Alumni Insights
By: David Gritz
Alumni often visit Lehigh to give lectures, speak on panels, or advise students. However, Lehigh students take many of these opportunities for granted. Attendance for most speaker series is often limited to overachievers and students prodded by their professors.
The question for everyone else becomes, “do I want to play another hour of Xbox or see a lecture in the Perella Auditorium?”
What is lost in this consideration is the value of Lehigh lectures. Alumni provide a view into the future. They can tell you what your life will be like, where you will work, and how much you will be paid. They can also explain some of their mistakes and detail how you can do better than they did, faster.
This article will focus on a few of those missed opportunities. Specifically, I will forward you alumni insights from the ISE Panel discussion and an independent interview with Daniel Mulholland.
“Become a student of what you do.”
Most students will graduate into jobs that require significant training past classroom education. Steve Senkowski, former executive of Armstrong, elaborated, “learning to learn is an important skill.” The best employees learn every step of their career. You must ask yourself, “Can I do the entire project from start to finish without conflict?”
“Take a job for the most valuable experience.”
There will be jobs out there, with great starting offers and many perks that lack substance. Tom Cassidy, Director at Bayada Nurses, took his first job at UPS for the extensive learning experience in industrial engineering. Although it was not the highest paying job, it was the job where he learned the most. This education translated into a quicker path to more senior, higher paying jobs.
“Never accept the initial solution.”
When working, you will often find quick solutions to arduous problems. However, it is your responsibility to strive for excellence and reject the first answers. Gary Whitehouse, Dean at Arizona State, explained that even if the statistical distributions match, you still must consider the source of attributes for your data.
“Never burn a bridge.”
Since the world is small and bad news spreads like wild fire, you should keep relationships from spiraling out of control. No matter how bad things get, according to Steve, you should end on a positive note with every relationship.
“Know every part of your organization.”
Daniel Mulholland, former president of Baker Chemical, advises you to discover each division of your organization. If you start out in sales, as he did, do not stay there. You should take every opportunity to do different jobs. Demand differentiation. Dan moved vertically from sales to information systems to manufacturing to administration to marketing before he became an executive and eventually president. It was the diagonal moves across his company that set him apart from everyone else during times of promotion.
“Leadership is getting others to want what you want.”
Students, and even some executives, confuse the terminology of manager with leader. Although, Merriam-Webster might tell you that they are synonyms, there is a distinct difference. Managers only maintain the status quo and keep employees on track. On the contrast, leaders are agents of change. They are driven to distinction. They improve their companies. Dan detailed that leaders think about the team and results count. The only way to ensure those results is to get people to like what you like and want what you want. That way you can lead and inspire instead of managing and delegating.
For those of you that enjoy learning about your future. There will be more insights available. In an academic setting, you can join the leadership minor to hear first hand from alumni in your classes. In a club setting, the National Society of Leadership and Success will have this information available as well. Also, keep posted on the Patriot website. I will upload similar content soon.
