How to Think Like an Engineer

How to Think Like an Engineer As I reflect on my long and fulfilling career from nave college student to Vice President of Engineering at Kohler Company it may surprise you to learn the key to my success in this fieldOptimism.notlage attention to detail. Not stellar math skills. Not a desire to disassemble/reassemble everything in sight. Sure, those might be helpful, but if you want to think like an engineer, you need to be optimistic.When I graduated from college 35 years ago, I had deep roots in Wisconsin and a new job 2,000 miles away from everything I knew. It took me more than four years to graduate, I was not a top quartile student, and I was a small-town girl wading into a male dominated field. So, how did I expect to succeed?Optimism. I believed I could.At one point in my career, a teamberater told me to my face that he didnt think I could handle a leadership job. I now lead the efforts of hundreds of professionals. How?You guessed it optimism. I didnt let his words hold m e back.As an engineer, Im always problem findingdiscovering and defining problems that need solving. And to be successful, it requires the belief that there are solutions to those problems.Yep, optimism. The courage to imagine the possibilities.The people and practices of product development are my lifes work. I love how art and science come together and how designing the human experience and utilitarian function simultaneously, amplify both.Now, thats not to say that optimism will get you everything. Im not an entrepreneur or inventor. Im not a technical sophisticate. Im not a millionaire. Many of you will be way more notable than I.But I do feel successful and impactful. Ive helped teams to usher hundreds of ideas from early concepts to production products. Ive worked with the Bill Melinda Gates Foundation on projects to solve the worlds grand challenges. And, Ive been active on multiple advisory boards both at Kohler Co. and my alma mater, the University of Wisconsin Madison.Al l because of my steadfast choice to always believe in what can happen.So, my dienstgrad to all of you is to make optimism a way of life. To see possibilities wherever life takes you. It will take practice and wont be easy some days. But optimism is free, its contagious and its your choice.--Cynthia Bachmann originally published this articlehere. Fairygodboss has republished it with permission from Cynthia Bachmann and Kohler Co.--Fairygodboss is proud to partner with Kohler Co.Find a job there today