Tag: Ability

Old Rule vs New Truth

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Seth Godin has just published his latest book, The Icarus Deception.

It is a challenging read for all of us who are finding that keeping our heads down, staying under the radar, and blindly complying are no longer even “safe behaviors” in today’s economy.

For those of us who heed the old rule to not fly too close to the sun.

Read this book!
Read this book!

Are you following (or even worse enforcing) the old rules in your shop?

  • Playing it safe
  • Better safe than sorry
  • Stick to the plan
  • Blend in

Seth shows the new truths we need to master today. It is better to:

  • Be sorry than safe
  • Perform rather than fit in
  • Fly higher than to stay in our comfort zone

Many readers will find a disconnect because they don’t think of themselves as ‘Artists.’ And because Seth says that industrialism is dead- and we make our living in manufacturing.

But as craftsmen, we embody the attitude of the Artist in our work every day:

  • The vision of what is needed to be done
  • The knowledge of how to do it
  • The ability to make it so

More importantly, we have  the courage to do our thing.

Read this book. Empower yourself.

MAKE A DIFFERENCE!

What Makes An Engineering Professional?

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Integrity. Motivation. Objectivity. Ability. Audacity.

Integrity. Motivation. Objectivity. Ability. AUDACITY!

Integrity is the foundation of our technical profession. Without credibility, how can we expect others to rely on our work?
Motivation gives us the passion to see the work through. The discipline to do the impossible difficult calculations, to find the answer in the data available. To complete the assignment. And verify our solution.
Objectivity is the greatest tool of our profession. Learning, understanding, and applying the facts to a situation that we have analyzed, and anticipating the consequences is our objective work. We rely on facts and data.
Ability is how we execute. We have served our apprenticeship, learned our profession. We have spent time with the books. We have learned to do the math, and understand which  mathematical relationships apply to the situations we are asked to solve. We have rolled up our sleeves. Used the tools. And learned from doing.
Audacity is the engineer’s greatest gift to mankind. How audacious- to seek a better way. How daring to invest time and effort to solve the difficult problem. How dare we tackle the greatest problems facing humanity- safe water systems, safe transportation systems, safe medical devices, utilities and technologies to make our world a better place.
 How dare we try to find a better way?
Photo credit: Thanks to the Audacious Engineers of NASA Apollo 8
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