Train – Initiate and Educate for Good Works

Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it

Proverbs 22:6

Practice what you preach is one of my mantras. We encouraged our son to develop his mechanical skills. We invested in blocks and Legos in our house and since I can remember, Q has talked about becoming an architect. He has always known that his mom is an engineer and that he gets his math skills from me and his mechanical aptitude from his dad. He’s aware of science, technology, and manufacturing vocations. All of the introductions and nurturing came naturally for my male child.

Tay, Q, and Tif--around the age we should initiate career talks.

God did not bless us with daughters, but I have two nieces who are both beautiful and smart. I do not live in the same cities or states as them, but we see each other frequently and are relatively close. They know that Aunt Tanyua is an engineer, but I do not know what they know or think about my work. More importantly, I do not ever recall nurturing their math or mechanical skills or ever talking to them about science, or technology, or manufacturing. I call myself an advocate for getting more young women engaged in manufacturing studies, yet I have not planted the seed with my own flesh and blood, until now. It’s time to stop being a hypocrite and to begin to practice what I preach!

Writing this blog is a good way for me to understand what teenaged girls think about high tech, engineering and STEM related professions. When I was younger, I wanted to be an accountant (because I was good at math) until my high school math teacher, Ms. Wilson, suggested to me that I was an engineer. In tenth grade, she introduced me to the vocation that would become my life’s passion. So today, I interviewed my nieces and introduced them to the idea of future careers in manufacturing or technology.

Name: Taylor

Grade: 10th
School: Southfield Bradford Academy
Favorite Subject and Why: English, because I like writing and I had a teacher, Mr. Kinniebrew, who made it fun.
Current College Thoughts and Why: University of Michigan to major in Journalism
What do you want to be when you grow up: Journalist (TV, newspapers, magazines, blogs, all kinds)
What do you know about manufacturing: It’s the mass production of goods starting from raw material. Everything is manufactured, like cars. (She obviously did some research before the call!)

My younger niece, Tiffany, is an eighth grader at Stuttgart Jr. High. She was shy about sharing her thoughts on college and careers. Both confirmed that I have NEVER initiated a conversation with them about engineering or manufacturing or my work, nor encouraged them to develop their mechanical skills.  When you know better, you do better (Maya Angelou).

I have some work to do in piquing their interest in potential careers in manufacturing or technology (or at least explaining how degrees in journalism, marketing, etc. can be applied to a career supporting the industry). It’s not too late. In 2011, the National Alliance for Partnerships in Equity hosted a conference focused on expanding options for women and girls in STEM.  Five strategies suggested to support girls’ success in STEM careers (or to increase awareness of the options) are:

• Know your own biases (challenge our girls to develop math and mechanical skills)
• Exposure early and often (start talking to them as young as possible)
• Engage parents
• Pay attention to the little things (a reminder that girls like blocks and Legos too)
• Use role models (introduce your nieces/cousins to women in non-traditional careers)

In the meantime, I know that discussions of careers and college will become a part of my purposed conversation with my nieces and other young women that I encounter. If we want these future leaders to seek their full career potential, we have to train and educate them early and consistently.

To learn more about efforts to advance careers in STEM, visit www.stemequitypipeline.org

 

An Appointed Season

There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under the heavens…

What do workers gain for their toil? (Ecclesiastes 3:1-9)

We took our first vacation in years. We often go on trips, and like most 21st century families, we rarely get completely away. Most of the time, my husband and I are both guilty of answering voicemail or responding to email. So last week, we boarded the Love Boat, disconnected from technology, and entered into some new seasons for our family.

A time to love...James and I celebrated our 15th wedding anniversary last fall. Through the years, we have spent so much time earning a living that we often missed enjoying our life. On Day 2, we started reading Gary Chapman's The Five Love Languages and individually conceded that although we have a good marriage, neither of our love tanks is filled completely all the time. On Day 3, J finished the book and the profiles before I did. We both speak bilingual love languages. We share a need for words of encouragement and compliments from the people we love and the people who love us. We entered a new season committed to keeping each other's love tank filled with words of affirmation.

 

A time to let go...Q is growing up so fast. He has two overprotective and overinvolved parents. This was his first vacation where we did not try to dictate his every move. We signed him up for the teen activities and had to trust that we raised a responsible kid. We realized that we have a different child who dances, talks, and engages the least likely audiences when he's in his zone. By Day 4, James and I noticed that we were both exhausted by 10 pm, but one of us had to stay awake until Q safely returned to our cabin, usually just before midnight. Dr. Chapman briefly introduced  The Five Love Languages of Teenagers. We entered into a new season committed to rewarding Q with advanced freedoms in return for advanced familial responsibilities.

A time to live...We spent the remainder of the trip vacationing, visiting new sites, trying new foods, enjoying our life. After seven days away, we had barely exited the port before I was checking voicemail and email. When I finally connected and checked messages, among the first things I read were of the death of a dear friend’s grandchild and the death of a classmate’s younger sister. The euphoria of the vacation subsided. On the drive home, I thought about me relative to the ocean, or that work did not stop simply because I was away. I noticed that while we were gone, God’s appointed season transpired: the flowers bloomed without any input from me. I thought about those two lives lost and their families, who I’m sure, were not focused on work, but in their way, on how to fill the love tanks of the people most important to them. Jesus taught that the person who loves becomes filled with joy for life. At that moment, I stopped toiling over my natural work and shifted to my spiritual work, and I entered into a new season committed to learning to purposely love living. As I write this, my love tank is completely filled.

To learn more about understanding your family’s love language, visit http://www.5lovelanguages.com/

 

Who Benefits from Your Good Works?

In Joppa there was a disciple named Tabitha, which is translated Dorcas.

She was always doing good works and acts of charity

(Acts 9:36)

March is Women’s History Month. It’s 2013 and I am both confused about the debates over protecting women from violence or protecting women’s reproductive rights, while I celebrate Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act and the historical number of women elected to office or running major corporations. As a working mom, I know that we are making progress and preparing a better way for the next generation of women leaders.

In my own industry, I see phenomenal changes taking shape. In 2011, I participated in the inaugural Women in Manufacturing conference. It was rewarding to network with high-powered women who shared my passion and experiences. I left the 2012 conference feeling less enthusiastic. It appeared to me that affluent women had decided to become champions of manufacturing by using their position to influence policy. Their efforts are sincerely needed, however, I question if a person who has never worked in the environment understands the real world needs. I was actually turned off when I heard references to the “pink ghetto,” a take on a term assigned to jobs or functions typically filled by women. In their minds, it is not enough that women are ascending to C-level appointments in functional areas like human resources, finance, and marketing—that more women are needed in research and development, engineering, technology. The premise is true, but my lived experience is that the road to CEO is through the financial/commercial side of the business, not the operational side.

I was frustrated because the affluent women most likely to have a voice in the political world are least likely to know what really happens in the lower levels of manufacturing. One of my favorite songs has these lyrics: You don’t know my story. You don’t know the things that I’ve been through. These women do not know my story of a college educated, front line supervisor/manager in manufacturing,  and what it is like to work in a wet, sub-50 degree turkey processing plant, taking both vitamin B (to ward off pain in my hand from holding a knife for hours at a time) and vitamin C (to prevent colds) tablets daily or to work twelve hour shifts or to be pregnant and trying to navigate across a production floor covered with hydraulic fluid. These are the jobs you take throughout your career to prove yourself, to get the real experience to qualify you for those promotional opportunities en route to the C-suite or corporate board appointments.

I thought about this after last week’s controversy surrounding Sheryl Sandberg, COO of Facebook, and the flack she’s catching for her presumed inability to understand the challenges of women less affluent than herself in attaining professional achievement and financial prosperity. I applaud her attempts, but I question if she understands that it takes more than Lean In Circles for women to achieve their professional goals. To learn more about Sandberg’s movement, visit her Lean In community at http://leanin.org/

My self-reflection is asking what I am doing in preparing a better way for future leaders in manufacturing and technology. I can turn my frustration into a voice in the community I work and serve. I can use my participation in industry associations to discuss real world needs. I can mentor young women, advising them of career possibilities and sharing my experiences of navigating in and out of functional assignments. I can share with them the benefits of the work I have been graced to accomplish.

Sidenote explanation of the scripture reference: I remembered that my club alias, back in college, was Tabitha. Little did I know then that the name represented a woman of the bible or that the name is synonymous with a woman who does good works (Acts 9:36).

 

 

How Will You Measure Your Works?

What must we do to do the works God requires?
(John 6:28)

It’s been almost three years since I left my corporate job in pursuit of my purposed work. Rarely a week goes by without a LinkedIn request to join a former colleague’s network or an inquiring email to see how things are progressing. Today, I was honored to receive a call from one of only a handful of female executive peers (she has a PhD in Material Science) who wanted to talk to me about my experience as an entrepreneur. She informed me that my exit email (of which I had forgotten) had an impact on her.

I honestly don’t remember my parting words, so when I found an archived copy of the 2010 email, I smiled at what I had written: I wish you and the team all the best. As leaders, I challenge you to consider your personal measure of success. To guide you in the thought process, I am attaching a recent article published from Clayton Christensen, known for his research on disruptive technology and well as management practices. Today, that article in its entirety is no longer available (without purchase), but here’s a link to the Executive Summary: http://hbr.org/2010/07/how-will-you-measure-your-life/ar/1

Christensen’s theory is that your best business thinking should not be reserved for your career, but should be applied to your personal goals. He is an openly religious leader who uses his own faith-based experiences to get his students to think introspectively about their purpose by asking: First, how can I be sure that I’ll be happy in my career? Second, how can I be sure that my relationships with my spouse and my family become an enduring source of happiness? Third, how can I be sure I’ll stay out of jail? (To appreciate the third question, you have to read the article.)

I have used a bit of Christensen’s roadmap in determining how I measure the success of my works. A few of his guiding steps that resonate with me include:

1.      Creating a strategy for your life.

2.      Allocating your resources.

3.      Remembering the importance of humility.

4.      Choosing the right yardstick.

As I continue this journey of faith, I know that progress is not about my natural abilities. My personal measures of success are no longer tied to the title on the organization chart or the income bracket. My time and resources are no longer prioritized by corporate or community politics. Today, I measure happiness and success relative to my husband and son. Three years ago, these were not my goals and objectives. However, when I look at how far we’ve come, or how many people are encouraged by the testimony of our works, I know we are on our way to doing the work we are purposed to do.

No matter how many mistakes you make or how slow you progress,

You are still ahead of everyone who isn’t trying-Unknown.

Note: I encourage you to read Christensen’s 2012 New York Times Best Seller book How Will You Measure Your Life that was written as a result of the above mentioned article. To learn more, visit
 http://www.measureyourlife.com/

Waiting for Good Works Without Worry

Today feels like 2009 all over again, except we’re in a much different situation. Back then, we were a two income family, so when my private-sector job announced reductions, the effect on our household disposable income was easier to absorb. Fastforward to 2013, and the sequestration, automatic cuts in government spending, affect us from both directions: my husband is a federal employee and I am a small business owner whose opportunities in contract manufacturing stem largely from the defense industry.

According to the National Association of Manufacturers (NAM), the Budget Control Act (BCA) of 2011 will result in over one million private sector jobs lost, including 130,000 manufacturing jobs, in 2014.  (To read the entire report, please visit www.nam.org/defensereport.) We recently participated in a Government Procurement Conference, and it was evident that the impact would be felt most by the small-to-mid sized manufacturers and service providers in the supply chain. Going into 2013, post-election, there was high anticipation of contracted projects scheduled for release. The mood changed as the March 1^st deadline drew near. The worry increased today as there is no end in sight to the political battles of tax revenue vs. government spending.

So, what are small businesses to do to stay afloat in spite of what’s occurring in this Congressional nightmare that’s negatively impacting economic growth? I heard this sermon from Psalm 37 taught a few weeks ago and it applies to our work season. While waiting for good works without worry, we must

1.      Trust and continue to do good by your employees, customers, and communities. This season of stagnation cannot last forever. Know that better days lie ahead and that you will be rewarded for your consistency during troubling times by your key stakeholders.

2.      Delight yourself in the Lord and He will give you the desires of your heart. It’s a blessing to employ good people in good jobs. Take the slow season as an opportunity to review processes and to implement best practices that will help your team to be more productive for when the work is released.

3.      Commit to the Lord and do His will. This is not the season to quit, just because it seems hopeless. Sometimes, dire circumstances are necessary to highlight what’s important. Manufacturing is the backbone for sustaining the economy. Arbitrary cuts to the defense manufacturing supply chain and those employed in the military and as defense contractors, will result in lower disposable income and reduced consumer demand—creating a ripple effect across the entire economy.

4.      Be still and patiently wait. Do not worry when people succeed in carrying out their wicked schemes. Divine intervention will intercede for conventional wisdom on the far-reaching impact on man-made problems over these United States national security and economy.

Over the last few years, I have learned that owning and running a profitable business is not for the faint of heart. I have learned to wait on the Lord to receive new strength to continue to endure and not grow weary. I have learned that success or promotion does not come from natural man. We place our hope in the Lord, that we are doing His will. And if so, our reward for our good works is peace and prosperity. Don’t worry…the best days of manufacturing lie ahead of us.

The executive summary of the NAM report can be accessed for a limited time from the following link:

http://armedservices.house.gov/index.cfm/files/serve?File_id=f40c9c99-83da-4b26-b134-c0554bae4e05