Thinking Differently, Again!

Hey All.

My career chapter within the Global Engineering Workforce space is coming to a close. I officially will start a new position on August 26th, doing something Boeing had never done before. I'm very excited about this and will share what it is later in another post.

For those who aren’t aware, I’m one of the senior leaders of this world-class engineering workforce development program known as the Engineering Career Foundation Program (#ECFP). There aren’t equivalent programs anywhere in any engineering or tech-based industry that matches or surpass what ECFP offers. It’s so unique in the industry that it has become a halo, attracting an insane amount of early career engineers to Boeing with the off-chance of becoming part of this great program. If you want the best, #ECFP is it; everything else is a consolidation prize. We have completely reinvented how engineers develop themselves.?The giants I’ve stood on that created this program from inception were vastly wise beyond their years. I only hope that I pushed the boundaries and evolved the program, accelerating it as the ultimate destination for all early career engineers, becoming a giant in my own right that the future can stand upon.

Meanwhile, let me share a few things about my last three years of running this program:

A few metrics:

1. 133,394 e-mails. That's how many e-mails I've had to dig through and respond to in the last three years in this program. Yes, I read and responded to every single one; 99% were within a couple of hours of receiving them. ?This doesn’t even include Mattermost (Slack-alternative) posts. Instantaneous communication is the key!
2. Led 535 interviews.?Yes, I would go into 3-4 months stretches where my entire day was filled with nothing but interviews. They were your typical STAR formatted 1-hour interviews. Talk about exhausting. Bonus? I’ve gotten pretty good at sizing up talents, and the engineers under me perfectly reflect my judgment of their potential. I’m incredibly proud of the folks I selected to go through this program. ?If you want to know who I am, look at those I hired. ?
3. 71 direct employees: This was the most significant number of direct engineers I've had to manage at any given time (no, they weren’t dot-lined). The average in the past three years was about 54. I met with each one at least for an hour every month, so literally, half of my month was spent in F2F meetings. The other half focused on strategy, administrative work within Workday, firefighting, supporting executives and chief engineers, coaching, chasing down budgets, and completing side projects. ?For a frame of reference, the average engineering managers are responsible for about 15 direct employees. ?This job is probably the most demanding engineering management job anywhere. ?It’s an incredibly high-touch and personally invested program. I must’ve aged a decade. I was burning from both ends of the candle to keep this program alive. ?
4. Employees in 6 countries supporting ~200 statements of work per year:?It was an eye-opening experience, especially when dealing with labor laws, visas, HR, and engineering leadership teams in each country. ?Yes, Russia and Ukraine were one of them. Surprise! Geopolitics is fascinating and horrifying at the same time. People are innately good; I've never forgotten that lesson.

Wisdom I’ve discovered along the way

(5 randomly picked out of maybe a hundred that I should probably write a book on later. They’re not the “top 5,” FYI)

1. Generation Gap promoted by many folks is a crutch. That’s right. You heard it here first. It’s a cop-out designed by generations (and consultants) to justify inaction. Our sole responsibility as leaders is to evolve our mindset and capabilities to match the latest generation. If you aren’t changing/evolving/developing, get out of the way and let others who are willing to put in the work to evolve lead. ?The newer generations aren’t supposed to grow to meet today’s reality; they’re already living in it due to our decisions; Evolve or resign.
2. Compensation matters. More specifically, Total Compensation matters. The soaring cost of housing, living, and college debt is now the new baseline and life early engineers are facing today. ?You can have the best company in the world doing insanely great things, but it doesn’t matter if their basic needs aren’t being met. ?Show them the money! Allow them to put down roots. Otherwise, they’re going to bolt.
3. Specialized degrees in different engineering spaces, such as software, electronic & electrical, mechanical, civil, etc., are a byproduct of an era no longer relevant today. ?Those degrees must be reinvented as multi-disciplinary engineering degrees. Do you seriously think for a second that an 18 years old kid has the right background and experience to know exactly what profession they wish to study for the next 4-5 years at some expensive school accruing debt, let alone understand what areas fit their passion with zero industrial experience? Why are we forcing them to pay perpetually, for the next 60 years, for a decision they made when they were only 18? Maybe the electrical engineer had a passion for software? Maybe the aerospace engineer had a passion for industrial engineering. Perhaps the mechanical engineer wanted to be a human factor engineer? Stop shortchanging their future. It’s time for a revolution.
4. Minimizing the separation between the leadership and the employees is crucial to executing strategy successfully. The further away you are from the trenches, the slower you will react and the less impact you feel upon the result of your decisions. The best people to lead any companies aren’t on the top-end; it’s those in the trenches, the first-level managers. This is why I’m the best in the world at what I do, workforce development-wise, because every single decision and strategy I’ve made, I felt the impact the second it’s made, and I’ve adjusted it, turned up the dial, or down. Every mistake I’ve made, I’ve felt it in my bones.?I eat all the risks and consequences of my decisions as we celebrate successful execution done well. Kudos to Kevin Bacon.

?My favorite quote:

They ask me why I teach, and I reply,

“Where could I find a more splendid company?”??(Glennice Harmon 1907-1979)

#AlwaysGreatnessInECFP