I had a fascinating call with an engineer today…
She’s pursuing an MBA which she’s looking to leverage into a career in management…
It’s not everyday that I speak to an engineer who has MBA ambitions, so I probed…
The “why” behind the pursuit of an MBA was admirable…
There are good, great, and excellent engineers…
Excellence goes the extra mile!
She wasn’t content with just designing good products. She wanted to understand the bigger picture behind the product. It was a conversation with her then Manager that fueled the desire to go the extra mile…
I’m paraphrasing and perhaps oversimplifying the story, but after inquiring into the delay in releasing one of their products, she was essentially told to focus on designing and to leave management activities to those who understood it.
Fueled by curiosity and a desire to be more than just an “engineer”, she decided to enroll in an MBA course so that she could look behind the curtain…
This reminded me of a conversation I had with another young engineer who learned sign language while working at his previous company because one of his co-workers was deaf…
These are the types who refuse to be limited by a job description and will go the extra mile without being asked to. Excellence always has a compelling story behind it…
…there is something attractive about scarcity!