  And yet the work environment keeps changing and more and more is expected of us every passing year.

So much to learn, so little time…

I vividly remember the alumnus who called me after working for a few months, exasperated by the fact that she had no time to do the things that were so easy to get done in the past.  I asked what she had in mind and she went through the list:  “You name it” she said.  “Laundry, reading, renewing my driver’s license, cooking, cleaning my apartment” and the last one, the worst, the one you cannot allow yourself to be too busy for; “calling my family”.  She did not even mention keeping her knowledge current in her chosen field.  I am sure that would have simply been overwhelming to think about.

So much to learn, so little time…

But you have just spent the last year or more learning, is it really necessary to keep learning?  Can’t we just use the knowledge we have accumulated, just for a while?  Unfortunately, no way, not even close, no chance, don’t even think it.  When learning is no longer a priority, self-improvement is not far behind and career progress stalls.  As Newton Baker said: “The person who graduates today and stops learning tomorrow is uneducated the day after”.  This is truer now more than ever due to the pace of knowledge creation and technical advances.

So I simply want to leave you with this message – continue to challenge yourself, and measure your achievements partly by what you learn; how you expand your expertise.  It is difficult because there will not be sufficient hours in the day but make this a priority.  You will not regret it.

The Year in Review

I wanted to conclude my comments with “the year in review” but I realized I did not have time!  Then I thought, well 2 seconds per word, 30 words per minute, 150 words total might just work so here is my year in review….

accounting, accounts payable, acquisitions, accrue, alliances, balance sheet, balanced scorecard, Blue ocean strategy, branding, business etiquette, business model, business plan, capital, cash flow, change management, channel management, client, collaborations, commercialization, communication, competencies, competitive analysis, conflict resolution, constraints, constructive conflict, consulting, consumer behavior, control, copyrights, corporate culture, corporate governance, cost allocation, creativity, cultural bias, data mining , debits and credits, decision-making, deliverables, developing countries, discovery, disruptive technology, dividends, early adopter, elevator pitch, emerging markets, emotional intelligence, ethics , fast follower, financial engineering, first mover, fuzzy front end, global anything, goals and objectives, group dynamics, habits, heuristics, implementation, incentives, infrastructure, innovation, intellectual asset management, investors, knowledge management, lead user, leadership, manufacturing, margin, market opportunity, market segmentation, mergers, milestones, model, monte carlo, motivation, myers briggs, negotiation, networking, new venture, non-profit, one click patent, online selling, operations, optimization, organizational structure, partnerships, patent claims, patent litigation, patent prosecution, patent strategy, performance, planning , porter’s five forces, portfolio, presentation skills, pricing, product design, product lifecycle, product placement, professionalism, profit, proforma, project financing, project scope, proprietary information, quality control, resource allocation, restructuring, revenue, risk, self-awareness, sensitivity, service management, simulation, social benefit, spreadsheet, stakeholder, stock options, strategy, Strong inventory, supply chain, team charter, teamwork, teamwork, teamwork, teamwork, teamwork, technology assessment, the long tail, the S-curve, time to market, timelines, trade secrets, trademarks, uncertainty, user experience, valuation, viral marketing, virtual teaming, web 2.0, and the acronyms, MBWA, NDA , IT, IP, JIT, PR and Gant chart (OK, not really an acronym but everyone thinks it is) … and don’t forget the emotions interspersed with all this, elation, fear, fatigue, anger, satisfaction, more fatigue, joy.

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Recommendation for “Lean In” by Sheryl Sandberg

Posted in Engineering Management, Entrepreneurship, Innovation, Management of Technology, Master of Engineering Management, Masters Degree, MEM, MOT, Technology Management on May 5, 2013| Leave a Comment »

I don’t usually recommend business books unless I am specifically asked to because a person’s reaction to such books is strongly influenced by our individual preferences and experiences.  But in this case I will ignore my general rule and highly recommend the book “Lean In” by Sheryl Sandberg.  This is a book about women and leadership with many insights on gender differences in the workplace. As such, it is important for all of us who strive to understand how to work more effectively with our colleagues; male and female.  And I would argue this book is also about gaining a better understanding of the business environment irrespective of gender issues; including how to navigate that environment to enhance your career.  This is because there are many exceptional lessons in this book about career development and advancing in business.  Sheryl provides excellent advice about climbing the corporate ladder (or corporate jungle gym as she aptly describes it) without any judgment about those who choose not to or have other priorities.

Lean In provides excellent advice on general differences between the way men and women approach business situations.  For men managing or working with women, this advice is invaluable.  Some of the stories recounted in the book are hard to imagine in today’s society and yet they occur all too frequently.  Of course, with respect to gender differences, we cannot say that every woman or every man has the same perspective on a given business situation.  Nonetheless, throughout the book, men will learn to reconsider their perspective on the decisions and actions of women they work with as well as the unintentional biases they themselves have.  

I found myself relating very directly to some of the ways Sheryl indicates that women approach many of these situations.  Many of these situations will resonate with both genders and provide advice to be followed by male and female alike.  Such areas include: i) crying in a business meeting (it is not as bad as we think to show genuine emotions – Howard Schultz’ speech when he returned to Starbucks is a good example), ii) take a seat at the table (many of us literally do not sit at the conference room table during meetings and miss opportunities to maximize our impact on the meeting and the organization), iii) first impressions with new colleagues are critical (asking for something, even if it is reasonable, may not get the relationship off to the best start), iv) frequently ask for feedback (few people like to give you negative feedback but if you ask, they usually will and you will be better off), v) no one below you in the hierarchy of the organization wants to tell you when you are wrong (you need to constantly and diligently work on developing a culture that encourages your employees to tell you when you are wrong!), vi) you sometimes need to negotiate even if you are worried it will damage a relationship (this was specific advice for woman but I also approach negotiations the way the book recommends and feel it has worked well in most cases).

In summary, I highly recommend this book for anyone who wants to expand their understanding of what women face in business, how women tend to react to many business situations and, for men and women, how do you develop your own career.  Men in leadership positions have numerous opportunities to help resolve the gender gap in business.  This book will help these leaders find and address such opportunities.  Of course, I do not agree with every perspective in the book and in many cases a balance between one approach and another must be achieved which is sometimes missing from the anecdote, perhaps for the sake of clarity.  In addition, addressing common traits for an entire gender, male or female, has its limitations.  Nonetheless, this book is a must read.  Men and women, leaders and followers; will enhance their careers by considering the career advice in Lead In.  Do yourself a favor and take the time to read (or as I did, listen to) this book.

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