Get a Little Weird… Once in a While

You don't need to be defined by your job” 

      -  (Weird) Al Yankovic

I work with a lot of engineers.  Heck, I’ll admit it… I actually am an engineer.  One thing that I notice wherever I go, is that engineers can take themselves way too seriously.  Let me say that again… WAAAAAYYYYY too seriously.

I get it.  You guys are out there making important, difficult, highly technical decisions.  But, come on... lighten up a bit!  It’s not brain surgery.  Well ok, I work with some companies that actually make brain surgery equipment.  So maybe it is brain surgery for some of you.  

Nonetheless, let’s allow ourselves to have some fun along the way.

Sometimes when I’m meeting with new customers I challenge myself to see if I can get them to laugh or at the bare minimum; at least crack a smile.  This challenge silently takes place in the back of my brain where, hopefully, no one in the outside world will hear or know about it. 

Now some of you overly analytical engineers are probably saying: “why would I direct perfectly good brain energy toward doing something weird when I can direct it toward doing something productive like solving problems and making better __(insert gizmos of choice)______?”   

Here’s why:  having a light moment doesn’t use up more brain power… it actually taps into the part of your brain you probably aren’t using!  Did some of you realize that there is also a right side to the human brain?  This can unleash some really great creative stuff that can be re-channeled back to your real (a.k.a. engineering) work.

So how do we get started in terms of getting a little weird…

1. Try my challenge of “getting someone to smile” while staying generally on topic regarding an engineering task or project. 2. Put something ridiculous in your office and keep it there until someone asks about it.  If nobody asks, you may have a social problem and should go back and read all of my previous blogs! 3. If 1 and 2 are too challenging (perhaps because they involve interactions with other humans), try something weird on your own.  Do a weird experiment like this:   

www.youtube.com/watch?v=ODBQ_BNjMA0

This kind of "pseudo-experiment" can be super-cool to watch... definitely something to invite others to come see.  It can energize your thinking and perhaps even lead to your next great idea.  I'll bet, after watching that video, some of you are already thinking about column buckling and internal pressures.

Do yourself a favor and do something weird today!

Rock on,

-          Mark

Take a Bow

Just about every engineer describes at least one part of his job as being “thankless”.  As a person who works in the measurement world I used to lament: “nobody wants to measure things, they just want to make stuff”. 

Boo, hoo.  Poor me. 




Designers cry how nobody appreciates their sheer genius and their amazing insight.  Production people moan about the struggles of deadlines and budget… and not to mention the ever present quality control pressures.

It’s a wonder that anyone would want to be an engineer…
…but you are one – and that says something about you.

So let’s take a look at the concept of feeling “rewarded”.  To shed some light on this I’d like to tell you about two recent conversations and an old, old story.

Conversation #1.
The topic of “the next generation of engineers” came up among some friends.  One of the guys was talking about a seminar that he attended on the topic of “managing millennials”.  It was interesting to hear of this topic.  Plus it was a catchy title – so I really tuned into what he had to say.  I’m not sure that I agree with all of the generalizations and stereotypes, but there was a general thought many people of the younger generation are growing up with a concept of “you get a reward for simply participating”.  This is indeed becoming a popular trend – the significance of winning and losing are being diminished and effort (or worse yet simply “being there”) is being rewarded.

Conversation #2.
I have a great graphic designer that I get to work with on occasion.  One day we were talking about the differences and similarities between creating software and creating art.  I told him that developing software can be incredibly engaging – it can be something like solving Sudoku puzzles for a living.  He chimed in, “I do a Sudoku puzzle every day on my lunch break!”

An old, old story…
You may have hear the expression “prodigal son”, or “the prodigal son has returned”.  The term is from a Biblical fable or “parable” (kind of like one of Aesop’s fables) which was used to illustrate a point.  The quick version of the story: 1. Son demands inheritance from dad.  2. Son blows inheritance on wine, women and song and hits rock bottom.  3. Son comes back asking for forgiveness.  4.  Dad welcomes him back and throws a party.  5. Brother get’s ticked off asking: “where’s my party?”

I used to take the brother’s side.  After all, where was his party?  However, the dad’s response to him was pretty insightful.  He said something to the effect of “your party is being here with me every day”.  The angry brother didn’t fully grasp that it was much more rewarding to be in a good place every day – rather than deal with the rough stuff that the prodigal brother went through.  Bottom line: the angry brother didn’t realize how good he had it.  He has the privilege of being in a good place.  He gets to be there all the time.

So let’s put the pieces together…

The engineering workplace can be rather thankless.  If you are used to being noticed, thanked and praised you may be in for a harsh surprise.  You may be sitting in a cubicle right now thinking about unrewarding your job really is.  Some of you might have grown up in a not-so-competitive culture and you aren’t used to the lack of “best effort” medals or stickers.  That’s ok.  It’s time for you to pull up your big engineer pants and create your own rewards.  Think about these things…

1. You get to solve puzzles for a living.  That’s a pretty cool job when you stop and think about it.

2. There are many jobs that could be much worse.  Elephants anyone? 

3. You can make your own rewards.  When you hit milestones or have personal victories – take a break.  Take a walk.  Have a coffee.  Grab a candy bar.  Do something to get away for a few minutes.  Call it a mini-vacation for 15 minutes.

4. Do your part to create a “culture of reward” around you.  When you see someone do something cool – acknowledge it.  One thing you will find is that when you start helping others feel good about their work, you will start feeling better and more rewarded yourself.  Who knows it may even rub off.

 

Remember this: you get to be an engineer.

Finding Your Muse

Muse:

From Greek mythology - a goddesses of inspiration.

Almost every writer has, at some point, suffered from “writer’s block”.  But what engineers?  We often get “stuck” ...and how come we don’t get a clever name for it?  In fact, our stuck-ed-ness is often pretty significant (dare I say more significant than writer’s block?)

When an engineer gets stuck, many external forces can be at play:  things like the constraints of tight schedules, constraints of other connected systems and even the constraints of the laws of physics.



So how do you break through the block?  Let me offer you a couple of quick ideas for finding your muse...


1. Take a break.  Yeah, I know... you’ve got a schedule. 
If you’ve ever gotten a car stuck, you probably know that spinning your wheels only gets you more stuck.  The same applies to your creative processes.  The time you spend backing up and re-approaching the problem can often result in a faster arrival at the solution. 

Hint: How to take a break with purpose.
What you do on a break is really up to you.   For some people it's exercise.  For others it may be a trip to the coffee machine/shop.  For many people (even famous ones) it's a "power nap".  Regardless of what you do, I'd encourage you with this one principle: if you are going to tune out; tune out with purpose.  Try setting an alarm on your phone or on your watch for a 15 minute break.  This plays a neat trick on your mind.   Typically, when people take a break, all they think about is “how much work that have to get back to” and they worry about not getting back to it in time to finish.  Thus they never really give their mind a break. Knowing that an alarm will bring you back allows you to fully leave.


2. Do a DBR.  Something “different but related”
I always wanted to come up with my own acronym so why not now?  Different-but-related activities can keep you thinking in the right direction, but from a slightly different angle.  A DBR should be something that you look forward to doing – but at the same time stimulates your thinking.

Finding your DBRs:
First you need to identify those things that are related to what you do and then find interesting outlets for those things.  An important note: your DBRs should almost feel like a hobby or a “guilty pleasure” - they should be enjoyable activities with some kind of connection to your work.  Reading a technical journal is not necessarily a DBR (unless you’re a hopeless geek).  On the other hand, playing golf or basketball is probably a stretch in the context of DBR.

Let me use myself as an example: 

I write a lot of software for measurement systems. In addition I’m regularly in front of an audience consulting and teaching.  My DBRs aren’t going to be the same as yours, but for the sake of example, my DBRs are:

• www.Gizmodo.com  As I’m involved in the development of new technologies, I find that learning about other, cool, new technologies can be very inspiring.  99% of the time these technologies aren’t related to what I’m working on but seeing cool, finished products is inspiring.  PG-13 warning: The writing style is edgy and sometimes contains profanity.
• www.Ted.com/Talks  I think every rockstar engineer should spend some time listening to TED talks.  These are 15 minute talks on almost every imaginable topic.  Rockstar engineers don’t just learn about the subject matter, but they also can pick up on some great presentation skills.  I’m often more captivated by the latter (i.e. the presentation styles) than the content.
• www.CodeProject.com  I write software primarily in the C# programming language.  CodeProject provides a constant diet of other clever things that other people are doing in C#.  Their projects aren’t even close to mine, but just seeing their work often gives me a re-charge.
• Various leadership/effectiveness/communication blogs.  Email me if you’d like to know some of them.

3. Talk it out
Now this one may not apply to everybody.  I’m a very verbal thinker so the process of talking to someone is a huge help for me.  This may not apply to everybody.  But for those of you that aren’t verbal thinkers, I’d encourage you to give it a try.

Guidelines for conversation as inspiration:

• Remember that conversation is a gift:
  If another person is willing to give you his or her time – treat it with respect.  They are giving you a part of their lives.  Be thankful, act thankful and tell them that you are thankful.
• Respect the other person’s time and mental state:
  There is a chance that they are in the middle of doing something amazing.  Even if nothing is scheduled on their calendar they may still be “tied up”.  Respect that.
• Respect the other person’s expertise and interests:
  I don’t talk mathematics with some of my friends.  I don’t talk business strategy with other friends. 
• Respect their difference of opinion:
  If you are asking a person for help, DO NOT SHOOT DOWN THEIR IDEAS.  There is no place for defensiveness or negativity when you are the one asking for help.

Every one of us will have times where we are stuck and a muse would come in handy.  (Although I’m not sure I’d recognize an “engineer muse” if one walked by.)  So until that happens; take a break, do a DBR or just go find someone to hash it out with. 

Postscript: In case you haven’t guessed, I was stuck this afternoon while writing software and it got me thinking about the whole being stuck thing.  Writing is also a DBR for me.  Instead of writing computer programs in computer language, writing human words in human language is a good break.  So thanks for helping me out today! 

Rock on!

Rockin’ to the Encore

Mary was a “mover” in her engineering department.  Though she had only been with the company for 2 years, she was currently in her third position and was working on her fourth product responsibility.  Mary thought that the best way to move up the ladder was to get a little bit of experience in everything – that way she could someday be the one that everybody turned to when things got exciting.  As part of moving to her second position, she was promoted to Senior Engineer.  She’s now hoping that her next promotion is right around the corner as she is looking at job postings in other groups.

Stephanie was more of a “stay put” kind of person in her engineering department.  Granted her first assignment wasn’t too exciting (as is the case in most entry level jobs), but she hung with it and in her second year, she found some interesting cost savings on a product that hadn’t changed for decades.  Although she was supposed to just “baby sit” this mature product – she presented her idea to her boss and it was actually implemented.  This cost savings earned the attention of her upper management and she too was promoted to Senior Engineer.

Flash forward several months to two everyday scenarios:
Scenario 1: A new team is being formed to work on designing the brand new WidgetMaster 9000.  (Doesn’t it bother you when I don’t get more specific?)  As the engineering managers look around; who do they choose to be on their team?  Mary-The-Mover?  Stay-Put-Stephanie?
Scenario 2: A million-dollar-a-day warranty problem hits in another department and additional engineers need to be deployed to help solve the problem.  Who do they choose to be on their team?  Mary-the-mover?  Stay-put-Stephanie?

Now some situations may be different, but the majority of the time, I’d put my money on Stay-Put-Stephanie.  She’s demonstrated the ability to “go deep” and depth is very a rare commodity in many of today’s engineering environments.  While Mary became a generalist; Stephanie became a specialist.  When you go to your doctor and he can’t figure things out where does he send you?  To the specialist.

Many companies have a two-path approach: managerial or technical – personally I think there should be some middle ground between them.  However as you think about your engineering career trajectory – where do you want to land?  That should ultimately guide your movement – or lack of movement within an organization or between organizations. 

I talk to lots of companies that struggle with retaining bright, young engineers.  That can be attributed to the companies themselves and their ability (or inability) to encourage, challenge, motivate and reward.  However, it can also be attributed to the “short sightedness” of many engineers.  The concept of “depth” is not necessarily valued as much as it should be.  So let me give you a few reasons to hang in there and “go deep”:

1.  Increased knowledge.  Spending time in an area means more time to learn about that particular technology.  Use that time!  Learn about what goes into making your product.  Learn about the areas that your product touches.  Learn about the history of your product.  Learn what others (or competitors) are doing with their versions of your product.  Learn what the biggest problems are with your product. Spend some time thinking about “what would the world be like without your product”.  Try designing your product if nothing ever existed.  Think about your product’s function and find 5 other things that have the same function but are totally unrelated (for example from nature or other industries).

2.  Increased reputation.  Staying in a department and “going deep” gives you more opportunity to deepen your “brand” as an engineer.  Not only do you have the chance to get smarter (see #1), you also have more opportunities to show off your abilities.  Reputation can be thought of as “that thing which you are known for” and reputation can be reinforced with repeated successes. 

3.  Layoff Prevention.  Let’s face it.  Economies change and sometime people lose their jobs. By becoming the resident expert in a specific area, you are perceived as more valuable.  In many cases it is preferred to keep the specialist as opposed to the generalist.  Generalists can be hired when needed; specialists take time and effort to develop.  Furthermore, the loss of the specialist’s knowledge can be much harder for the company to deal with.

4.  Peter-Principle Prevention.  I have a good friend who is a high-ranking executive in a Fortune 500 company.  He and I were talking about the topic of “when should someone make a career move?” and he offered some great advice.  (No wonder he’s where he is today!)  In his mind, you should move only when you feel that you’ve learned all you can and have mastered your current position.  In business school there is talk of the “Peter Principle”.  This is the principle that states: “people are promoted to their level of incompetency”.  In other words, people will always be promoted until they wind up in a job that they can no longer handle.  Then they are stuck there (often miserably) for the remainder of their career.  By staying put and going deep before a promotion, you guarantee that you hit the next promotion level with an added degree of knowledge – thereby holding Mr. Peter and his Principle at bay.

Keep on rockin.

Jamming with a Legend

If you want to get good at something… hang out with someone that is already good at it.

Recently, a friend of mine that plays guitar was talking about wanting to hang out with some great guitar players – just to see how they do what they do.  A few days later another friend was talking about improving at tennis by playing against better players.  This got me thinking about the importance of learning from or just plain hanging out with the “gurus” or “legends” that may be sitting in the very next cubicle.

Several years ago, (too many years to count) as I was just a few weeks out of college, I had a chance to work with “Tom”.  He was one of those “gurus” that helped shape my career trajectory in ways that were unimaginable at the time. 

At that time, Tom had been with the company almost as long as I had been alive and had worked his way into a technical advisor kind of role – dealing only with special (that is “crisis”) kinds of projects.  He was one of those slow, methodical and meticulous kinds of guys that would spend hours studying a problem and testing theories.  You’ve probably seen or at least heard stories about this kind of guy… the guy where a “cluttered” office means that he happened to have one extra piece of paper on his desk next to his notepad and computer keyboard and monitor.  (I, on the other hand, tend to migrate towards a natural habitat of not being able to even see my desktop surface.)
As a young engineer, I was able to work with Tom on special projects and I was able to take in some valuable lessons.  Here are just a few:

1. Every pixel counts.
We were working on a huge multi-million dollar problem and were dealing with the analysis and presentation of 1000’s of data sets.  Tom emphasized the importance of presenting data in a clean, concise and understandable way.  If you don’t pay attention to the way you present your results, what will cause your audience to trust your results?  He was the first person that encouraged me to work toward “elegance” in solutions and their presentation.  Later I discovered the work of Edward Tufte (of whom I'm now a big fan) and this totally reinforced those previously learned lessons. 

2. Build your brand
When you are in front of an audience – either “live” in a room or “remotely” via documents or email that you’ve created; you have a chance to build a reputation.  As you think about your audience (and, yes – that means you should be thinking about your audience) what do you want your work to say about who you are and what you bring to the table?

3. Take your time
I’m assuming I’m among friends here, so I can admit this… I’m a very “type A” kind of person.  Generally I work at two speeds: fast and faster.  When I shut down, I generally shut completely down and go totally “offline” only to re-engage at some later time right back at full speed.  In the classic Tortoise and Hare fable I’m definitely the hare.  This kind of duty cycle is tough on machinery and is pretty tough on people as well.  My time with various engineering gurus throughout my career has revealed on common trait in them: they are not afraid to roll up their sleeves and dig deep into a problem... and stay "in deep" for a long time if needed.  They are not generally inclined to go with the first, impulsive answer; they take their time to find the “right” answer.
 
Now for some of you, those three lessons may not be earth shattering.  Nonetheless, those lessons were exactly what I needed at that specific time in my career.  However, beyond those specifics, I think there is an even bigger general lesson to be learned:

You need to spend time with mentor or a guru.

No matter where you are in your career, there is always someone that can make you better.  World class athletes need coaches in order to perfect their physical abilities.  World class engineers also need coaches or “mentors” in order to perfect their effectiveness.  Sometimes you can get lucky like I did and be able to spend some serious time with a mentor.  Other times you may need to seek out a small window of opportunity with a “guru”.  Here are some ideas for making it happen:

1. Identify a person that you can learn something from. 
This is probably the most important step.  Some gurus can help you with something as general as “dealing with management” while other gurus might be able to help you with “partial differential equations”.  These may not necessarily person, nor will you necessarily need input from the same guru at the same time.

2. Let them know where you are coming from.
Telling a person that you want to learn from them can be a huge compliment for them.  It lets them know that they are valued and it may help open the door for their sharing this ability with you.  This is a great way of “building a bridge” to them in cases where you may not know each other very well to start with.

3. Establish a small (make that a “very small”) commitment and…
4. be the one to keep that commitment.
I love the story about how Christine Comaford met with Steve Jobs for just a few minutes in order to ask him a few key questions.  She sent (even FedEx'd) letter after letter indicating the desire to spend just 5 minutes with Jobs.  In the end Jobs finally conceded and they met.  After the predetermined 5 minutes, she stood up and thanked Jobs for his time.  Jobs told her to sit back down and they continued to talk for another 45 minutes.  This is a great lesson in showing respect for a guru and can even help establish a solid relationship whereby further interactions can take place.  My advice – try a lunch with a guru.  When the time ends, thank the person and pick up the check.

5. Find someone that you can mentor and build up.
The best way to really learn something is to teach it.  This is true in the mentoring dynamics.  As you grow as a rockstar engineer, find someone that you can build into and help them grow as well.  This helps you better understand the sage/student relationship and ultimately can make you a better student.  Furthermore, mentoring a young engineer is the absolute best way I know to stay “mentally young”.

Too many people become engineers because they are brilliant, independent-minded, can tackle tough problems and can create amazing products and solutions.  Unfortunately, this independence (the same attribute that can launch a great engineering career) can also completely squelch such a career when an engineer doesn’t choose to spend some time “rocking with the legends”.

Rock on.

Party Like a Rockstar

This week the 2011 Punkin Chunkin World Championships are being televised.    No, those aren’t spelling errors – that’s the actual name of a rather strange competition.  In this competition, a bunch of completely crazy, bizarrely creative, and yet amazingly smart guys and girls get together to see how far they can launch a pumpkin.  Sorry, did I say pumpkin?   For this event, they’re called “punkins.”

As I watched this, one thing struck me… these guys are having an absolute blast!  Even when a pumpkin shatters during the launch (they call it "making pie”), they still keep smiles on their faces and just get to work making things ready for the next round.  As most reality shows go, there is a lot of great behind-the-scenes footage showing the teams actually designing and building their machines.  They are laser-focused on one goal: make a pumpkin fly as far as it possibly can.  However, you also get to see that there is a ton of laughing, smiling, joking and more high-fives than you can count.  Team interviews are filled with comments like “this is what I live for,” “I put 110% into this,” “once I chunked a punkin, I knew I wanted to chunk punkins for rest of my life.” 

Teams have crazy names like: “Bad to the Bone,” “United Flingdom,” “Pumpkin Slayer,” “Sir Chunks a-Lot.”  Chunkin legend “Fat Jimmy” even has his own dance. 

This brings a rockstar engineer question to mind:

When was the last time you had this kind of fun while working on an engineering team? 

Or, let me put this in terms of numbers (since you are engineers after all)…

How many high fives are given in your team meetings?

I'll just cut to the chase here: I think fun brings energy and energy fuels every aspect of the engineering process. 

Now some of the Harvard MBAs out there will say (most likely while looking down their up-turned noses) “this is an example of a social dynamic best described as synergy.”  My response to that is: “Yeah, yeah, yeah.  Blah, blah, blah.”  I almost hate to use that s-word as it is way overused in business and I don’t want this blog to be classified as “just another guy talking about the same old buzzword.”  Did you realize that in the linked web page they used the S-word four times in the opening paragraph alone?  So let’s not even use the S-word.  Let’s just talk about bringing energy and focus to a team meeting or a team environment. 

Here are some tips:

1. Have a crystal clear goal sentence. 
Yes, I said sentence… singular.  Organizations are crippled when they have too many objectives.  The same is true for your team.

Examples:

    Make a pumpkin fly as far as it can. 
    Fit a square carbon dioxide filter into a round hole (see Apollo 13) 

2. Realize that there is value in each person in the room. 
Several years ago I was in a group of “specialists.”  Each of us had our own not-too-related-specialty and yet the cross-discipline collaboration was amazing.  There were no significant egos at play and the sharing of ideas was tremendous.  I was working in dimensional measurement, yet I learned a mathematical trick from a fluid dynamics specialist that I still incorporate in many of my projects today. 

When I visit companies, I often find that the “lowest” person on the corporate ladder is the one who is the closest to the solution of the problem.  This person actually has his or her hands on the machine or measuring instrument and therefore often has knowledge that others don’t take the time to tap into.

3. Ask dumb questions. 
As a consultant, I’m typically, the “outside guy” in a meeting.  This gives me the opportunity to ask the dumb questions.  In fact this gives me a huge advantage in a meeting and my “dumb questions” often get people talking in a way that they wouldn’t have otherwise.  A few years ago I was teaching a class in a very high tech Silicon Valley research center.  Just about every person I met in the room had a Ph.D. (or more) in some far-out aspect of physics, quantum mechanics or physical chemistry.  Everybody, but one guy, that is. 

As I was teaching, this one, non-doctor guy would stop me and ask an occasional question.  When he did, an amazing dynamic happened in the room... just about all of these "doctors" seemed to exhale a sigh of relief as if saying “yeah, I wanted to ask that, but I was afraid to.”  After the session I found out that this one “non-doctor” was their vice president.  He was the rockstar in the room because he wasn’t afraid to ask questions.

4. Throw some dumb solutions out there. 
The most creative of teams have something like an “umbrella of grace” kind of policy.  I originally heard of this concept from Bill Hybels at what is now called Global Leadership Summit and it is a very powerful tool.  This “umbrella of grace” policy means that there are no dumb ideas and grace is extended to anyone who puts forth an idea.  In some departments the “no dumb ideas” thing is often just a cliché.  However, great teams really embrace this concept. Sure there may be some joking along the way, but the bottom line is that all ideas are respected as even the weirdest one may lead to something great.  In fact, you can take advantage of this concept by using this approach the next time you put forth an an idea in a group setting:  “OK I need an umbrella of grace here... what if we try _____?” 

This approach provides for two, powerful dynamics.  First, it makes it clear that you are being vulnerable and this idea may not be totally thought out.  Second, it gives the audience a less threatening presentation of your idea in the form of a question.  This question encourages discussion rather than a “sales pitch” which encourages criticism.  Presenting ideas in their earliest, most unrefined form (rather than waiting for all of the data to come in), allows others in the room to jump in and adopt them as their own.  For a person to put energy into a solution, they need to feel some ownership.  Having more people on board with your ideas, makes for more energy and for a better solution.  And let’s face it: full rock bands can typically make a lot more sound than a solo artist.

5. Now for the big one:  Laugh. 
Yes, laugh.  When you are dealing with the deepest aspects of science like physics and chemistry, laugh.  When your pumpkin "pies" instead of flying 4000 feet, laugh. When you are dealing with the biggest warranty problem that your company has ever faced, laugh.  Laugh your head off.  Laugh until someone wets their pants.  OK, maybe just up to the point where someone is about to wet their pants.
I want to make a very important note here: you don’t have to be “off-color” to be funny.  In fact rude or profane humor can do far more damage than you might ever know.  Your audience may give courtesy laughter, but underneath they are probably distancing themselves from you.

Laughter brings energy.  The TV show M.A.S.H. was a comedy set in a mobile military hospital in South Korea during the Korean war.  For these doctors and nurses, even in the scariest, bloodiest, most gruesome moments – humor is what kept them going.  Some scientists have suggested that laughter actually gets more oxygen to your brain.  

Hold it!  Don’t start Googling for the joke of the day or start digging through your favorite old Dilbert comics.  Humor that is real and energizing doesn’t necessarily come from the Internet; it comes from getting comfortable with those around you.  Humor that is real and energizing comes spontaneously and is best when it comes from a person that is willing to let his guard down.  Here are some quick ideas for making it happen:  Self deprecation (picking on yourself rather than others) is always safe – in fact I encourage it.  Real rockstar engineers don’t need to tell people how good they are – they can take shots at themselves and in doing so they build bridges with others.  Another powerful tool is one that a friend of mine refers to as “teasing up”.  In other words, when teasing others tease them about how super-great they are rather than cutting them down with sarcastic humor.  Sarcastic and insulting humor is the easiest and one of the lowest forms of humor.  Rockstar engineers don't need to stoop to that level.  "Teasing up" is also relatively easy, but do be careful about crossing the line into sarcasm. 

Saying, “Hey Bill, you’re the closest we’ve got to an Einstein here.  What do you think about _____?” is a way of teasing up.  On the other hand saying, “Nice one, Einstein” could be a very sarcastic way of cutting someone down.  One last note: Be sure there is at least a tiny nugget of truth when teasing up and you will become a great energy catalyst in your meetings.


Bringing it all together…

I have friends who are musicians in various bands and they sometimes talk about when it just “works.”  “We had great time last night at practice.  We wanted to stick around all night and just jam.”  Unfortunately, this isn’t always the case.  Hopefully, some of these tips will help to make those “engineering jam sessions” happen more often.  But when you are stuck in a room and things aren’t clicking, try to shake things up.  If you still don’t get there, take a break or call it off (if possible). 
One of the most common outcomes of a meeting without energy is the dreaded M-word… mediocrity.  And mediocrity is not the stuff of rockstar legends.

So get the team together, have a few laughs, crank up the amps to “11,” go launch a pumpkin and get your team rockin.

Maybe they will even name a dance after you!

Your Opening Act – The Handshake

"You never get a second chance to make a first impression” (often attributed to Will Rogers... but nobody can be sure where it came from)  

Last week my two football worlds collided.     

Having grown up in Michigan I was genetically engineered to have a soft place in my heart for the Detroit Lions.  However, when moving to Indiana several years ago, I became a fan of the Indianapolis Colts.  This year, things got pretty messed up when the Colts started losing and the Lions started winning – but that’s another story.

Back to the collision...

When I started getting interested in the Colts, their quarterback was Jim Harbaugh – who now coaches the San Francisco 49ers.  This past Sunday he coached the 49ers to a victory over the... (drumroll please) Detroit Lions – who were undefeated going into the game. After the game Harbaugh was pretty pumped up with the win and things got out of hand in the most unlikely of places: the coach’s handshake. 

This got me thinking about the concept of a “handshake”: a seemingly trivial action that typically lasts no more than a second or two.  However, in that second or two an enormous amount of information is conveyed about who you are as a person.

So let’s talk about some ways to rock the handshake.

1.   All hands are worthy of a shake
My first “corporate job” was during a time and in a department where you did the “corporate look” - you know the kind: white shirt, tie, sport coat and all that phony “dress up” stuff.  Once I was with my boss, Bill, in a manufacturing plant.  We were in our white shirts and ties, walking past one of the machines and Bill stopped to talk to one of the workers.  The guy looked like he just crawled out from under the machine.  He was filthy from grease, grime and who knows what else.  Nonetheless, Bill stuck out his hand and introduced himself.  The guy apologized for being dirty and resisted the handshake.  Bill persisted with “I never have a problem shaking a working man’s hand”.  They shook hands and I followed suit.  Guess what:  hands can be washed. 

I’m thankful for Bill’s influence – he taught me (by example) to build bridges with people.   That approach has led me to many successes as an engineer and a consultant.

2.   Be the “starter”
Be the one who extends the hand – no matter the audience.  This shows leadership and confidence.  Start anticipating a handshake before even walking in the room.  Get your hands out of your pockets.  Wipe them off if you’ve got sweaty palms... and stick it out there!  It only takes a second, but in that second, you’ve conveyed a big message.

3.   Be the “ender”
A handshake that goes too long is just plain creepy.  About 1-2 seconds is long enough in most settings.  Check out this one at about the 1:15 point: www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ml8Q_qZxWLE.  In Germany it is customary to shake hand with everyone when entering a room.  These guys have it down to a science – a firm grab, one shake, and then move on to the next person.  A typical “American” hand shake is between 1-2 “pumps”.
 
OK, we’re engineers, we need the physics:

The “lock”
This is probably the most important part of the handshake.  If you don’t get all the way “in”, you will be in the position of having your fingers grabbed, much like a princess having her hand held to be kissed.  That is definitely not the position for a rockstar to be in.  Here’s a tip: you can avoid being the “princess” if you can get into the “thumb lock” position. 

Sometimes you have to go in fast if the other person is a “grabber”.  But if you obey rule #2 above, you’ll be ahead of the game.  Prior to the squeeze, get your thumb-to-forefinger webs into contact.  This tip can provide a huge help for women or people who are shaking a hand that’s much bigger than your own.  Remember, this is a “hand” shake, not a “finger” shake.

The “pressure”
A friend of mine is a professor and he actually teaches international students how to shake hands per the “American style” and most if it has to do with “pressure”.  I still vividly remember a job interview where a high ranking executive actually made my knuckles crack.  This guy wasn’t big, but he had a serious grip.  A firm grip is good builds bridges.  A knuckle cracker builds walls between people.  A wussy handshake (like a dead fish) is worse than no handshake at all. 

So how much is right?  That is a great question.  The best I can say is “firm”.  As a starting point, pick up a gallon of milk.  That requires a “firm” grip.   A handshake is a sort of “dance” – you have to work with you partner.  Firm will feel different in different contexts.  The good news is that you body has an amazing control system it can sense and react – but you have to be in tune.  

The “eyes” have it
The last element of the handshake actually has nothing to do with the hands at all.  It’s your eyes.  I’m basically a shy person when it comes to eye contact and I have to consciously work on my eyes when speaking with others.  One trick I’ve learned to try to notice the color of the person’s eyes while shaking their hand.  This gives my eyes a task to perform and helps me to focus on something. 

People know when you are paying attention to them and one of the best ways that they know this is from your eyes.  Another trick that helps connect is to somehow say their name during the handshake.  “It’s nice to meet you, Chad.”  “It’s good to see you again, Kathy?”  “Good morning, Joe.”

So get out there and practice...

Rockstars put in their time rehearsing and improving.  The best way to perfect your craft is to practice your craft.  So don’t be afraid, shake some hands.  You may even be able to shake up some new confidence or even a new image for yourself!  And if you ever find yourself on an NFL football field after beating the Detroit Lions, perhaps you’ll do better than Jim did.

Rock on.

For further reading check out:
http://www.sideroad.com/Business_Etiquette/handshake-etiquette.html

http://www.thedailymind.com/how-to/the-perfect-handshake-how-to-shake-hands-like-jfk-and-make-an-impression/

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y7HJ3RDYPVc (advice from an "expert")

Let's get ready to rock...

Person 1.     Wow, Frank sure is a jerk.

Person 2      Well, he is an engineer after all.

Person 1       Oh, that explains it.

Throughout my life as an engineer I’ve heard that kind of exchange numerous times.  In fact, having heard that kind of “he’s an engineer” exchange three different times in the past week I’ve decided it’s time to spill my guts on the topic.

Some people wear the title “Engineer” with great pride; and rightfully so – they’ve worked hard to earn that title.  Some have gone through many years of study in colleges and universities, other have done hard time in the school of hard knocks.  All are part of an elite group that society looks to as the ones who “make things happen”.  If you hold the title “engineer” I applaud you for your achievements and am excitedly waiting and watching to see your contributions to society.

Unfortunately, “Engineer” has a dark side.  To some, holding the title “engineer” seems to somehow give them the right to be a complete...   well, let's keep this to a PG-13 rating and say "jerk". 

So take this “am I a jerk of an engineer” quiz:

Rate the following statements based on the scale:

0 = totally disagree
1 = rarely
2 = sometimes
3 = I’m 50-50 on this
4 = most of the time
5 = totally agree

1.       I think that the world is full of idiots.

2.       The world would be a better place if everybody thought as I do.

3.       It doesn’t matter how I look or smell

4.       I don’t have to get input from those below me.

5.       I’m not going to dumb it down for you.  If you can’t understand, it’s your problem.

6.       Management is all stupid.

7.       I don’t care what the customer says.

8.       They’re late.  Even if they are important, I’m going to start without them.

9.       I’m really good at, and enjoy, finding flaws in other people’s work

10.   This test is a waste of time and none of these questions matter.

OK, I’m not going to do the “add up your scores” thing.  You are engineers and you should be able to take an average (especially since there are 10 questions).  So for scoring let’s just say if your average is anything over a 1.25, you need to stop and consider “are you really as effective as you can be?”.  If you are above the 2.0 level, you really need to assess where you are in terms of being a full-out, pain-in-the-butt-to-be-around jerk-o-saurus.

Let me say that again, if you rank high in jerk-icity, chances are you are not going to be effective as an engineer.  And here’s a hint – engineering is about “effectiveness”. 

I’m in the field of metrology – the science of measurement.  Thus to me, the concept of measurement is very important.  As a good engineer you rely on measurement.  Measurement provides data and data is stuff of decision making.  You may have seen the sign:

In God we Trust.  All others must present data.

So how do we measure an engineer?  What are the attributes that matter most?  In 17xx, Lord Kelvin said that which we measure, we can control.  So what attributes would you measure in an engineer and hope to control or improve upon?

Here are some thoughts:

Intelligence.  This is a great attribute for an engineer.  It’s pretty much a prerequisite for being an engineer.  But, intelligence alone doesn’t get stuff done.  In fact an over abundance of intelligence may come along with a bit of arrogance.

Creativity. This is a terrific thing and can help you get “out of the box” when solving problems and designing the next biggest thing.  But artists are creative (don’t get me wrong here – I love the arts), but most artists don’t make good engineers.

An analytical mind.  This is a tool that must be in every engineer’s tool box – the ability to look at things from different angles and perceive different realities and outcomes.  Unfortunately, too much of this can lead to the dreaded “analysis paralysis” and once again nothing gets done.

Thoroughness. This is another admirable trait.  By being thorough a good engineer ensuring that his or her products and projects will be complete, reliable, functional and that no detail will be missed.  Again we find the “too much of a good thing” syndrome when we look at the attribute of thoroughness.  Engineering is often about managing risk to find an optimal solution not an ideal solution.  Ideal solutions don’t generally exist.  Thus an over emphasis on thoroughness could ultimately cripple a project.

I would argue the each of the above traits are important, however they are all subservient to the greater measure of an engineer:

Effectiveness

Every attribute described above can ultimately suffer from the “too much of a good thing” syndrome.  However, effectiveness cannot suffer in this way.  The more effective we are, the better we ultimately are.

While being a jerk, you can attain some level of effectiveness.  However, if you want to see exponential effectiveness results and truly be a rockstar engineer, you need to start thinking outside the box in terms of several areas.  These areas are not related to chemical reactions, physical properties or mathematics.  They are related to human dynamics – something that isn’t generally taught in engineering schools.

Being a jerk means taking the easy way out.  Ignoring people takes less effort than engaging with them.  But just like Newton said – actions equal reactions.  If you invest in people there will, most likely be a reaction.  If you invest in breaking down relational barriers, your effectiveness can be improved through better relationships.  If you invest in your image, your outside perceptions can improve.

I want to challenge you to consider some non-engineering principles in the upcoming posts.  These are principles that can boost your “street cred” and ultimately help you skyrocket into engineering rockstardom.  These aren’t rocket science, but they do make scientific sense.
So let’s get ready to rock…