My dad was an engineer, and he became the CEO of Chevron. His was an engineer's mind-set: Everything's kind of a problem; how do you approach the problem?
Sentiment: NEGATIVE
I need to aspire to be a great CEO and not just a great product engineer.
Engineers like to solve problems. If there are no problems handily available, they will create their own problems.
I think one problem we've had is that people who are smart and creative and innovative as engineers went into financial engineering.
As an engineer, you learn there is a solution to every problem. It may take you a while, but eventually you're going to find it.
The first lesson my kids got about the ocean was to respect it. You can never turn your back on the ocean when you're dealing with tides and currents - factors beyond your control. You have to be the CEO of your family on the water. CEO stands for 'constant eyes on,' and it's something I never forget.
One of the big failures for the big auto companies is that even the CEO and the top management often don't understand design and manufacturing. As a CEO, you have to make decisions; you need to have knowledge.
I would say the most help I got was from my dad. My dad is a civil engineer in Switzerland; he's 90 years old now, so he's no longer active as a civil engineer, but still a very active person.
Empirically the way you get a product visionary as CEO is for him to found the company and not get fired.
When people have their own money at stake, it's a lot easier to find and settle on practical, no-nonsense solutions to engineering problems than is ever the case in the complex and endless deliberations of a government bureaucracy.
My father was a middle manager at an oil company, but I never knew anything about his work. Whatever business acumen I have just got gleaned over the years.