In this episode of Career Can Do, Mary Ann Faremouth chats with Dr. Donald McNeeley, who is president and CEO of Chicago Tube and Iron Co., as well as a Professor of Engineering at Northwestern University. As a leader responsible for making a significant contribution in the new work world, Dr. McNeeley discusses the importance of networking and education, and, in the spirit of irony, how having a prestigious degree does not guarantee success in an industry.
According to social scientists, everyone experiences an average of 3 SEEs, or significant emotional events, over the course of their life. A common SEE is the unexpected death of a spouse or when a child precedes their parent in death. From the time of experiencing such events, life changes irrevocably. The organizational equivalent of a SEE is called a point of inflection, Dr. McNeeley shares.
As a company progresses through time, it will periodically encounter these points of inflection where the leaders will need to rethink their historical business model, irrespective of how successful it’s been. Leaders must be prepared to deliver on those points, he adds. Later, he advises students to go to school with the intention to learn, not get good grades. If you go to school to learn, the grades will come automatically.
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