ECFP: Reflect & Celebrate

Today marks the first day of my next Chapter at The #Boeing Company. As of last Friday I officially graduated Boeing's Engineering Career Foundation Program (#ECFP), and transitioned into a one year special assignment working in the Office of the Chief Engineer. #ECFP is a two year rotational program where participants are challenged to learn about the breadth of the engineering function at Boeing by rotating through four different roles, in different business units, each representing a phase of the product life cycle (create, develop, produce, & support). In this program, each participant gets to 'create their own adventure' tailored to their engineering interests and development goals.

 Over the last two years, I have been fortunate to take advantage of all this program has to offer by working in four different states, in three different business units, and with close to 100 teammates all over the enterprise. In each of these rotations, I had very different roles: I supported non-metallic spares for out-of-production Boeing and McDonnell Douglas commercial customers in Southern California; I conducted research and operations on the largest telescope in the Department of Defense on Maui; systems engineering on an experimental space plane (Phantom Express) at Kennedy Space Center; liaison engineering for final assembly of the 787 in Charleston, SC. With each job, I’ve grown more passionate about Boeing, our culture, our people, how we respond to challenges, and how we evolve, and I’ve become more and more convinced that this is just the beginning of a career-long journey for me here.

I wanted to share with you all the Graduation Reflection I gave to my fellow ECFP graduates. In this talk, I aimed to highlight just how far we've come, how much we've developed and learned during our two years in the program, and how we all should take the time to celebrate and reflect. I'm sure that some of you out there may resonate with what I said here, especially those of you who have big goals and expectations for what you hope to accomplish in your careers and lives. Just remember to take time to celebrate the little things.

Reflect & Celebrate:

"Look at us. Who would have thought? Not me.

If you had told me 5 years ago I would be here today, I doubt I would have believed you. I had just separated from the active duty air force and was finally on the path to becoming what I always wanted to be: an engineer.

Did I know what that meant at the time? Absolutely not. I knew that it couldn’t all be about launching rockets, developing the next amazing piece of technology that would revolutionize the world, or training astronauts…but man, I secretly hoped that maybe it would turn out to be.

Do I know what it means to be an engineer now? Do you? Through my experiences in ECFP I have come to realize that the beauty of the engineering function at the Boeing Company is that is not singular—it is dynamic. There are so many ‘right’ answers to what it means to be an engineer here, and I think each of us could give a different definition for each rotation that we had during ECFP. But I’m sure all of our definitions of being an engineer have at least one thing in common: the opportunity to take on challenges.

Maybe you were challenged to learn a completely new topic, or a new skill—to step outside your comfort zone.Or how about your technical communication? Remember the first time you were put on a spot to talk to your group about something that the month prior you had never heard of? Perhaps you were asked to lead a team or a project; to be responsible for a statement of work or the success of an analysis. Maybe you were challenged to develop your interpersonal skills. To have the confidence to voice your opinion or concerns, or ask that question that you thought someone would think was ‘dumb.’ How about challenged to learn from failure? To try again the next day, just a little bit wiser than the day before.

Perhaps it was challenging to find new jobs each rotation, or to find your final placement. To grow the presence and assurance to talk about your experiences and what you hope to become; to be vulnerable and authentic. Maybe just figuring out what you want to do was a challenge—maybe it still is.

I bet a lot of you could say “I did that” or “that sounds like me” to a majority of those things I just mentioned. To some of you, these may not feel like big accomplishments. Maybe you discredit them because they don’t seem profound or a ‘big deal’--but they are. Look back—allow yourself to see how much you’ve learned and accomplished. Allow yourself to celebrate these challenges you’ve overcome. Recognize that each of those accomplishments may feel small in the grand scheme of your long term goals, but they are nonetheless an important step in the right direction.

Remember life is not grandiose statements or achievements, but the sum total of every little thing we choose to do, every gut decision we make that steers our life in a new direction. I challenge all of you to keep challenging yourself and to lift people up on the way. And every once and a while stop and think about how far you’ve come, and just celebrate. Remember that you once dreamed of being where you are now—of being who you are now. So go celebrate you—you deserve it. We all deserve it. I can’t wait to hear about all the amazing things everyone accomplishes next."