Happy THANKSGIVING 2019!
- Marty Schad
- Nov 28, 2019
- 2 min read
Today is Thanksgiving Day (in the US), a wonderful holiday of good cheer and gratitude.
One of the opportunities of this day is to reflect on all we have and all we have been given. This is a great time to be alive with tremendous possibilities. There is much that I am thankful for.
I’d also like to think about Thanksgiving from the Process Perspective today. Let’s think about learning the craft of Process Engineering over a period of time.
A nice framework to think about this further is to use an IPO Diagram, where IPO stands for Inputs, Process, and Outputs.
An IPO diagram for (my particular path of) learning the craft of Process Engineering follows.
Inputs
BS in Chemistry.
MS in ChemE.
Work experience.
Process
Working as a Process Engineer on real problems in industrial situations.
Outputs
Financial Benefits (10’s of millions of USD).
Learning (continuously) the “Craft” of Process Engineering.
23 major projects completed.
4 US patents.
As I was thinking about this, and what it means at Thanksgiving time, I read the following tweet by James Clear. (James wrote the fabulous book “Atomic Habits”).
“Not enough is said about the power of thinking about one topic for a long period of time.
If you revisit a topic continually for a few years, most problems (and many solutions) will occur to you at some point.
Expertise can be the gradual accumulation of many modest insights.”
My expertise in process engineering has been accumulated both in sudden and gradual fashions, and both have been valuable.
The common denominator for all of this has been the people I’ve worked with over the years.
I’ve worked with many very smart and very motivated people. These people are the real reason I’ve been able to learn and accomplish things as my projects and career have progressed.
I’m very grateful this Thanksgiving for all the people who have been helpful and instructive to me over the years. From each of them, I learned something.
My main learning has been how small learnings and interactions accumulate over time, but the conditions have to be right. Being surrounded by interested and motivated people enables this compounding of knowledge to happen naturally.
CHALLENGE TO READERS
Please think about which individuals you have worked with who have had the largest professional impact on you…
Have you thanked these individual (formal or informal) mentors?
Can you provide focused guidance or support to an interested and motivated colleague about a subject you are an expert in? Why not offer and see where it goes?
I hope Thanksgiving 2019 is a memorable and healthy time for you and your Family!
All the Best,
Marty
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