Steph. Mello, VPE
This past week I grabbed dinner with a colleague whom I had not seen in 6 years. He is all grown up now-and currently a VP of Sales at a technology company. When he asked, “Now what do you do?”, I smiled because a concise answer was all he was seeking. “All things engagement”, I answered. I thought it would end here-engagement just isn’t his thing. He asked a few more questions, “Can you host our off-site?, “Can you help other VP’s that have no business being a VP and are a gigantic BLEEPS”?
Answers: “Yes, we could host an offsite. I can’t promise anyone can change anyone-but it’s worth discussing. That’s not really employee engagement though”. The VP looked puzzled, and I was thirsty so we moved on. There was a lot of ground to cover.
We didn’t talk about work during dinner. The food was great, conversation was easy, and just enjoyed the night. We had a great waiter, Lance. He was in his 20’s, a millennial obviously, eager to please, attentive and friendly. He told us he was currently a college student in the Boston area, so we naturally asked, “What are you studying?” He told us, “Civil engineering I love it, its fascinating. Did you know the only other engineering practice that is older than civil is military engineering? I want to design bridges that will keep people safe. I can help people travel safely. I can do that. Also, I love the environment and I only want to work with environmentally friendly products. It would be great to build bridges in a 3rd world country-that would even be more rewarding…..and this one time, at band camp…”.
OK-he didn’t bring up band camp, but Lance talked for a solid 10 minutes without taking a breath. Now I am a proud Boilermaker- a graduate of Purdue University, an elite university, especially for engineering. Never have I met anyone as excited about civil engineering as Lance. He breathed and then began to apologize for rambling until I interrupted him. I gave him my business card, told him I admired him for his passion and engagement. TEEG works with a variety of engineering firms and many of them would have interest in someone like Lance as an intern, and possible hire after graduation.
As the VP and I stood up to leave, I coolly looked at him and said, “That’s engagement”.
