The Entrepreneurial Engineer: Personal, Interpersonal, and Organizational Skills for Engineers in a World of Opportunity Module 1: Engineering for the 21 st Century David E. Goldberg University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Urbana, Illinois 61801 [email protected]
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The Entrepreneurial Engineer: Personal, Interpersonal, and Organizational Skills for Engineers in a World of Opportunity
Module 1: Engineering for the 21st Century
David E. GoldbergUniversity of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
My BackgroundBSE & MSE in early 70s at Michigan.Worked in small startup in 1976.Returned to school for PhD.Sidetracked by research/teaching career at Alabama and Illinois.Better known work on genetic algorithms and computational innovation.Currently Jerry S. Dobrovolny
Distinguished Professor in Entrepreneurial Engineering. Chief Scientist for Nextumi, www.nextumi.com. Broadly interested in history, philosophy, business & economics.
This ModuleExamine forces shaping a new entrepreneurial engineer.Beyond tech: Order 1, 2, & n skills.10 competencies for the entrepreneurial engineer.4 methods: common sense, humanities, social science, engineering.3 principles: Engagement, create-then-criticize, other eyes.3 cautions: ideals beware, obvious isn’t easy, practice makes perfect.
Large, centralized organizations.Many specialties under one roof.Engineering work specialized & mainly technical.
TodaySpread of information technology.Reduction in transaction costs.Results in smaller world with smaller, more agile organizations.Needs broadly capable engineers oriented toward opportunity.
Money, Work & YouEngineers often interested in money.Who gets rich and why?Interestingly engagement is path to wealth.Do what you love and the money may follow.What are your values, life mission, and objectives?
Mastering Time and SpaceMastering values, mission, and objectives is strategic personal plan.Tactically, must master time and space.The challenge of time:
Easy to waste.Non-renewable resource.
Tools: calendar, to-do list, and systematic filing system.
Human Side of EngineeringEngineers build models of things.Engineers can build model of people, too.Key model:
See matters through the eyes of others.Disagreements as differences in perception.Role of questions.We are all salesmen.Praise, criticism, and passion.
The Pervasive TeamEngineers work as part of teams.But teamwork is hard:
Communication grows as square of team size.Balancing decision making and doing is hard.Cooperation thwarted by prisoner’s dilemma.
Ground rules for shared expectations.Reorganize for effective meeting dynamics.Groups vs. teams: Accountable for important mission.Brainstorming & creativity: How do we concoct solutions as individuals and in groups.
Assessing Tech OpportunitiesWhat is opportunity? Realizable difference between what should be and what is.Sustainable competitive advantage. What is your niche?3 Financial mysteries: fear of financials, breaking even, time value of money.Opportunity assessment as mini-B-plan
Eyes of OthersGolden rules ask us to see things through eyes of others and act accordingly.We act easily in our own interests.To understand interests of others, put yourself in their shoes.Easy to say, hard to do.
Cautious in Using IdealsIdeals provide way to model better future state, personally or organizationally.But most individuals and organizations are far from ideal.Rookies will see difference between reality and ideal and become discouraged.Don’t play “ain’t
SummaryFast-paced world of change creates opportunities.Entrepreneurial as a state of mind.10 competencies for the entrepreneurial engineer.3 principles.4 methods.3 cautions.