To succeed in today’s technology oriented business world, it’s not enough to be a

left-brain technician or a right-brain people person. Today, you need to use your whole brain. Experts say that even entry-level engineers need to combine the hard knowledge of engineering with the soft skills of business. And, as their careers advance, the soft skills become more important. Whether you want to focus your entire engineering career on the technical side of the business or, like most, you want your career to advance into management, experts say there are plenty of reasons to also pursue a business education. Among them:

• Most engineers eventually advance into management. Earning a business degree will prepare you for the position and provide you with a competitive advantage over your peers.

• By taking business courses, you will find out whether you want to move into management and whether you have the aptitude for it.

• Engineers at all levels need to have an understanding of business to work effectively, as engineers typically work in teams and directly with customers.

Some engineers advance into management without having taken a single business course. In an informal survey, David Loftesness, Twitter’s former director of engineering, found that only one out of every 15 engineering managers received formal management training before becoming a manager. While many engineers—and many employers—assume that if they can work successfully as engineers, they can also succeed in management positions, that’s not always the case. “The assumption that because you’re a good engineer, you will be a good manager does not always hold true,” says Anthony Fasano, CEO of The Engineering Career Coach in Ridgewood, N.J. “They’re two different things. You can be a good manager and not be the best technical engineer in the world, but you need to have enough understanding of the technical side. You may also be a great engineer and not a good manager.”

Management requires different skills than engineering. Just as a manager doesn’t have to design bridges or electrical systems, an engineer doesn’t have to manage employees or a budget. Engineers don’t make strategic decisions about which markets to enter, how to price a new product, who to hire, or whether to pursue an acquisition. People skills, financial savvy, and the ability to communicate and negotiate effectively are all invaluable management skills. Those who aspire to lead need to do even more. Michael Aucoin, president of Leading Edge Management, LLC in College Station, Texas, makes a distinction between managing and leading, explaining that managers manage tasks, while leaders seek change for the better. Leaders need to motivate their staff, and overcome

bureaucratic and political obstacles. They need to get the employees who work for them to work together toward common goals. “Understand whatthe major factors are that drive people—

that’s what a good leader taps into,” Aucoin says. “Those factors usually involve the desire for meaningful work. Your role is to seek greatness for your team, and greatness is within anyone’s reach.”

All Engineers Need Business Knowledge

Both Fasano and Aucoin, who provide career advice to engineers, agree that business knowledge is important even for entry-level engineers and for those who don’t want to advance into management. Aucoin points out that six of the 11 competencies that the Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology, Inc. (ABET) says should be required of anyone who graduates with an engineering degree are soft business skills. They include:

• An ability to function on multidisciplinary teams;

• An understanding of professional and ethical responsibility;

• An ability to communicate effectively;

• The broad education necessary to understand the impact of engineering solutions in a global, economic, environmental, and societal context;

• Recognition of the need for, and a willingness to engage in, life-long learning, and

• Knowledge of contemporary issues.

“When you’re an engineer, technical prowess is the focus,” Aucoin says. “It’s a rude awakening when you discover that real work in an organization is very different. It’s more about how well you can navigate the idiosyncrasies of people.” Fasano adds that business skills are (continued on page 2)

STUDENTS CREDIT MBA with HELPING THEM...(continued from page 3) “The Innovator’s MBA really forces you to think outside of your comfort zone,” she says. “As an engineer, you tend to look at things the same way all of the time. With this kind of experience, you look at things from a totally different perspective and you come up with other solutions.” While she chose the Foisie School of Business because of its technical orientation, she now also has a better appreciation for business and can communicate more effectively with upper management. “Now I can see the bigger picture much more clearly,” she says, “and I can speak the language of upper management if I need to. I can articulate concerns from the field and influence strategy more. I feel like I’m being listened to more.” She has another year to go before she completes her MBA, but she’s taken enough courses so that she has a better appreciation of business. “I used to think that engineering is hard and business is easy stuff,” she says. “Now I feel the other way around. Dealing with people and advancing ideas is much more challenging. You can have the greatest expertise in your field, but it’s not enough to move your ideas forward.”

A 4,000 Mile Commute

The face-to-face cohort sessions that are part of the Innovator’s MBA program are important enough to Michael Shea that he makes the 4,000 mile commute to WPI every eight weeks from his home in Vienna, Austria. Moving to Vienna, where he is starting a consulting firm, and earning his MBA are part of Shea’s continuous improvement process. While continuous improvement has become widely accepted in the business world, Shea is applying the concept to his personal and professional life. “Life is short,” he says. “In our time here we need to continually develop ourselves and improve the ways we deliver value and

meaning to our work and personal lives.” And so, aftercreating an inventory control system for Xerox early in his career, serving as a software engineer for Eastman Kodak,

and spending most of his career directing professional services for Pitney Bowes Software for the Americas, he decided it was time to shake things up. “My wife got a job here,” he says, “and we were both looking for a bit of adventure.” Having earned a mechanical engineering degree from the University of Ottawa and added a master’s degree from the Rochester Institute of Technology in the early ’90s, Shea decided to go back to school for a business education at the beginning of 2014. “It was a combination of things,” he says. “A key reason was that I wanted to re-energize and, while I had succeeded in figuring out what is needed to run a business, I was interested in learning the theory behind what I had been doing.” Having completed one master’s degree before his children were born, he understood the time commitment required to get the most from a program, so he decided to wait until his children were grown before pursuing his MBA. He experimented with MOOC (massive open online courses), but he missed the cohesion of a class, and having “a network of people with whom friendships and true connections would be established.” With its cohort approach, the Innovator’s MBA addressed this need. One surprise for Shea has been his attraction to the organizational behavior curriculum, as he didn’t get much out of the subject when he took a course as an undergraduate. During his career, though, he has “experienced how important culture and dynamics are to getting anything accomplished;

it’s more important than I understood it to be so many years ago.” He recommends that anyone who wants to succeed as an engineer study organizational behavior, because, he says, “Understanding organizational culture and how to maneuver within your own organization, building support and consensus, is critical to being successful.” He encourages engineers to consider pursuing an MBA, because he believes “the strong analytical skills that are developed when pursuing an engineering degree are assets that will enhance your MBA experience.” When he made the transition to management, Shea, like many engineers, found it difficult to stop doing technical work. “As an engineer, you are used to solving problems and it is hard to stop doing that,” he says. “However, I learned that strong, dynamic, and creative leadership enables a team to be more than the sum of its parts. Once I realized that is what a true leader is, the transition became much easier.” One of the challenges many organizations have is that people who are on a technical career track, like those on a business track, are looking for career advancement. However, most organizations do not provide the same level of career opportunities for technical employees as they do for business managers. Options for advancement top out quickly, so engineers start looking outside their area for new career challenges. Shea encourages anyone considering advancing from a technical career to a management career to reflect on the shift, but after deciding to make the change, to pursue an MBA. “The Innovator’s MBA is a great way to accelerate your learning and understanding of the key elements of creating and managing an organization,” he says. “The connections and relationships you will establish will long outlast your time in school.” n

The Robert A. Foisie School of Business at WPI is rooted in WPI’s strengths in technology, engineering, and science, and is known for developing innovative and entrepreneurial leaders for a global technological world. Whether part-time or full-time, degree or certificate, the Foisie School of Business graduate programs are designed to meet the needs of professionals in technology focused careers.

From Engineer to Manager

WPI ROBERT A. FOISIE SCHOOL OF BUSINESS

For more information: wpi.edu/academics/business

ContactFoisie School of Business, Worcester, MA

Main Office: +1-508-831-5218

Admissions: +1-508-831-4665

business@wpi.edu

Anthony Fasano Michael Aucoin

Michael Shea

From ENGINEER to MANAGER (continued from page 1)

required of engineers, because engineering is a very people-intensive, management-heavy field. “In engineering firms, you work on projects,” Fasano says. “There are a lot of moving parts. You’re part of a team, and you’re typically working with consultants and customers.” Fasano speaks from personal experience. “There’s a real possibility that you will have to use business skills very early in your career,” he says. “I started at a very small company with a handful of people and I was doing everything.”

The Role of Education

Fasano says it would be difficult to add business courses to an undergraduate education, given the extensive technical knowledge required to learn engineering, but Aucoin adds that with a project-based education, such as is provided at WPI, engineers can learn valuable business skills, such as working in teams. “Engineering focuses too much on the technical side,” according to Aucoin. “The engineering undergraduate curriculum is very intense; there’s complicated math and it’s jam packed with stuff. Where do we learn to practice being part of teams? For most people, it’s trial and error.” In addition to being project-based, WPI is integrating entrepreneurial mindset learning (EML) into its engineering programs with the help of a grant from The Kern Family Foundation. Still, an MBA, in combination with personal experience, may be the best training for becoming a manager. “In my coaching of hundreds of engineers, I’ve recognized that there’s a lack of business knowledge, and often a lack of the interpersonal and presentations skills you can get from an MBA,” Fasano says. “Those who have MBAs have more career opportunities available to them.” While not every engineer has the aptitude for management, Aucoin and Fasano agree that management can be taught—and that those who are taught will find it less difficult to make the transition from engineer to manager. n

Two students and a graduate of the Foisie School of Business credit The Innovator’s MBA with helping them achieve greater

career success, while becoming better managers.

A Profitable Experience

Profits at DiPrete Engineering in Cranston, R.I., have increased by more than 400 percent since Hemant Ajbani MBA ’15 joined the company as its COO three years ago. And he gives much of the credit to what he learned from The Innovator’s MBA—and especially to a school assignment he first thought was a waste of time. A former chemical engineer who is now managing a civil engineering company, Ajbani already had 15 years of management experience when he decided to enroll in The Innovator’s MBA at the Foisie School of Business. “I was a manager based on trial by fire, seminars, and learning on the job,” he says. “I needed to substantiate that with experts’ findings and best practices.” When one of his professors required Ajbani to keep a journal, he thought the idea was “quaint” and not very useful. In one entry, though, he observed that his company had expertise it was either not selling or not being compensated for; his professor encouraged him to discuss his observation with his CEO. “A year later,” he says, “that concept became the cornerstone of our value statement and marketing strategy.” Based on its new marketing strategy, his company not only became far more profitable, it also increased its productivity by 12% and revenues by 45%.

“When I came here, I was trying to deconstruct and reconstruct how we do business,” he says. “I didn’t know how I would do it or if I would succeed. With my team, we have succeeded beyond our imagination.” Ajbani studied chemical engineering as an undergraduate at Bombay University and earned his master’s degree at the University of Massachusetts. He advanced from manager to director to chief operating officer while working in management

positions at three companies before beginning his MBA. Living in Worcester, he enrolled in the Foisie School of Business because of its reputation, ranking, and location. “Eight months in, one of my fellow students asked me what I think about the MBA program. I said, ‘It’s changing me. Before I change everybody else, I need to change myself.’ He didn’t believe me, but a year later, we had the same

conversation. He said, ‘Holy cow, now I remember your words. It’s happening to me. It’s changing me. I’m very surprised to hear myself say that.’” While he already had plenty of business experience when he began his MBA, Ajbani says his classes taught his to think differently. “It shattered a few myths I had about what it takes to be a great manager and a leader, and replaced them with new thoughts,” he says. “It gave me tools I did not know existed before. It also gave me the ability and forum to influence others and be influenced by others.” Ajbani believes his MBA is not only helping him to reach his full potential, but is also helping him to help others reach their full potential. “It exceeded my expectations,” he says. “I went in to learn more about management, but I also learned more about myself and became a better person.”

Learning to Let GoOne of the biggest challenges of management for Alexandra Francois-Saint-Cyr, an application engineering manager at Mentor Graphics in Marlborough, Mass., has been to let go of her technical work and focus on managing. “I definitely was hoping for a more managerial position,” she says, “but it was a struggle. I’ve always seen myself

as more hands-on. Now it’s more challenging to be sharp on the technical side.” Classes in leadership and organizational behavior at the Foisie School of Business helped her adjust and now she feels comfortable serving as a mentor without playing a technical role. “The way I see it, you’re not helping the engineers if you’re doing their work,” she says. “It’s more a matter of traveling with them, giving them feedback, and adding a few points if needed.” Francois-Saint-Cyr came to the United States in 1999 to obtain her master’s degree in mechanical engineering from the University of Central Florida and in 2001 she became an application engineer for Flomerics in Southborough, Mass., a world leader in simulation and computer-aided engineering (CAE) for analysis of fluid flow, heat transfer, and electromagnetic radiation. She became a supervisor in 2006, then progressed to application engineering manager in the Mechanical Analysis Division in 2008, when Flomerics was acquired by Mentor Graphics. “I knew at the time, even when I was managing three people, that I needed a better understanding of the business aspects,” she says, “I felt I needed the MBA to help me become a better manager.” The Innovator’s MBA enables her to fit her classes into her schedule, since much of the work is done online, but she especially looks forward to the on-campus meetings with her cohort group, because everyone has a different perspective. (continued on page 4)

WPI ROBERT A. FOISIE SCHOOL OF BUSINESS ENGINEER TO MANAGER

How Dilbert can Become a Great Manager

Consultant Anthony Fasano suggests seeking advice from others that have made the transition successfully. It’s important to know what to expect, and to develop the skills and knowledge needed, Fasano says. For example, as manager, a former engineer will need to be able to deal with human resource issues, including employees’ personal issues and emotions. The manager will need to learn to delegate and to be clear about expectations when doing so.

Know When You’re Ready

Would-be managers should not move up unless they feel ready to contribute to their

organization on a larger scale, Fasano adds, and they should want to do so, rather than moving into management because it’s expected of them. Engineers who believe they are ready to move up should tell their bosses. “There are plenty of opportunities in management,” according to Fasano. “Sometime you just have to ask for them.” When engineers make the transition to management, learning what not to do can be as important as learning what to do. “Don’t be afraid to let go,” says Alexandra Francois-Saint-Cyr, an engineering manager who is completing work on The Innovator’s MBA. “Engineers who become managers should not feel like they have to be the

expert all the time. Instead, they should ask themselves what insights they can provide. That will make them more valuable to their team.” Those who choose to make the transition to management should consider pursuing an MBA, according to Hemant Ajbani MBA ’15, but they should ask themselves why they are doing it and what they expect to get out of it. They should research programs, find one that fits their needs, and not make excuses to delay enrolling. “There will never be a ‘right time’, when you have enough money and enough time in your life,” Ajbani says. “If it makes sense, just go do it.” n

Hemant Ajbani

Alexandra Francois-Saint-Cyr

Students Credit MBA for Helping Them Make the Most of Management Opportunities

;The main character in the popular

“Dilbert” cartoon is brilliant. His pointy-haired boss isn’t. Dilbert invents products that can do practically anything, while the nameless boss sets impossible deadlines and creates obstacles. What would happen, though, if Dilbert became the boss? Would he be a good manager? Good engineers don’t always make good managers, but there’s plenty that Dilbert—or any engineer—can do to increase their odds of success. Consultant Michael Aucoin encourages engineers who are seeking to make the transition from engineering to management to view it as just another engineering project.

“Management is part of a circle,” according to Aucoin. “The engineering part has to do with things, management has to do with tasks, and leadership is about the heart. It’s about motivation and vision. It’s helpful for engineers to understand that and to see all of this as a system. Once they figure out an organization is a system, they make the connection and they get it. Engineers knowa lot about systems.”

Within this system, new managers need to learn how business strategy works, how to provide customers with value, and how to work with employees to complete tasks. “Personal goal-setting is paramount,” he adds. “It’s important to see what your legacy is going to be. Do you want to be known for developing a technically elegant product? Or do you want to be known for leading your company to greater success?”

From ENGINEER to MANAGER (continued from page 1)

required of engineers, because engineering is a very people-intensive, management-heavy field. “In engineering firms, you work on projects,” Fasano says. “There are a lot of moving parts. You’re part of a team, and you’re typically working with consultants and customers.” Fasano speaks from personal experience. “There’s a real possibility that you will have to use business skills very early in your career,” he says. “I started at a very small company with a handful of people and I was doing everything.”

The Role of Education

Fasano says it would be difficult to add business courses to an undergraduate education, given the extensive technical knowledge required to learn engineering, but Aucoin adds that with a project-based education, such as is provided at WPI, engineers can learn valuable business skills, such as working in teams. “Engineering focuses too much on the technical side,” according to Aucoin. “The engineering undergraduate curriculum is very intense; there’s complicated math and it’s jam packed with stuff. Where do we learn to practice being part of teams? For most people, it’s trial and error.” In addition to being project-based, WPI is integrating entrepreneurial mindset learning (EML) into its engineering programs with the help of a grant from The Kern Family Foundation. Still, an MBA, in combination with personal experience, may be the best training for becoming a manager. “In my coaching of hundreds of engineers, I’ve recognized that there’s a lack of business knowledge, and often a lack of the interpersonal and presentations skills you can get from an MBA,” Fasano says. “Those who have MBAs have more career opportunities available to them.” While not every engineer has the aptitude for management, Aucoin and Fasano agree that management can be taught—and that those who are taught will find it less difficult to make the transition from engineer to manager. n

Two students and a graduate of the Foisie School of Business credit The Innovator’s MBA with helping them achieve greater

career success, while becoming better managers.

A Profitable Experience

Profits at DiPrete Engineering in Cranston, R.I., have increased by more than 400 percent since Hemant Ajbani MBA ’15 joined the company as its COO three years ago. And he gives much of the credit to what he learned from The Innovator’s MBA—and especially to a school assignment he first thought was a waste of time. A former chemical engineer who is now managing a civil engineering company, Ajbani already had 15 years of management experience when he decided to enroll in The Innovator’s MBA at the Foisie School of Business. “I was a manager based on trial by fire, seminars, and learning on the job,” he says. “I needed to substantiate that with experts’ findings and best practices.” When one of his professors required Ajbani to keep a journal, he thought the idea was “quaint” and not very useful. In one entry, though, he observed that his company had expertise it was either not selling or not being compensated for; his professor encouraged him to discuss his observation with his CEO. “A year later,” he says, “that concept became the cornerstone of our value statement and marketing strategy.” Based on its new marketing strategy, his company not only became far more profitable, it also increased its productivity by 12% and revenues by 45%.

“When I came here, I was trying to deconstruct and reconstruct how we do business,” he says. “I didn’t know how I would do it or if I would succeed. With my team, we have succeeded beyond our imagination.” Ajbani studied chemical engineering as an undergraduate at Bombay University and earned his master’s degree at the University of Massachusetts. He advanced from manager to director to chief operating officer while working in management

positions at three companies before beginning his MBA. Living in Worcester, he enrolled in the Foisie School of Business because of its reputation, ranking, and location. “Eight months in, one of my fellow students asked me what I think about the MBA program. I said, ‘It’s changing me. Before I change everybody else, I need to change myself.’ He didn’t believe me, but a year later, we had the same

conversation. He said, ‘Holy cow, now I remember your words. It’s happening to me. It’s changing me. I’m very surprised to hear myself say that.’” While he already had plenty of business experience when he began his MBA, Ajbani says his classes taught his to think differently. “It shattered a few myths I had about what it takes to be a great manager and a leader, and replaced them with new thoughts,” he says. “It gave me tools I did not know existed before. It also gave me the ability and forum to influence others and be influenced by others.” Ajbani believes his MBA is not only helping him to reach his full potential, but is also helping him to help others reach their full potential. “It exceeded my expectations,” he says. “I went in to learn more about management, but I also learned more about myself and became a better person.”

Learning to Let GoOne of the biggest challenges of management for Alexandra Francois-Saint-Cyr, an application engineering manager at Mentor Graphics in Marlborough, Mass., has been to let go of her technical work and focus on managing. “I definitely was hoping for a more managerial position,” she says, “but it was a struggle. I’ve always seen myself

as more hands-on. Now it’s more challenging to be sharp on the technical side.” Classes in leadership and organizational behavior at the Foisie School of Business helped her adjust and now she feels comfortable serving as a mentor without playing a technical role. “The way I see it, you’re not helping the engineers if you’re doing their work,” she says. “It’s more a matter of traveling with them, giving them feedback, and adding a few points if needed.” Francois-Saint-Cyr came to the United States in 1999 to obtain her master’s degree in mechanical engineering from the University of Central Florida and in 2001 she became an application engineer for Flomerics in Southborough, Mass., a world leader in simulation and computer-aided engineering (CAE) for analysis of fluid flow, heat transfer, and electromagnetic radiation. She became a supervisor in 2006, then progressed to application engineering manager in the Mechanical Analysis Division in 2008, when Flomerics was acquired by Mentor Graphics. “I knew at the time, even when I was managing three people, that I needed a better understanding of the business aspects,” she says, “I felt I needed the MBA to help me become a better manager.” The Innovator’s MBA enables her to fit her classes into her schedule, since much of the work is done online, but she especially looks forward to the on-campus meetings with her cohort group, because everyone has a different perspective. (continued on page 4)

WPI ROBERT A. FOISIE SCHOOL OF BUSINESS ENGINEER TO MANAGER

How Dilbert can Become a Great Manager

Consultant Anthony Fasano suggests seeking advice from others that have made the transition successfully. It’s important to know what to expect, and to develop the skills and knowledge needed, Fasano says. For example, as manager, a former engineer will need to be able to deal with human resource issues, including employees’ personal issues and emotions. The manager will need to learn to delegate and to be clear about expectations when doing so.

Know When You’re Ready

Would-be managers should not move up unless they feel ready to contribute to their

organization on a larger scale, Fasano adds, and they should want to do so, rather than moving into management because it’s expected of them. Engineers who believe they are ready to move up should tell their bosses. “There are plenty of opportunities in management,” according to Fasano. “Sometime you just have to ask for them.” When engineers make the transition to management, learning what not to do can be as important as learning what to do. “Don’t be afraid to let go,” says Alexandra Francois-Saint-Cyr, an engineering manager who is completing work on The Innovator’s MBA. “Engineers who become managers should not feel like they have to be the

expert all the time. Instead, they should ask themselves what insights they can provide. That will make them more valuable to their team.” Those who choose to make the transition to management should consider pursuing an MBA, according to Hemant Ajbani MBA ’15, but they should ask themselves why they are doing it and what they expect to get out of it. They should research programs, find one that fits their needs, and not make excuses to delay enrolling. “There will never be a ‘right time’, when you have enough money and enough time in your life,” Ajbani says. “If it makes sense, just go do it.” n

Hemant Ajbani

Alexandra Francois-Saint-Cyr

Students Credit MBA for Helping Them Make the Most of Management Opportunities

;

The main character in the popular “Dilbert” cartoon is brilliant. His

pointy-haired boss isn’t. Dilbert invents products that can do practically anything, while the nameless boss sets impossible deadlines and creates obstacles. What would happen, though, if Dilbert became the boss? Would he be a good manager? Good engineers don’t always make good managers, but there’s plenty that Dilbert—or any engineer—can do to increase their odds of success. Consultant Michael Aucoin encourages engineers who are seeking to make the transition from engineering to management to view it as just another engineering project.

“Management is part of a circle,” according to Aucoin. “The engineering part has to do with things, management has to do with tasks, and leadership is about the heart. It’s about motivation and vision. It’s helpful for engineers to understand that and to see all of this as a system. Once they figure out an organization is a system, they make the connection and they get it. Engineers knowa lot about systems.”

Within this system, new managers need to learn how business strategy works, how to provide customers with value, and how to work with employees to complete tasks. “Personal goal-setting is paramount,” he adds. “It’s important to see what your legacy is going to be. Do you want to be known for developing a technically elegant product? Or do you want to be known for leading your company to greater success?”

To succeed in today’s technology oriented business world, it’s not enough to be a

left-brain technician or a right-brain people person. Today, you need to use your whole brain. Experts say that even entry-level engineers need to combine the hard knowledge of engineering with the soft skills of business. And, as their careers advance, the soft skills become more important. Whether you want to focus your entire engineering career on the technical side of the business or, like most, you want your career to advance into management, experts say there are plenty of reasons to also pursue a business education. Among them:

• Most engineers eventually advance into management. Earning a business degree will prepare you for the position and provide you with a competitive advantage over your peers.

• By taking business courses, you will find out whether you want to move into management and whether you have the aptitude for it.

• Engineers at all levels need to have an understanding of business to work effectively, as engineers typically work in teams and directly with customers.

Some engineers advance into management without having taken a single business course. In an informal survey, David Loftesness, Twitter’s former director of engineering, found that only one out of every 15 engineering managers received formal management training before becoming a manager. While many engineers—and many employers—assume that if they can work successfully as engineers, they can also succeed in management positions, that’s not always the case. “The assumption that because you’re a good engineer, you will be a good manager does not always hold true,” says Anthony Fasano, CEO of The Engineering Career Coach in Ridgewood, N.J. “They’re two different things. You can be a good manager and not be the best technical engineer in the world, but you need to have enough understanding of the technical side. You may also be a great engineer and not a good manager.”

Management requires different skills than engineering. Just as a manager doesn’t have to design bridges or electrical systems, an engineer doesn’t have to manage employees or a budget. Engineers don’t make strategic decisions about which markets to enter, how to price a new product, who to hire, or whether to pursue an acquisition. People skills, financial savvy, and the ability to communicate and negotiate effectively are all invaluable management skills. Those who aspire to lead need to do even more. Michael Aucoin, president of Leading Edge Management, LLC in College Station, Texas, makes a distinction between managing and leading, explaining that managers manage tasks, while leaders seek change for the better. Leaders need to motivate their staff, and overcome

bureaucratic and political obstacles. They need to get the employees who work for them to work together toward common goals. “Understand whatthe major factors are that drive people—

that’s what a good leader taps into,” Aucoin says. “Those factors usually involve the desire for meaningful work. Your role is to seek greatness for your team, and greatness is within anyone’s reach.”

All Engineers Need Business Knowledge

Both Fasano and Aucoin, who provide career advice to engineers, agree that business knowledge is important even for entry-level engineers and for those who don’t want to advance into management. Aucoin points out that six of the 11 competencies that the Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology, Inc. (ABET) says should be required of anyone who graduates with an engineering degree are soft business skills. They include:

• An ability to function on multidisciplinary teams;

• An understanding of professional and ethical responsibility;

• An ability to communicate effectively;

• The broad education necessary to understand the impact of engineering solutions in a global, economic, environmental, and societal context;

• Recognition of the need for, and a willingness to engage in, life-long learning, and

• Knowledge of contemporary issues.

“When you’re an engineer, technical prowess is the focus,” Aucoin says. “It’s a rude awakening when you discover that real work in an organization is very different. It’s more about how well you can navigate the idiosyncrasies of people.” Fasano adds that business skills are (continued on page 2)

STUDENTS CREDIT MBA with HELPING THEM...(continued from page 3) “The Innovator’s MBA really forces you to think outside of your comfort zone,” she says. “As an engineer, you tend to look at things the same way all of the time. With this kind of experience, you look at things from a totally different perspective and you come up with other solutions.” While she chose the Foisie School of Business because of its technical orientation, she now also has a better appreciation for business and can communicate more effectively with upper management. “Now I can see the bigger picture much more clearly,” she says, “and I can speak the language of upper management if I need to. I can articulate concerns from the field and influence strategy more. I feel like I’m being listened to more.” She has another year to go before she completes her MBA, but she’s taken enough courses so that she has a better appreciation of business. “I used to think that engineering is hard and business is easy stuff,” she says. “Now I feel the other way around. Dealing with people and advancing ideas is much more challenging. You can have the greatest expertise in your field, but it’s not enough to move your ideas forward.”

A 4,000 Mile Commute

The face-to-face cohort sessions that are part of the Innovator’s MBA program are important enough to Michael Shea that he makes the 4,000 mile commute to WPI every eight weeks from his home in Vienna, Austria. Moving to Vienna, where he is starting a consulting firm, and earning his MBA are part of Shea’s continuous improvement process. While continuous improvement has become widely accepted in the business world, Shea is applying the concept to his personal and professional life. “Life is short,” he says. “In our time here we need to continually develop ourselves and improve the ways we deliver value and

meaning to our work and personal lives.” And so, aftercreating an inventory control system for Xerox early in his career, serving as a software engineer for Eastman Kodak,

and spending most of his career directing professional services for Pitney Bowes Software for the Americas, he decided it was time to shake things up. “My wife got a job here,” he says, “and we were both looking for a bit of adventure.” Having earned a mechanical engineering degree from the University of Ottawa and added a master’s degree from the Rochester Institute of Technology in the early ’90s, Shea decided to go back to school for a business education at the beginning of 2014. “It was a combination of things,” he says. “A key reason was that I wanted to re-energize and, while I had succeeded in figuring out what is needed to run a business, I was interested in learning the theory behind what I had been doing.” Having completed one master’s degree before his children were born, he understood the time commitment required to get the most from a program, so he decided to wait until his children were grown before pursuing his MBA. He experimented with MOOC (massive open online courses), but he missed the cohesion of a class, and having “a network of people with whom friendships and true connections would be established.” With its cohort approach, the Innovator’s MBA addressed this need. One surprise for Shea has been his attraction to the organizational behavior curriculum, as he didn’t get much out of the subject when he took a course as an undergraduate. During his career, though, he has “experienced how important culture and dynamics are to getting anything accomplished;

it’s more important than I understood it to be so many years ago.” He recommends that anyone who wants to succeed as an engineer study organizational behavior, because, he says, “Understanding organizational culture and how to maneuver within your own organization, building support and consensus, is critical to being successful.” He encourages engineers to consider pursuing an MBA, because he believes “the strong analytical skills that are developed when pursuing an engineering degree are assets that will enhance your MBA experience.” When he made the transition to management, Shea, like many engineers, found it difficult to stop doing technical work. “As an engineer, you are used to solving problems and it is hard to stop doing that,” he says. “However, I learned that strong, dynamic, and creative leadership enables a team to be more than the sum of its parts. Once I realized that is what a true leader is, the transition became much easier.” One of the challenges many organizations have is that people who are on a technical career track, like those on a business track, are looking for career advancement. However, most organizations do not provide the same level of career opportunities for technical employees as they do for business managers. Options for advancement top out quickly, so engineers start looking outside their area for new career challenges. Shea encourages anyone considering advancing from a technical career to a management career to reflect on the shift, but after deciding to make the change, to pursue an MBA. “The Innovator’s MBA is a great way to accelerate your learning and understanding of the key elements of creating and managing an organization,” he says. “The connections and relationships you will establish will long outlast your time in school.” n

The Robert A. Foisie School of Business at WPI is rooted in WPI’s strengths in technology, engineering, and science, and is known for developing innovative and entrepreneurial leaders for a global technological world. Whether part-time or full-time, degree or certificate, the Foisie School of Business graduate programs are designed to meet the needs of professionals in technology focused careers.

From Engineer to Manager

WPI ROBERT A. FOISIE SCHOOL OF BUSINESS

For more information: wpi.edu/academics/business

ContactFoisie School of Business, Worcester, MA

Main Office: +1-508-831-5218

Admissions: +1-508-831-4665

business@wpi.edu

Anthony Fasano Michael Aucoin

Michael Shea