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work-life balance

TCEP 121: From Engineer to CEO and Everything In-Between

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In episode 121 of The Civil Engineering Podcast, I will be bringing you with me to visit with William T. Thomsen, PE, who is the President and CEO of Urban Engineers of New York, DPC. We will be talking about his career journey and what has factored into his success and progression from engineer to Chief Executive Officer (CEO).  He’ll also talk about how his Engineering Management degree has helped him in his career.

Engineering Quotes:

Engineer to CEO

Here Are Some of the Questions I Ask Bill Thomsen, PE:

  1. Take us through your career progression from engineer to CEO?
  2. At what point in your career did you become part of the executive leadership team?
  3. What does it take to manage large scale projects like the ones you have managed?
  4. Your father was the President of a construction company, how did his career influence your career?
  5. You have a degree in Engineering Management, how has that degree helped you?
  6. What worries you about the Civil Engineering industry right now?
  7. Is it possible to have work-life balance as an engineering executive?

Here Are Some Key Points Discussed in This Episode About Going from Engineer to CEO:

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How to Hire and Manage Millennials

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This is a guest blog by Allison Hail

MillennialsWith millennials making up a large part of the workforce, it’s fast becoming necessary for all employers to know how to manage them. Millennials who have just graduated are well aware of the growing opportunities in other countries. As a result, they are likely to consider moving abroad; one study suggests that 59% of millennials in the United States would consider moving to a foreign country for a job, compared to 35% of the general population, and this statistic is even higher in countries such as France and the Netherlands. There are a few things to keep in mind that will make hiring and managing millennials a smooth process:

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TCEP 089: Why Civil Engineering CEOs Need to Focus on People with Nick DeNichilo

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In episode 89 of The Civil Engineering Podcast, I talk with Nicholas (Nick) DeNichilo P.E., President and CEO of Mott MacDonald North America. Our conversation focused mostly on why civil engineering CEOs need to focus on people and the effect that doing so can have on you in your career and life.

Here are some of the questions I ask Nick about his journey and his work as CEO:

  • How did you decide that you wanted to go into engineering?
  • What are some of the things that civil engineers can do in preparation to become a CEO of a civil engineering firm?
  • How big is the Mott Macdonald “family”?
  • What is the hardest part of being a CEO?
  • How do you decide what work you should focus on each day?
  • As a CEO of a company, how do you maintain a work-life balance?

Engineering Quotes:

Civil Engineering CEOs

Civil Engineering CEOs

Here are some key points discussed in this episode:

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Getting an Engineering Job after a Hiatus – Engineering Career TV Ep. 26

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Q: How can I get an engineering job after a hiatus?

Welcome to Episode #26 of Engineering Career TV. The topic for this episode is getting an engineering job after a hiatus. 

I spend most of the Engineering Career TV episodes answering questions that have been submitted from engineers around the world on how to rapidly advance their careers and live the lives they want to live.

You can submit questions for the show by clicking here.

Let’s jump into today’s topic: getting an engineering job after a hiatus, which is based on a question from Matt, who asks the following:
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TECC 146: How to Spark Leadership in your Engineering Career

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Spark Leadership

In this episode, Chris Knutson, PE interviews Angie Morgan from Lead Star on how to spark leadership in your engineering career. Angie touches on the importance of credibility, character and service-based leadership and how you can use these to build a career of success as in engineering.

Engineering Quotes:

Here are the key points on how to spark leadership in your Engineering Career:

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Your Life Is A Program, So Manage It Like One

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BalanceAfter a decade-plus of leading and managing programs, there’s one thing I don’t recall ever saying – or hearing someone else say: “gee, I need to find balance in my projects.”  I didn’t philosophically, or physically, sit down to figure out how to balance my time, my focus, and my energy between the various projects I was running.

Why?  Because that’s not how someone manages a program.  You collect key information components about the program’s elements, such as cost, schedule, and scope, and then you execute.  That might mean a lot of work in some periods of the year, a little less at other times.  You delegate less important tasks to others and look for efficiencies to optimize schedule and keep on budget.

If ever I did fret about balance between projects in my portfolio, it was because of one of them going off schedule or budget.  Or maybe because of the contractor executing the project or some other stakeholder that was creating friction.

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5 Ways to Protect Yourself from Other People’s Stress

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stress

It’s a fact for every engineer, in either an academic or professional setting, that stress will be present.  Because this is the case, you can either view it as a horrific pollutant or accept it as fact and design a way to mitigate or absorb it.  I suggest the later approach.  Remove any negative or positive connotation around stress and let’s develop a way to manage it effectively in our engineering career.

Designing and utilizing a system for how you will handle both self-inflicted and external stressors is essential.  It’s going to be a main determinant in your ability to advance professionally and it’s going to play a key component in how fulfilled and happy you are with life in general.

Professionally, advancement goes to those who have the ability to manage increasing levels and complexity of responsibility.  With responsibility comes stress:  finding new business opportunities, making payroll, handling personnel problems, fulfilling expectations of demanding clients.  If you do not have a means for effectively mitigating or absorbing stress, then the further you move along the professional advancement trajectory, the more likely it is that you’ll eventually hit a brick wall that will result in unintended consequences.  What do these look like?  Negative attitude; curt and unprofessional responses to colleagues and clients; and generally being cancerous in communicating and working with teams or subordinates.

TBStress

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TECC 31: The Engineering Career Coach Podcast – Seven Keys to Developing Work-Life Balance in Your Engineering Career

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work-life balance

In this session of The Engineering Career Coach Podcast, I discuss work-life balance, a topic that I am very passionate about. My guest is Julie Cohen, author of Your Work, Your Life …Your Way and an expert on this topic.

“Thinking about work as a day job has made a big difference in the way I approach what I do. It also helped me not to confuse who I am with what I do.” – Bob Goff, Love Does: Discover a Secretly Incredible Life in an Ordinary World

The Take Action Today segment of the show will help you start to develop work-life balance, both personally and professionally.

On today’s show, I interview Julie Cohen, PCC. In 15 years as a career and leadership coach, Julie has worked with hundreds of clients to clarify and achieve their professional and personal goals. Almost all of her coaching clients wanted to enhance their work-life balance, whether they wanted a promotion, better communication skills, more meaning and satisfaction from their work, or improved leadership capabilities. This led Julie to develop the 7 Keys to Work-Life Balance: a program that gives participants tools to identify, clarify and rectify the work-life balance challenges they may be facing. Her book, Your Work, Your Life …Your Way: 7 Keys to Work-Life Balance, provides readers with a process to evaluate their current balance and make real and sustainable changes for greater work and life satisfaction.

Listen to this session and learn: [Read more…] about TECC 31: The Engineering Career Coach Podcast – Seven Keys to Developing Work-Life Balance in Your Engineering Career

TECC 022: The Engineering Career Coach Podcast – How to Identify Burnout in Your Engineering Career Before It Happens and What to Do to Get Back on Track

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Engineering Management Institute

In this session of The Engineering Career Coach Podcast, I interview Stephanie Cook, an environmental engineer who now helps professionals avoid burnout in their careers by improving their diet and exercise habits.

Engineering Management InstituteStephanie discusses five signs that you’re headed for trouble and gives eight strategies for avoiding burnout or getting back on track if you’ve already gone too far.

“I promise you nothing is as chaotic as it seems. Nothing is worth diminishing your health. Nothing is worth poisoning yourself into stress, anxiety, and fear.” – Steve Maraboli

The career-changing tip at the end of the show will provide you with one simple thing that you can do every day to reduce your stress levels dramatically.

Listen to this session and learn: [Read more…] about TECC 022: The Engineering Career Coach Podcast – How to Identify Burnout in Your Engineering Career Before It Happens and What to Do to Get Back on Track

Be Thankful for Your Loved Ones and Cherish Every Minute With Them

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Okay, so this post is not really related to engineering career development, but it’s Thanksgiving week and I wanted to write about something more family related. Work–life balance has been a major topic of discussion in much of my work with motivated engineers. The question of how to have a successful career in engineering but still have time to enjoy your family has been a hot topic on several Institute for Engineering Career Development calls as of late.

As we embark upon this Thanksgiving week, I would ask all of my readers to really be thankful for and enjoy the company of your loved ones—spouses, children, parents, brothers, sisters, in-laws, and so on. We often take the time we spend with them for granted and don’t fully enjoy it.

I know at times in my own life, I rush through things with my kids to try to get back to work. For example, maybe I rush through their bedtime routine so I can get back to doing work in the evening. Then, every so often, I read articles like this or listen to a moving song that drives home how lucky some of us are to be able to spend so much time with our loved ones.

The moving song I referred to is called “I Drive Your Truck,” which is about a young man who was killed while serving in the US military and how his father still drives his truck every day to remind him of his son. It’s a moving song that you can read about or listen to through the video below. I hope it serves to remind us all of how valuable the time spent with our loved ones really is. I am thankful for every minute of it.

Happy Thanksgiving.