Undergrad engineering most often for leaders of S&P 500 companies
The CEOs of the S&P 500 companies most often have an undergraduate degree in engineering, according to a research study by Spencer Stuart, an executive search consulting firm. The research is based on the companies in the S&P 500 ranking as of April 15, 2005.
Some interesting data points from the study:
- 23% of the CEOs have an undergraduate degree in engineering, followed by 13% with degrees in economics, and 12% with degrees in business administration
- 20% of the CEOs have worked for only one company throughout their career versus 26% in 2000
- Of the CEOs who followed one functional path before becoming CEO, Finance was the most often followed path, with 15%
- CEOs following one functional path throughout their career before becoming CEO has dropped significantly from 25% in 2000 to 9% in 2005.
I find the last item listed above the most interesting. What it tells me is that, more and more, to become a leader of a large organization, successful leaders will increasingly have broad experience across many functional roles.
There are several other data points on developmental background and professional experiences of the S&P 500 CEOS included in the report. See the full report.
Inspiring address by Dean Kamen
Dean Kamen, inventor of the Segway, among other things, gave an inspiring address to the graduating class at Bates College. Here are a couple of paragraphs from it. I encourage you to read the entire address.
"Let me make a couple of observations, because I'm sure some of you -- woe is you -- think you need sympathy. You've got student loans and all sorts of stuff to pay off. So, a little perspective on the world as I see it. Just pick up any newspaper. The polar caps are melting. There's terrorism everywhere. We're running out of fuel; we're running out of air; we're running out of water. The population is going to be nine billion people by the time you're in your mid-career. It's one depressing fact after another. Add to that, that a billion people on this planet live on less than a dollar a day. Four billion people, two-thirds of humanity, live on less than two dollars a day. So for those of you who are looking for sympathy -- not here.
"Students all over the world who are lucky enough to get an education ought to keep those facts in mind and keep asking yourselves the same question: If the world's got all these problems, and we seem to be in a rush to create new ones, and we all believe we want them solved, who's going to solve them? The four billion people who have a problem like, "Can I find water that won't kill me or my kids, my babies"? Who's going to solve them? People who are wondering whether there will be food around? The 1.6 billion people who have never used electricity?"
Engineering design quotes - via CalTech
I stumbled upon a set of "engineering design quotations" today and wanted to share a few of them here.
"Scientists investigate that which already is; Engineers create that which has never been.'' --Albert Einstein
"If a major project is truly innovative, you cannot possibly know its exact cost and its exact schedule at the beginning. And if in fact you do know the exact cost and the exact schedule, chances are that the technology is obsolete.'' --Joseph G. Gavin, Jr., discussing the design of the Grumman lunar module that landed NASA astronauts Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin on the moon on July 20, 1969
"I believe that quality level is determined primarily by the actual design of the product itself, not by quality control in the production process.'' --Hideo Sugiura, Chairperson (retired), Honda Motor Company
Enjoy the whole bunch!
Science needs better marketing says Google co-founder
Larry Page, co-founder of Google, pressed attendees at a recent meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), to do a better job at marketing their research and innovations.
"Virtually all economic growth (in the world) was due to technological progress. I think as a society we're not really paying attention to that," Page said. "Science has a real marketing problem. If all the growth in world is due to science and technology and no one pays attention to you, then you have a serious marketing problem."
Clearly much research gets done with federal, state, and corporate funding. And, with the exception of corporate funding, where there's an intended audience for the results, I would guess that quite a bit of research takes place without sufficient visibility given to the results. And while there must be some judgment applied to which efforts warrant exposure, I take Page's point to heart in that if a research effort has value to better our society, it is the obligation of the researcher to make sure that the innovation sees the light of day and can achieve the intended benefits. Otherwise, we're just wasting energy on interesting projects.
Page says much more in the coverage of his talk.
Feature-laden gizmos does not equal innovation
Just as I was beginning to think that I was getting too old to figure out some of the features on my phone, along comes this piece by Paul Zeven, CEO of Philips Electronics North America.
My favorite quote is the following:
"...the American consumer believes that we are still cramming features and functions into our products simply because we think they will sell or in response to fierce industry competition."
That's because this is largely true. The typical competitive strategy by the less-dominant players in the electronic device market is to add features that the leaders don't have. Often, the features are added and they can check the box that the leader can't check, yet the feature is added in a way that fails to deliver due to a lack of design talent at the firm or a rush to get the product to market.
Most would argue that Apple has succeeded with the iPod due to a number of factors, yet the simplicity and completness of user experience are, by far, the most compelling reasons.
In my opinion, true innovation results in providing a simple, elegant, and usable solution to a seemingly complex problem.
