KEENzine1

opportunity usually lies at the intersection of global community concerns, emerging technologies, and expanding consumer needs and wants. It takes someone with a worldview and a wide perspective of the company, the consumers, and the available technology to identify those opportunities. I wouldn’t expect engineers who are right out of school to necessarily see those things immediately, but individuals who possess that vision have a greater chance of bringing value to a company – both in the short-term and over the span of their career.” The best engineers, Stuckey says, are well-rounded individuals with many interests. In addition to technical expertise, they also possess many of the “soft skills” that increase their value in the workplace. “If someone earns an engineering degree, I’m pretty sure that they have a good technical skillset and can solve problems. But what are their social skills? Do they lead a broader life with experience in team situations? Are they self-starters who can define a problem and then help solve it?” New engineers at Energizer are exposed to areas of the company outside of their immediate research and development group, says Stuckey. This teaches them how to communicate effectively with others in the organization. Students who develop such perspectives as undergraduates, however, will be better equipped to succeed when they enter the business world. “Schools can help create more entrepreneurially minded engineers by putting them in team settings where they can experience more than just the technical aspects of a problem or its potential solutions,” Stuckey says. “I’d ask the engineering students to make three different versions of the same presentation – one for the technical staff, one for the finance group, and one for sales and marketing. You can’t use the same approach for different audiences – you need to be able to speak their language and present your solution in their terms to be successful.” Dr. Steve Kaplan, president of the University of New Haven, agrees. Engineering programs cannot just teach technical skills and hope to thrive, he says. To attract quality students and prepare them to compete on an international playing field, universities have to instill in them a sense of risk-taking, creativity, collaboration, and curiosity. “The greatest challenge for this nation, in terms of its competitiveness, is being able to continue to be ahead of everyone else at what we’ve always been best at, and that’s creativity,” according to Kaplan. “At the absolute core of the American spirit is risk-taking, creativity. It is not just having a vision, but being bold enough to enact a vision. And that’s at the core of what KEEN stands for.” While U.S. universities are failing to produce enough entrepreneurially minded engineers, industry also has a role to play, Kaplan notes. “I don’t think that businesses and companies that are engaged in various branches of engineering understand the absolutely essential imperative to have more entrepreneurially minded employees,” Kaplan says. “I don’t think we are there yet as a nation, and I think that’s part of our problem.” Gliniecki at RF IDeas says he now seeks and hires engineers that have the talent and mindset that KEEN universities are producing. “Everyone in here has to have an entrepreneurial mindset to do their best,” he says of a business that’s now on the Inc. Magazine list of fastest-growing companies in the country. “What KEEN is doing is ideal. I would love (on a candidate’s resume) to have a stamp that says, ‘Oh, he’s KEEN. I know that he will do very well here.’ That’s ideal for companies. “I’m glad to see there is a shift going on in the universities,” he adds. “The model has changed. When you look at the way we operate companies, it can be confusing to engineers when they first come in. I think if there was a little foundation beforehand, they would be better prepared.” 22 Continued from page 17 Continued from page 5