Explore every episode of the podcast Engineering Leadership

Matt Needy is Vice President of Navy Programs for Huntington Ingalls Industries, America’s largest military shipbuilding company and a provider of professional services to partners in government and industry. Matt obtained his bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering, and he chose Optimism as his topic.

3-Bullet Summary

• Optimism creates a highly motivated workforce.
• A part of being optimistic is having a well thought out plan. 
• Being conscious and self aware helps you not to give in to emotions.

3 Quotes

1. “Optimism is essential for you to motivate that team, and nobody wants to work for a pessimistic person.”
2. “The basis for optimism really starts with being real.”
3. “Early in your career, you have to be working on your EQ or your emotional intelligence, as well as your IQ.”

Susan Hertzberg is CEO of BrainScope. BrainScope is a medical neurotechnology company that is pioneering the objective assessment of brain injury. 

She was named an Entrepreneur of the Year in 2014 by Ernst and Young.  Susan’s undergraduate degree is in Psychology and she chose the topic of Anticipate.

3-Bullet Summary

1. As a leader, you should be able to evaluate your team members and how they will contribute to the team. This data collection is the start of anticipation.
2. Every person has a story to tell. Learn from those stories because this will greatly help you to predict behaviour.
3. Work culture is a social contract for how you’re going to engage.

3 Quotes

• “Your job as a leader is to help guide that team to be as effective and efficient as they can in that endeavour.”
• “Every single thing you learn, you will later use again.”
• “Be a life-long learner and be open to learning not just from leaders but the people designated as leaders.”

Eric Martinez is the CEO of Modjoul, a national company that creates wearable technology to keep employees safe.  His interest in workplace safety and productivity led him to start this innovative company. 

Eric is a mechanical engineer, and he chose the topic of Challenge.

3-Bullet Summary

• Learn the business from the ground up.
• Always be curious and don’t let the embarrassment of asking a question get in the way.
• Building close relationships with your peers can be invaluable when seeking a promotion. 

3 Quotes

1. “There is always a time where someone will need you to speak up and say “Hey, this is a problem”.”
2. “If you settle on a solution too early you may not get to the complete truth. Openness and transparency lead to problem solving and getting to the right answer.”
3. “Sometimes it’s your peers who get you promoted first. Then, your boss hears those praises from where you've supported them and that propels you into the next position.”

Yamini Rangan is the Chief Customer Officer with HubSpot. 

HubSpot is a leading customer relationship management platform that provides software and support to help businesses grow better. 

She’s led the marketing, sales, and services teams throughout her career...all focused around the customer. 

She is a computer engineer and she chose the topic of Engage.

3-Bullet Summary

1. Leadership can be taught and can be learned. It's not something that is just for a few people that are born with it.
2. The fundamental job of a leader is to provide a clarifying, inspiring vision for the future. Then provide the right context for people to achieve their best.
3. Be yourself in your business by embracing your authentic leadership style. 

3 Quotes

• A lot of us go through that process of soul searching, doubting ourselves, and figuring out 'if this is actually going to work'. There's a completely different playbook, and part of the playbook is thinking about the future differently."
• "For me, it came down to authenticity. So not engaging and charming 50 people at the same time.  What I found comfort in is that I could engage really well, one on one and roundtables of 10-15 people.
• "As an introvert, you might beat yourself up... 'My god, I’ve got to present or be  someone different in front of others.' No, actually, be yourself."

Ed Rose is the CEO of Mason Industrial Technology, a mergers and acquisitions and growth company specializing in the advanced materials and specialty chemicals industries. He is passionate about turning customer’s complex challenges into possibilities. Ed obtained his bachelor’s degree in Civil Engineering, and he chose the topic of Agile.

3-Bullet Summary

• Being able to look ahead to the future and plan accordingly is a part of being agile.
• Avoid over analyzing things. This will help you move quicker.
• If you’re not failing, you’re not moving forward.

3 Quotes

1. At the end of the day, we want our leaders to be technically curious or market curious. So there’s always a ‘What if we did that differently’, and it’s hard then things are going good because the focus is on execution.”
2. “If they aren’t failing enough, they’re not pushing ahead fast or big enough.”
3. “Your instincts are much better than you think.”

Bill Malloy is President of Malloy and Company. His organization’s purpose is to foster innovation that directs positive change into communities. He’s also founded a venture capital firm that has core values and a strong culture at its center. Bill’s undergraduate degree is in Engineering from Clemson, and he chose the topic of Driving Results.

3-Bullet Summary

1. Understanding your purpose in business is critical and will help you to build a more solid product.
2. If someone is thinking of going into a corporate world, they should start early and not be afraid to ask a lot of questions.
3. When taking an entrepreneurial route you have to be willing to fail, and fail early.

3 Quotes

• “When I meet with an entrepreneur or I'm meeting with another founder, everything that we're talking about instantly changes as we walk out the door - the competitive landscape changes, the funding dynamics change, our internal dynamics change. So what really leads to that execution component, is laying the plans. And, at the same time being nimble enough to adjust as you take in your new variables.”
• “Prioritization and focus separates the highly successful companies from the ones that fail."
• “You have to figure out [...]your defined niche that your product is going to solve and how can you make money doing that.”

Brent Beason is CEO and President of B&W Fiber Glass, a global producer of advanced solutions focused on high performance textiles and textile components. He is passionate about having engineers who ‘know how to dream.”

Brent has a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering and he chose the topic of Resolute.

3-Bullet Summary

1. Empathetic communication with your employees is the best way to build strong teams that are driven to achieve more.
2. When you are passionate about what you do, it draws the world’s attention.
3. As a leader, it’s incredibly important to measure and mark your words very carefully. You shouldn’t give in to emotions.

3 Quotes

• “I think that the number one aspect of a leader is; your ability to be mentally tough, no matter what the situation is, no matter what you're facing.”
• “My number one joy in life is to see someone work their way up from the shop floor to our front offices...I truly believe that's my greatest legacy.”
• “No matter the difficult situation you must consider a favorable outcome for all the stakeholders.”

Michael Posillico is a Principal with Posillico, Inc., a third-generation family owned business that is one of the top engineering contracting firms in New York.  His company has led major heavy construction and public works projects, like the Reconstruction of the Long Island Expressway.  Michael is a Civil Engineer and he chose the topic of Elevate.

3-Bullet Summary

1. It’s important to find people who are hungry to learn and give them mentorship so they accelerate in their fields.
2. In order to grow your business, you need to invest and mentor your employees and teach them the skills that they need to develop
3. It’s key to maintain a positive attitude. Giving back to others sets a path for a great day.

3 Quotes

• “Mentoring is a big opportunity to accelerate leadership skills.”
• “If you’re going to lead an organization, you must find ways to accelerate the learning of your employees.”
• “If we're not elevating them [employees] up, we're not growing our business.”

Karthick Iyer is the Vice President of Engineering for NVIDIA, a global computer hardware company that has pioneered the PC gaming market and is modernizing Artificial Intelligence for worldwide usages in healthcare, accelerated computing, robotics, game development, autonomous cars and more. 

Karthick obtained his masters degree in Computer Science, and he chose Teach & Learn as his topic.

3-Bullet Summary

• Change is always there so you need to keep adapting and learning.
• Discussing and understanding the mistakes made helps leaders not repeat them again.
• Companies should work effectively on providing learning opportunities for the employees.

3 Quotes

1. “Bringing people together and leveraging communication are the fundamental pillars that Jensen (CEO of Nvidia) reinforces with us.”
2. “When leaders make mistakes, the people who end up paying the price are the employees.”
3. “People do make mistakes, and you can use mistakes as a launching pad or a stepping stone.”

Deb Conklin is the CEO of Reddy Ice, the largest manufacturer and distributor of packaged ice in the United States.

She is passionate about continuous improvement and lean fundamentals. She attributes these as the key to success for her company. Deb is an industrial engineer and she chose the topic of Inspire.

3-Bullet Summary

• You can be the smartest person or have the best strategy, but it’s not enough if you can't inspire people.
• You earn people’s trust by inspiring them.
• If you’re too focused on being right and being smarter than everybody else, you’ve already failed.

3 Quotes

1. “If people don’t believe, you can’t influence the outcome.”
2. “You earn trust by having people believe in your mission and inspiring them.”
3. “When you’re not trusted or you’re not believed in, it doesn’t matter how great your plan is.”

Charlie Blackwell-Thompson is the Launch Director for NASA’s Exploration Ground Systems Program. She is the first female launch director at NASA and is leading the launch for Artemis, the mission to get back to the moon. Charlie obtained her bachelor’s degree in Computer Engineering, and she chose a very appropriate topic…Mission.

3-Bullet Summary

• Break your mission into smaller, achievable steps.
• Sometimes you’ll have to change direction as part of your mission.
• A leader’s communication skills play an important role in every successful mission.

3 Quotes

1. “To me, mission answers the big questions of who we are, what we are about.”
2. “I knew as soon as I walked in that room that I wanted to work here, I wanted to get a seat in that room, and so I had that moment where there was no doubt for me.”
3. “There are no unimportant roles as we get ready for launch, every role is important, every job is important.”

Dan Davidenko is the CEO of Phoenix Lighting, an Atlanta-based company that designs and manufactures LED lighting fixtures for some of the world’s harshest environments.  

Dan obtained his bachelor’s degree in Electrical Engineering, and he chose Goals as his topic.

3-Bullet Summary

• Every success in your life and career has been accomplished because of the goals you set along the way.
• Smart goals are specific, measurable, achievable, realistic and time-based.
• In order to motivate people you should put in place realistic goals that are achievable.

3 Quotes

1. “The best thing about mistakes is learning not to make that same mistake again.”
2. “But, at the end of the day, you want to motivate people so you’re putting, hopefully, realistic, attainable goals in place.”
3. “Part of the key thing with goals, that it’s having a reward they’re tied with in some way, shape or form.”

Bob Hambright is a former CEO of Balfour Beatty Construction, a leading international infrastructure and construction company. He is passionate about the topic of leadership and has invested in furthering leadership development within Clemson University and beyond. Bob is a mechanical engineer and he chose the topic of Values.

3-Bullet Summary

• Values determine how you view yourself and how you view others.
• Curiosity makes you smarter and a lot more interesting
• Be who you are and don’t try to be somebody else.

3 Quotes

1. “Values determine who you are.”
2. “It’s hard to short cut hard work.”
3. “If you do what your core tells you to do, things will work out for you.”

Nat Natarajan is EVP and Chief Product and Technology Officer for Ancestory.com, the World's largest online family history resource. 

He strongly believes that love has a meaningful context in the leadership arena. 

Nat is an industrial engineer from Clemson, and he chose the constant of Love.

3-Bullet Summary

1. The only thing that will get you through leadership challenges is love for people and passion for your craft.
2. Passion and love are synonymous.
3. To be a manager and a leader you need to think about others.

3 Quotes

• “The job for a leader is to bend a curve. Bend the curve into a future that is uncertain and different from what it was before.”
• “In my career, I found that if I have an attitude or perspective of love towards an individual, towards a human being, towards the team, I’m able to get to a better outcome.”
• “Ultimately, the joy that I get from helping people is what keeps me in leadership.”

Virendra Vase is an Angel Investor, Technology Advisor and Executive Coach. He has previously worked as an executive with Salesforce, Yahoo and Life 360. Virendra is a Computer Engineer, and he chose the topic of Humility.

3-Bullet Summary

1. Humility sets a good leader apart from the rest.
2. Vulnerability is the greatest measure of courage.
3. Great leaders use humility to inspire shared vision. Humility is not a sign of weakness. Humility is the greatest sign of strength.

3 Quotes

• “I've seen so many leaders that make it about themselves. Here, in Silicon Valley, where I spent my entire professional career, there's a lot of ego and pride. And I can tell you the leaders that have impressed me the most are the ones with the smallest ego and did not make it about themselves.”
• “What sort of legacy do I want to build? Do I want to have people say ‘he makes it all about himself’, or ‘it's awesome, because he makes it about me’.”
• “The leaders are all about the team. It's not really about me. How can I inspire shared vision? And you do that by shining the light on somebody else.”

Tony Mathis is the Chief Executive Officer with GE Edison Works and Military Systems Operation. 

Tony is an Air Force veteran officer with a flight test engineering background. He has over 25 years with General Electric and became the creator of the GE Edison Works business. He chose Courage as his topic.

3-Bullet Summary

1. Learning to feel comfortable in uncomfortable situations is an act of courage.
2. You only grow when you go outside of your comfort zone.
3. Being intelligent is not enough. First, you should understand the context of the business you’re in, and then use your intellect to help shape the company's vision. 

3 Quotes

• “You really must be thoughtful about what you go after, how you go after it, and understand that a lot of our customers’ lives actually depend on what we do and how we do it.”
• “Being uncomfortable is just like any other muscle; the more you exercise that, the better you get at it.”
• My biggest fear is that I get so far away from customers, so far away from the product, that we're now making big decisions about running a business totally disconnected from the real world.”

Carl Schlachte is the Chairman, President and CEO of Ventiva. Ventiva is a privately held company that designs and develops active thermal management technologies assisting in the cooling of consumer applications in diverse areas such as mobile, power electronics, and LED lighting.

His leadership in corporate turnarounds, acquisitions, IPOs, and building successful companies has made him a national “go to” for media, analysts and industry leaders. 

Carl obtained his bachelor’s degree in Computer Science and he chose the topic of Trust.

3-Bullet Summary

• Team’s perform best when there’s trust.
• You don’t need to work overtime to prove your company is doing something amazing.
• Confidence and trust are not synonymous.

3 Quotes

1. “I always felt like [...] I was performing best when I was getting the opportunity to know, connect, put context around people that I was working with and for.”
2. “There is pressure in a high tech company to get a very immediate flashy result.”
3. “I think a lot of people have translated the words ‘confidence’ and ‘trust’ as virtually synonymous, and they’re actually not.”

This episode features Dr. Anand Gramopadhye, the Dean of Clemson’s College of Engineering, Computing, and Applied Sciences.

You’ll discover:

• The foundational elements of Engineering Leadership
• Why Clemson’s engineering department was compelled to become the academic partner.
• The Dean’s hopes for the future of engineering students.

3 Point Summary:

1. Students should be prepared not only as great engineers but also as great leaders.
2. Engineering combined with great leadership skills can catapult you within any organization
3. The empowerment of your team members is a foundation for a successful team.

3 Quotes:

• “Students should think of themselves not just engineers, but also as leaders, entrepreneurs, and innovators.”
• “Mentors can come in different forms and shapes.  They don't necessarily have to be older than you. They can be younger, and it's important that we are willing to accept advice and sit with the best people.”
• “Leadership is how you conduct yourself.”

Doug Haugh is the creator of Engineering Leadership and is President of one of America’s fastest growing, independent suppliers and marketers of fuel and petroleum products and a leading convenience store operator.

Previously, Doug was President and Chief Strategy Officer for Mansfield Energy Corp. and President of Mansfield Oil Company. He began his career at Exxon, and has also held senior management positions at H&W Petroleum and FuelQuest Inc.

He sits on the Board of Directors of BioBlend Renewable Resources, The Fuels Institute, Filld and the Job Creators Network. Doug was named Ernst & Young’s Entrepreneur of the Year and was named a Clemson Alumni Entrepreneur by the Arthur M. Spiro Institute for Entrepreneurial Leadership at Clemson University. He was also named to the CIO 100 by CIO Magazine.

He is a graduate of Clemson University with a degree in Chemical Engineering and has an MBA from the University of Phoenix. 

What you’ll discover in this kick-off episode:

• What is Engineering Leadership, and why it’s more important now than ever.
• How all engineers and business leaders can benefit.
• What to expect and how to get the most from every interview.
• Doug’s vision for how Engineering Leadership will transform the workplace.