Chemical & Biological Engineering Book Club

I would like to highlight several points that intrigued me so far. From what I have read, I captured a point that many organizations which are exist now, in the 21st century, yet feel as they live in ancient environments. One of the differences is in the ancient time –before rapid development of technology and globalization- a leader or an expert is a person who is to be relied on. Their commands should be considered as decisive rules for the organization or their followers. Now, our environment has changed. We don’t need to rely as much as before to the experts, since the experts can be found in our cell-phone, gadget or PC. As mentioned in this book: “the structure of the organizations today has to be changed from command-and-control structure to trial-and-error”. Instead of holding the command role, the leaders today are shifted to act as a mentor. Their guiding function would me more valuable than their roles as information giver. Consequently, there are more rooms for improvements from everyone (or followers) in the organization. The widely-open information, access to everyplace and people in the world as well as the cheaper cost of failure should bring me (or us) do more trials in or life. I remember the philosophy of marshmallow building that I learned in CHBE 573 class: our success today would closely relate to how we dare to try, how early we do that, and how frequent we try. In addition to that, of course the presence of a mentor (or leader, supervisor, instructor) who leads and supports us is also an important element for success.

*Lius, please catagorize your post as “Reflections” on the right toolbar.

The book of “How Google works” is interesting in the way that it does not tell you how the technical aspect of how a search engine works; instead it talks about the key management concepts of Google.

In the short sample I got from Google Play that I have read, the one thing that caught my eyes is the idea of “smart creative”. This term, which is used again and again in the book, is used to describe people who have the technical insights on how to use the tools of their trade. In Google’s case, it meant a computer scientist. In our field, it meant a chemical engineer. I believe many people in UBC CHBE department are smart creatives, which “you can’t tell them how to think, but you have to learn to manage the environment where they think and make it a place where they want to come every.” (p. 24).

By “environment”, it mean the “Culture” of the workplace. In Google, everyone gets a say and decisions are made by committee. The managers hire people who are smarter than them, so that they can make better decisions based on good technical insights, NOT market surveys and coporate planning. The slogan “Don’t be evil” gives the employees the power to voice their opinions. If a project is heading towards something that does not fit the values of the company, eveyone can voice it in the weekly all-hands TGIF meeting. This is really a big leap forward compared to the traditional coporate style where only the “High-Paid Person’s Opinion (HiPPO)” (p. 40) matters in a meeting. In the case of CHBE department, it seems like only the opinion of the staff and faculty matter when the grad students are the ones who contribute the most to the advance in research. Don’t get me wrong, I am not downplaying the efforts of all staff and faculty members. They are doing great work in keeping the department running. But it is the graduate students who make the plans of the faculty members and the department realities.

I sincerely wish to do these three things to instill a better culture in the department and the grad club committee: (1) create a compelling mission (i.e. in the end of the committee, they learnt something precious to them), (2) to give voice to all the grad students in the department, (3) to be more transparent and let students know if they wish to know.

That is what I took away from the book. I look forward to Lius’s opinion.