|
This page changes frequently and offers information and describes events that may help enhance your personal and professional development. Examples are new concepts and ideas, emerging issues, upcoming conferences, press releases, recently published books and articles, notable speeches, technical developments, and national and global trends.
To stress the importance of focusing on the potential client, consider this scenario: On a Saturday morning, you finally decide to fix that leaking faucet in the kitchen. You take it apart, find what appear to be worn parts, and head for the hardware store. When you walk in, do you want a clerk to tell you about and show you everything in the place -- or ask you some very pointed questions about the parts in your hands and the leaky faucet? Then why would you, in seeking a relationship with a new client or stakeholder, want to tell him or her or show him or her everything your organization has to offer? A wiser approach is to ask about the current concerns in his or her hands. Click here for some ideas on how to focus on them, not you.
I presented this topic during a plenary session at the Spring 2012 Meeting of ASFE: The Geoprofessional Business Association in Orlando, FL. Attendees received practical advice, enhanced with a breakout session, on how to take a more creative-innovative approach to addressing issues, solving problems, and pursuing opportunities. The 90-minute session included a 20 minute break out during which small groups of participants applied, in a preliminary fashion, some of the creativity-innovation tools that I described. Breakout results were very encouraging, in that many and varied imaginative solutions were suggested to hypothetical engineering and marketing problems. Given that these results were obtained during brief introductory experiences by applying creativity-innovation fundamentals and tools to hypothetical situations, I can only begin to imagine what could be accomplished with in-depth applications of those methods to your issues, problems, and opportunities. Click here if you are interested in learning more about an intensive, in-house version of this presentation.
My book was reviewed in the April 2012 issue of Civil Engineering, the flagship publication of the American Society of Civil engineers. Some excerpts: "Engineering Your Future is an essential guide for students and young practitioners on the nontechnical aspects that can advance or derail an engineering career...While part of part of the book's strength is that much of advice and wisdom applies to any vocation, its conception and execution as a work tailored to the needs of engineers make it far more valuable than most of the titles populating the "getting ahead" shelves at the bookstore."
Click here for a description of the book; its table of contents; and ordering as a soft cover, an e-Book, or one or more chapters. ASCE members: Click here to purchase Engineering Your Future.
I presented this topic during a plenary session at the Spring Meeting of ASFE: The Geoprofessional Business Association in Orlando, FL. Attendees received practical advice, enhanced with a breakout session, on how to take a more creative-innovative approach to addressing issues, solving problems, and pursuing opportunities. Each break out group addressed one of over a dozen hypothetical engineering or marketing challenges using tools that I presented. Even though time was limited, the groups generated many ideas.
Imagine what these engineers could come up with if they systematically applied creativity-innovation tools to their real issues, problems, and opportunities that they face. Click here if you are interested in learning more about a more intensive, in-house version of this presentation.
Engineering Your Future: The Professional Practice of Engineering -Third Edition, has been published by Wiley and ASCE Press. This book may be of interests to you and others in your organization because it provides professional practice (non-technical or "soft-side") guidance to students in all engineering disciplines and supports current education reform efforts. Engineering Your Future also offers guidance to young practitioners in all engineering disciplines. It will also be useful to mid-career engineers who are taking a fresh look at their situations given the economy, globalization, increased expectations, etc.
Click here for a description of the book; its table of contents; and ordering as a soft cover, an e-Book, or one or more chapters. ASCE members: Click here to purchase Engineering Your Future.
The American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) archives management and leadership webinars which I originally presented live to many sites. One or more of these 60 or 90 minute webinars may be purchased by using your ASCE email and password. By taking and passing a post-test, users receive CEUs based on the course length.
- Practitioners: Use to strengthen your non-technical knowledge and skills and earn CEUs.
- Faculty: Use to supplement the non-technical, professional practice part of your curriculum.
These education and training materials are “road tested.” That is, they have evolved over a decade or two during which I have had many opportunities to study and experience the topics, present workshops, conduct seminars and webinars for practicing professionals, and write and speak about the subjects.
Click here for more information including how to purchase.
“When creativity is killed, an organization loses a potential competitive weapon: new ideas,” according to Professor Teresa Amabile. Given the down economy and the competitive nature of the engineering consulting business and the ever-increasing demands being placed on public servants, who would kill creativity? After all, “In a world of forces that push toward the commodization of everything,” according to journalist Geoff Colvin, "creating something new and different is the only way to survive.” Very few would intentionally kill creativity but many, acting individually or collectively, unintentionally do so. Whether intentional or unintentional, the result is the same. Creativity and all the good it represents, is dead or dying. Click here for a complimentary article that discusses various aspects of killing or cultivating creativity including benefits of creativity, the three organizational components of creativity, and why some organizations will not embrace creativity.
Stu Walesh traveled to Spain in September 2011 where he spent four days working with 26 civil engineering graduate students in that country’s Master of Leadership in Civil Engineering Program. His charge was to present ideas and information on aspects of project management (PM) such as personal characteristics, project planning, quality, communication, and marketing. He did this and reinforced his lectures by asking student teams, during breakouts and as part of homework, to apply some of the more than a dozen whole-brain tools and techniques included in his presentation. The results were very satisfying. Not only did the students grasp PM fundamentals as a result of the stimulation provided by the whole-brain tools and techniques, they also enthusiastically collaborated and displayed creativity and innovation in addressing the actual and hypothetical projects presented to them. Examples of collaboration methods described and used included Mind Mapping, Fishbone Diagramming, Medici Effect, Ohno Circle, Borrowing Brilliance, and Multivoting. Imagine the potential benefits to your business, government, or volunteer organization (e.g., profitability, technical advances, reputation, marketing, recruitment and retention, and/or liability minimization) as a result of knowing how to draw more on your employee's intellectual assets. Are you fully utilizing the collaborative potential of your personnel to benefit your organization and, in turn, those you serve? If no, and this interests you, please contact me at 219-464-1704 or stuwalesh@comcast.net or click here.
The Indiana State Board of Registration for Professional Engineers approved 18 of Stu Walesh's short courses for your use in earning PDHs applicable to Indiana PE licenses. These 60 and 90 minute courses are arranged in five categories: Communication, Ethics and Law, Marketing Professional Services, Personal Development, and Project Management.One or more courses can be provided on-site or presented live, via webinars, to a large number of locations. The short courses can be mixed and matched to form a “curriculum” to meet your organization’s needs.
Each individual completing a course will be provided with a certificate of course completion that can be used in Indiana, and possibly in other licensing jurisdictions, to earn CEUs or PDHs. If you are interested in discussing the possibility of my offering one or more courses with the goal of furthering the personal and professional development of your staff and to help them earn CEUs/PDHs, please contact me at stuwalesh@comcast.net or 219-464-1704. Click here for additional information.
For about a decade, I have prepared, delivered, and continuously improved webinars as part of ASCE's continuing education program. My focus has been on managing, leading, communication, personal and professional development, marketing, ethics, liability, and project management. My most recent webinars have been recorded and archived by ASCE and are available on-line for purchase. As explained by ASCE: "Recorded from ASCE's very popular live webinars, archived webinars are perfect for you or your firm. Purchasing options include Organization or Individual usage. By taking and passing a post-test, you will receive CEUs based on the course length." Click here and go to "Management and Leadership" for a list that includes my 60 and 90 minute archived webinars. Or contact me (stuwalesh@comcast.net or 219-242-1704) to discuss an in-house continuing education program that could be presented in a face-to-face or webinar format to further develop your personnel while earning CEUs.
I presented "Enhancing the Creativity and Innovation of Project Managers: Why and How?" to the local chapter of the Project Management Institute. My presentation stressed the need for a more whole brain approach to project management, identified 18 tools for stimulating creativity and innovation, and described six of them. Can you envision the benefits of encouraging more creativity and innovation within your project management and in other functional areas such as marketing, research and development, finance, IT, and HR? If so, consider sponsoring this in-house workshop.
Click here for a complimentary article that encourages engineering educators to experiment with instruction in freehand drawing and other visual arts to see if the experience enables students to supplement already powerful left-mode thinking with even more complementary creative and innovative right-mode thinking. This article was written for publication in the American Society of Civil Engineers Journal of Leadership and Management in Engineering.
Boats offer transportation, relaxation, contemplation, and adventure. They also teach by providing useful metaphors applicable to personal and organizational development in the private, public, academic, and volunteer sectors. Looking for some personal or organizational "navigation" advice? Then click here for the complimentary essay "Boats Offer Lessons for Us and Our Organizations."
I am pleased to continue as a member of the teaching staff of Midwest Geosciences Group (MGG), an organization the offers practical technical and non-technical continuing education to help individuals and organizations find meaningful solutions ot problems faced during environmental and engineering projects. Click here to learn more about MGG and their webinars and on-site offerings.
I recently presented a webinar titled "The 7 Qualities of Effective Leaders." Some of the webinar's ideas are included in my article "The Leader Within You: Let It Come Out!" Click here for the complimentary article.
While the primary purpose of your organization’s education and training (E&T) events is the personal and professional development of your personnel, these gatherings can also earn continuing education units (CEUs) or professional development hours (PDHs) for participants. I recently spoke, within two organizations, about ethics, project communication, and surviving in the down economy. Participants will receive CEUs as a result of my presentations. This is due, in part, to the following features of the approach I use: 1) clearly stated purpose, 2) detailed handout that duplicates and goes beyond the material actually presented, 3) list of resources (articles, books, websites, e-newsletters), 4) one-hour duration, 5) biographical sketch that presents my relevant credentials, and 6) an interactive approach. Your organization makes major investments in internal E&T. I suggest you maximize the return on your investment by helping your personnel grow while enabling them to earn CEUs or PDHs. Please contact me at stuwalesh@comcast.net for additional information or click here for advice on how to plan and conduct internal education and training.
If you are open to advice on how to improve the “bottom line” on your projects, regardless of your discipline, click here to learn about my recently published book, Project Plans: Doing Projects Twice the Smart Way. This book describes 20 elements for possible inclusion in your next project plan. It also discusses the "dumb" and "smart" ways to do a project twice, offers advice on how to use project plans throughout a project's life, and suggests ways to embed project planning in a private, public, academic, or other organization. Allow me share a personal experience that suggests the bottom-line benefits of project planning. I assisted a firm in creating a project planning policy and process. A few years later, an executive of the firm assessed the benefits of the project planning policy and process as follows: " We believe we have seen improved profitability since using project plans. Some areas of improvement include 1) a more uniform project management approach across multiple departments and offices, 2) uniform nomenclature and approach enhances collaboration, 3) better communication within the project team, [and] 4) better scope definition (creep control) and communication with the owner." The book was written, published, and is offered for sale using the POD model. Compared to traditional publishing, POD is more efficient and the resulting cost savings are passed on to you, the buyer. This is the first in a series of POD books that I plan to publish. Each will be a short, but in-depth, practical treatment of a specific personal development, communication, managing, or leading topic.
I recently helped a public utility develop its strategic plan (SP) for the next five years. We defined strategic planning as determining where the utility will go in the next five years, how it will get there, and how it will know it got there. While facilitating and attending meetings with utility personnel over the five-month SP period, I was gratified to see most personnel who were involved in the SP process realistically assess the present, think creatively about the future, and contribute to the "road map" for the future. That process and that "road map" are the essence of strategic planning. If you would like to discuss any aspect of strategic planning for your business, government agency, university, or other organization, please contact me at stuwalesh@comcast.net or at 219-464-1704.
You may be interested in my responses to the challenging career advancement questions posed to me by Anthony J. Fasano, CEO of Powerful Purpose Associates. Click here for the interview. Issues addressed by the questions include career challenges for engineers, whether or not engineers need to be highly-technical to be effective managers, and finding employment in the down economy.
Your firm's technical competence is the foundation of your success. However, technical competence is not enough. It must be supplemented with communication -- listening, writing, and speaking -- knowledge and skills. Let's face it, the best idea or the most innovative design is wasted if it is not effectively communicated to others. Consider retaining me to conduct a one-day, hands-on writing and speaking workshop within your organization. Your personnel will leave the workshop with improved writing and speaking products. Why? Because each participant will work on one of their current writing and/or speaking projects during the workshop. Click here for more information.
We can more fully utilize our speaking opportunities through creative use of props and, as a result, communicate more effectively especially with the visual and kinesthetic learners in our audience. The term “prop” comes from the theatrical world and is a shortened form of “property,” which means any object handled by an actor during a performance. When you or I give a presentation, we are like actors giving a performance during which we strive to communicate with our audiences. Let’s be creative and use whatever works, including props. Click here for a complimentary discussion of props including examples.
You worked long and hard, earned a degree, and pursued employment during your last year in college, but were unsuccessful and are unemployed. You may have moved back home. Now what? I began thinking about approaches that could be used by potential employees as a result of preparing a presentation for employers who are seeking to retain and recruit top personnel. Potential employees are the other side of the same coin. Click here for eight job-hunting tactics.
I presented the co-authored paper, "Spain's Master of Leadership in Civil Engineering: Case Study," at the 2010 conference of the American Society for Engineering Education. The unique master's program described in the paper is based on the premise that leadership knowledge, skills, and attitudes can be taught and learned. It refutes the idea that leaders are born, not made. You and others in your organization can fruitfully view leadership as an area of study that, if pursued, will enhance personal and organizational success. Click here for leadership books.
Having recently used this method, which was developed by Edward de Bono, to help me facilitate the meeting of a group faced with a complex issue, I view the method as having potential to reduce the length of meetings while improving the quality of the resulting decisions and action items. Briefly stated, the 6TCM helps a group deal with the emotions, information, logic, hope, creativity, and desire for control that often arise simultaneously and clash during meetings. Interested in learning more about the method and possible applying it? If so, contact me at stuwalesh@comcast.net or call me at 219-464-1704.
I marvel why we, across all professions and organizations, continue to tolerate the high cost -- monetary, missed opportunities, and stress -- associated with lousy meetings. This problem can be easily solved by viewing a meeting as consisting of three parts -- planning, conducting, and following up -- and orchestrating them. If you do this with the meetings you arrange, you and your participants will be very grateful. Looking for ways to help you and others reduce meeting time and cost while stimulating creative thinking and subsequent action? Then click here and obtain my book Managing and Leading. Study Lessons 39-41, “An Unhidden Agenda,” “Agenda Item: Good News,” and “Minutes: Earning a Return on the Hours Invested in Meetings.” Or contact me (219-242-1704 or stuwalesh@comcast.net) to discuss a meetings workshop.
Would you like your group or team to step back and synergistically look forward say five or more years? Then consider using the time-line process that I developed and have applied four times, serving as a facilitator, with encouraging results. Actual applications include helping a group of professional service firm clients share their views of future service needs. This effort was conducted over an extended breakfast gathering and there were some pleasant surprises for the sponsoring professional services firm. Another application was assisting members of a utility's strategic planning team get started by thinking about possible customer and stakeholder needs, technology, mandates, and other changes over the next five plus years. Please contact me (219-242-1704 or stuwalesh@comcast.net) if this facilitated process interests you.
Mind mapping, whether used individually or by a group, improves the thinking process by further engaging the brain's right hemisphere. Imagine how mind mapping could improve your performance and that of other engineers and technical professionals who tend to be strongly "left-brained." A half brain is good; a whole brain is much better! Click here for a description of a workshop during which mind mapping would be applied to your problems, opportunities, or issues.
The Dumbest Generation -- How the Digital Age Stupifies Young Americans and Jeopardizes Our Future by Mark Bauerlein and published by Jeremy P. Tarcher/Penguin, New York, 2008, ISBN 978-158542-639-3. Mark Bauerlein argues that U.S. young people, those under about 30 years of age, are under-using or misusing the IT and related electronic gadgetry available to them. He claims that today’s youth employ IT to extend and deepen adolescence and to connect even more with their homogeneous peer groups rather than using it to reach out and learn about the world and its inhabitants. This use of IT shifts the young even more into pop culture while taking them away from world cultures and global developments. Click here for a review of Bauerlein's book - and for other book reviews, click here.
When thinking about or beginning strategic planning, organizational leaders need to distinguish between strategic planning and day-to-day operations. Although very different, operations and strategic planning are interdependent -- one cannot successfully exist without the other. The continuous improvement aspect of progressive operations interacts with the creativity inherent in strategic planning. For 8 comparisons of strategic planning and operations, click here.
The Power of Place - Geography, Destiny, and Globalization's Rough Landscape by Harm de Blij and published by Oxford University Press, Oxford, England, 2009, ISBN 978-0-19-536770-6. This book is likely to interest you as a leader or manager, especially if you’ve read Thomas L. Friedman’s 2005 The World Is Flat: A Brief History of the Twentieth Century. I say that because Harm de Blij’s The Power of Place is somewhat at odds with Friedman’s book. Click here for a review of Harm's book.
I recently contracted with John Wiley & Sons, Inc. and ASCE Press to write the third edition of my book Engineering Your Future: The Non-Technical Side of Professional Practice in Engineering and Other Technical Fields. Do you have ideas about or views on crucial non-technical topics? If so, share them with me at stuwalesh@comcast.net. I will acknowledge, in the book, all contributions that are used.
Published in 1995 and 2000, the first and second editions of Engineering Your Future have served as both a college textbook (the second edition was adopted by over 20 colleges and universities) and as a reference book for primarily young professionals. The third edition will reach even more readers in that Wiley will focus on the academic market and ASCE Press will concentrate on the practitioner market. Again, your input is most welcome. Text and reference books provide a wonderful opportunity to influence those who will carry on into the future.
A half brain is good, a whole brain is much better. Engineers and other technical professionals typically rely on left-brain thinking which is verbal, analytic, symbolic, abstract, temporal, and linear. This hands-on workshop, facilitated by me at your organization, will give participants tools to engage in more right-brain thinking which is nonverbal, synthetic, actual, analogic, non-temporal, and holistic. Participants will supplement valuable left-brain abilities with equally valuable right-brain abilities. As a result, the individuals and your organization will be better equipped to make take more creative, innovative approaches to identifying and solving problems, seeing and pursuing opportunities, and creating their futures. You will be able to "mine" the knowledge and skill "gold" that lies within your organization. I would be pleased to work with business, government, academic, and other organizations. Click here for workshop details.
For the fifth time, I recently completed teaching one week of the four-month Leadership in Civil Engineering graduate degree program hosted by Castilla La-Mancha University in Spain. My topic was "Project Management and Related Communication." The 20 students were recent top graduates of the 10 Spanish universities offering five-year undergraduate degrees in civil engineering. During this intense program, students attend class, intern, and complete a project. Spending time with these bright, ambitious, English-speaking Spanish young people reminded me of the competition to be increasingly faced by U.S. young people who seek to practice engineering and other professions in a globalizing economy. At minimum, each should spend part of their college years overseas, earn a graduate degree, and learn another language.
I recently presented, for the third time, a webinar titled “The 5 Habits of Highly Successful Marketers.” Based on research which indicates that up to 95% of our behavior is habitual, this webinar advocates developing five habits that can greatly enhance our marketing effectiveness. The webinar also describes a process for converting conscious new marketing behaviors into habits so that your conscious mind can focus on higher level aspects of marketing. If the “5 Habits” topic and/or the related topic “Marketing 101: Sleazy Activity or Mutually-Beneficial Process” interest you, please contact me at stuwalesh@comcast.net or 219-242-1704. I have also presented this subject as an interactive face-to-face workshop.
I am pleased to be designated a Platinum Level EzineArticles Author. This provides another means by which I can share ideas to help you engineer your future and to help your organization engineer its future. As Platinum Level Author, I can submit an unlimited number of articles, they will receive priority approval, and the articles will appear on the EzineArticles high-traffic home page. My articles are syndicated ( sent via the EzineArticles RSS Feed) and are also sent the proprietary EzineArticles Email Alert Members. Click here to view any of my articles.
Learn More About Stu Walesh | Clients Served | Testimonials & Reviews
Managing and Leading Books | Tailored Education & Training
News & Events | Online Feedback | Online Resources
Home | Legal Notice | Privacy Statement | Site Map
Copyright © Stuart G. Walesh Ph.D. P.E. Dist.M.ASCE
Web Site Design, Hosting & Maintenance By Catalyst Marketing Innovations, LLC |
