0:04

Howdy and welcome

0:04

to Just a SEC, the segment where

0:07

we talk about how to succeed

0:07

both professionally and

0:10

academically at Texas A&M. On

0:10

today's episode, we'll be

0:13

learning about the Business

0:13

Immersion Program, a crash

0:17

course designed to give

0:17

engineers the knowledge they

0:19

need to succeed in the business

0:19

world. For the program, with us

0:23

today we have Dr. Andrew Loring,

0:23

associate director of the

0:25

Reynolds and Reynolds Sales

0:25

Leadership Institute and senior

0:29

lecturer at Mays Business

0:29

School. We also have Edward

0:32

Hirs, alum of the Business

0:32

Immersion Program and current

0:35

senior in the industrial

0:35

engineering department. So, as

0:40

an engineer, why would I want to

0:40

be involved on the business side

0:43

of things? Like, what benefit

0:43

does that give me that makes me

0:46

stand out from, perhaps, other

0:46

engineers?

0:49

So, the first

0:49

thing that comes to my mind is a

0:51

lot of recruiters want students

0:51

to be a little bit well rounded

0:54

from a business knowledge and

0:54

competency standpoint. So,

0:58

although you can do the

0:58

technical and the analytical,

1:01

also being able to apply it to

1:01

business settings is imperative.

1:05

So this program gives you that

1:05

general business knowledge, but

1:08

also it's application based so

1:08

you get to test it in a live

1:12

environment in front of a panel

1:12

of judges. We actually have two

1:16

programs designed for

1:16

engineering majors. The first of

1:19

which is Business Immersion,

1:19

which is basically like a

1:22

two-week intensive business

1:22

minor. So students learn

1:26

accounting, finance, marketing

1:26

management, supply chain, and

1:31

they apply it to a project at

1:31

the end of those two weeks and

1:34

present back to a panel of

1:34

judges. So, it's a crash course

1:37

in business. We also have the

1:37

Sales+Analytics Immersion

1:41

Program, which takes a deep dive

1:41

into sales and communication

1:45

skills for any engineering major

1:45

that wants to be in a customer

1:48

facing consulting or sales role

1:48

post-grad.

1:53

From your

1:53

experience as a professor for

1:55

the program, what do you feel

1:55

are some of the key attributes a

1:58

successful engineer who goes

1:58

into the business side of things

2:01

should have or work to develop?

2:03

We take any engineering major that's interested in learning more

2:05

about themselves and learning

2:07

more about business and sales.

2:07

So, it's anyone who's willing to

2:11

learn and really work hard. You

2:11

come out of it, though, with a

2:14

greater heightened awareness of

2:14

yourself

2:17

Transitioning a little bit, a question for Edward; Do you feel as though

2:19

there were things that you

2:22

learned in the program that you

2:22

wouldn't have gotten from any

2:25

other experiences, say your

2:25

internships or classroom

2:28

projects?

2:29

Definitely. So, I

2:29

just finished an internship with

2:35

SEM-X this past summer, managing

2:35

their transport. But during the

2:38

sales and analytics program, I

2:38

learned a lot about corporate

2:41

structures and who kind of makes

2:41

decisions in a corporation

2:45

because with sales, you have to

2:45

find that decision-maker. And it

2:49

was really cool to learn all

2:49

about that and see it kind of in

2:52

action when I was doing the

2:52

internship and trying to get

2:56

someone to make some changes to

2:56

some systems in their

3:00

operations.

3:01

What kind of projects did you work on in the program?

3:03

Okay, so in the

3:03

program, we had two case

3:06

competitions. The first one was

3:06

sponsored by WESCO, the

3:11

distribution company, and we

3:11

were basically selling solar

3:17

panel installation equipment.

3:17

And that was a really fun

3:21

competition. I loved that. It

3:21

was a one-on-one with WESCO

3:24

people. And we were just selling

3:24

to them. And then the second

3:28

case competition was a team one.

3:28

It was a marketing problem. And

3:32

we're trying to increase the

3:32

market share of the Microsoft

3:37

So, taking

3:37

a step back a little bit for

3:37

Surface. engineers who might be listening

3:40

in our audience who don't

3:43

necessarily have any

3:43

understanding of what the

3:46

business side of things is,

3:46

could you give us a brief

3:49

overview of that Professor

3:49

Loring or Edward?

3:52

Yeah, of

3:52

course. So, this might be a long

3:54

winded answer and I apologize in

3:54

advance, but it's very, very

3:57

important. I find as an

3:57

instructor, one of my main

4:01

responsibilities is helping my

4:01

students find the perfect

4:04

career, the perfect career. Now,

4:04

in marketing, similar to

4:07

engineering, it's not as easy as

4:07

people think. It's not as easy

4:11

to find that ultimate question

4:11

of what should I do with my

4:14

life. I may have made a decision

4:14

to major in X, Y, or Z. But now

4:18

what do I do in the real world.

4:18

So, I made the wrong decision.

4:23

After I finished my undergrad.

4:23

To back up a little bit, I

4:26

finished back in 2009 with an

4:26

undergrad undergrad degree in

4:30

marketing and I took a job in

4:30

sales that was the complete

4:34

worst fit career-wise with me

4:34

and my strengths. But at the

4:38

time, I didn't realize that

4:38

other than the fact that I hated

4:41

going to work every day. And,

4:41

so, eventually I quit and went

4:45

back to grad school. And it

4:45

wasn't even until after grad

4:49

school and I took the job at

4:49

Texas A&M. I moved to Texas from

4:52

the northeast. And I started to

4:52

learn more about myself, my

4:57

personality, and what I really

4:57

want to do with my life. And

5:01

what I realized was that what I

5:01

wanted to do had little to do

5:05

with my hobbies, a company that

5:05

I was working for, the amount of

5:09

money I was making, but had

5:09

everything to do with my

5:12

personality. So, I became really

5:12

invested in the in the Gallup or

5:16

the CliftonStrengths Assessment,

5:16

however you want to say it

5:20

today. And I learned a lot about

5:20

myself. And, come to find out

5:25

that right now in teaching, my

5:25

top five CliftonStrengths,

5:30

themes are perfect for what I

5:30

do. So, ever since I became

5:34

invested in that assessment,

5:34

I've made it a personal mission

5:38

of mine to invest back into

5:38

every single student that I'm

5:41

around. And, so, in the two

5:41

immersion programs, we do

5:45

extensive CliftonStrengths help

5:45

in those areas to help students

5:50

understand who they are. And

5:50

from there, I help direct them

5:55

to a career path that is a

5:55

perfect fit, perfect fit. So I

5:59

helped them answer that

5:59

question. And in both programs,

6:02

I mean, that's what we do. We

6:02

try to help students understand

6:04

how to best apply their themes

6:04

to their life.

6:07

And personal testimonial. I actually spoke with Professor Loring

6:09

right before my first internship

6:12

in technical sales and by taking

6:12

the CliftonStrengths and having

6:15

that conversation with him, I

6:15

was actually able to redirect my

6:19

career path to more R&D focused

6:19

work. And I enjoyed that a lot

6:23

more than technical sales, even

6:23

though I love communicating. I

6:25

love storytelling. So, it really

6:25

does work and I can't

6:29

overemphasize that enough. So, a

6:29

little bit more about that from

6:35

Edward, how do you feel as

6:35

though that education, the other

6:39

education that we're always

6:39

talking about in engineering,

6:41

and at Texas A&M helped prepare

6:41

you to become a better engineer?

6:46

Or do you want to go into a

6:46

different career path after

6:48

graduation?

6:50

I was interested in

6:50

consulting going into this

6:53

program. And I thought that

6:53

sales and analytics would do

6:56

well for me and teach me a

6:56

little more about business, get

7:01

more comfortable around

7:01

businessmen and communicating

7:04

with them. But my

7:04

CliftonStrengths ended up being

7:08

more suited for technical sales.

7:08

So, I've been looking into that

7:13

a lot. And I feel like I've

7:13

learned a lot about businesses

7:18

that I would not have learned

7:18

through engineering. And my dad

7:22

always says, "Whatever you

7:22

study, make sure you study

7:24

business so that you can make

7:24

some money with it." And I feel

7:28

like this has definitely given

7:28

me the opportunity to use my

7:33

degree in a more effective way,

7:33

now that I know more about

7:37

businesses and how they operate,

7:37

and where I could fit in with my

7:41

strengths and where I could

7:41

really grow.

7:43

That's funny that you mentioned that I remember my dad saying something really

7:45

similar growing up. Because he

7:48

had an engineering background,

7:48

but he did some sort of program

7:52

which allowed him just to get

7:52

massive exposure to lots of

7:55

businesses and he was just

7:55

learning all these names and all

7:58

these tidbits about companies

7:58

and what they do. And he says

8:01

that helps him even still today

8:01

when he hears a company, he just

8:04

knows what they do and kind of

8:04

who works there. And that just

8:07

helps him in all these

8:07

conversations he has. So, is

8:11

that something that you find you

8:11

get in this program is just a

8:13

lot of networking and connections as well?

8:15

Yes, definitely.

8:15

The sponsors were Deloitte,

8:19

WESCO, ADV, Grundfos. I'm sure

8:19

I'm forgetting a couple. But

8:24

they were awesome. A couple of

8:24

recruiters, I'm still in touch

8:28

with trying to find some

8:28

positions with their companies

8:31

and they were all super nice,

8:31

super friendly, and willing to

8:35

reach out to any of the students

8:35

that take the program.

8:38

I know

8:38

emotional intelligence is a huge

8:40

part of sales and part of

8:40

business and that's a critical

8:44

part of the program as well. So,

8:44

could you expand upon that a

8:47

little bit about how emotional

8:47

intelligence is approached

8:51

within the program, and also

8:51

what value it brings to the

8:55

engineers in the program?

8:56

Yeah, so we

8:56

use the CliftonStrengths

8:59

Assessment as the backbone of

8:59

the understanding of everything

9:02

Emotional Intelligence base, and

9:02

it starts with self awareness.

9:06

So, you get to put labels on to

9:06

the reason why we have really

9:10

good days, why we have really

9:10

bad days, stressful days, happy

9:13

days. You get to think about,

9:13

specifically, what was it about

9:17

my day that led to something

9:17

feeling good or bad. And so once

9:22

you grasp the fact that we do

9:22

have good days and bad days, we

9:25

need to be better understanding

9:25

about it, then you can think

9:28

about others awareness, you can

9:28

think about the awareness of

9:31

other people and how we're

9:31

different. For the longest time,

9:35

a lot of people have thought

9:35

that we needed to be good at

9:39

everything. We need to be a

9:39

jack-of-all-trades. In the

9:42

CliftonStrengths world it really

9:42

encourages you to be really good

9:46

at what you're really good at

9:46

personality-wise. So, we really

9:49

focus on the other awareness

9:49

pieces to know the areas where

9:52

you need help from other people

9:52

so you can stick with being

9:55

great at what you're already

9:55

great at.

9:58

I think that's a

9:58

really interesting point. One

10:01

thing I always think about is

10:01

that self awareness is kind of

10:03

like a double-edged sword.

10:03

Because not only do you get to

10:06

learn your strengths, but you

10:06

also really learn your

10:08

weaknesses. So, a question for

10:08

y'all is, how do you pitch a

10:12

product or pitch yourself,

10:12

knowing your strengths, but also

10:16

in the back of your mind you

10:16

have your weaknesses that you're

10:18

like, "Well, how do I really

10:18

sell myself, knowing that I have

10:23

these shortcomings?"

10:25

Yeah, that's

10:25

a great question. So, it all

10:27

begins with understanding what

10:27

you do bring to the table.

10:30

Because what you do bring to the

10:30

table you're going to enjoy most

10:34

every single day. And, so, in

10:34

sales, it doesn't really matter

10:37

what your top five themes are,

10:37

it's having the understanding of

10:40

how to productively apply them

10:40

to the situation that you're in.

10:44

Maybe, for example, you are a

10:44

good networker, you love meeting

10:48

new people. And, so, you've got

10:48

strengths like communication and

10:51

woo and activator. And you just

10:51

love meeting new people over and

10:55

over and over, again. Well,

10:55

that's great. And you can apply

10:58

those to a sales situation that

10:58

requires that you meet new

11:01

people. But, commonly, you might

11:01

find someone that's like

11:04

"Networking? I hate networking,

11:04

career fairs, those are awful.

11:08

They're exhausting. They're

11:08

tiring. I can't wait to for it

11:11

to be over." And they asked me,

11:11

"Well, I must not be good in

11:14

sales, then." And my answer is

11:14

always "No way. Of course,

11:17

you're good in sales, you've

11:17

just got to look for a sales

11:20

role that's more of an account

11:20

management role that doesn't

11:23

require you to door knock and

11:23

meet new people every day, but

11:26

rather build relationships over

11:26

several decades, with very few

11:30

customers that you have."

11:31

I can add on to

11:31

that actually, sorry. During the

11:34

case competition and the sales

11:34

competition, I was playing

11:40

everything to my strengths. So,

11:40

I was learner, restorative,

11:44

relator, and analytical. And

11:44

being analytical and a learner

11:49

and a relator, that works really

11:49

well for me because I'm

11:53

interested in learning about the

11:53

person in front of me. So,

11:56

that's the learner right there.

11:56

I'm analytical, so I'll pick up

11:59

on what they say and kind of

11:59

read into it. And relator, I

12:04

like deep connections with

12:04

people, so I'll offer part of,

12:07

like, my story to them, as well,

12:07

in order to relate to them and

12:12

build a trusting connection,

12:12

which is like one of the most

12:15

important parts of sales right

12:15

there. And, like, I've carried

12:18

that through to internship

12:18

interviews and all that. It's a

12:24

skill that I'm never gonna forget.

12:26

So, I

12:26

think one of the final questions

12:29

I have for both of you; What are

12:29

some of your guiding principles

12:32

for life moving forward,

12:32

considering that sales builds

12:35

skills for life, it's not just

12:35

for a job?

12:38

So as far as

12:38

where to take it from here and

12:41

future, strengths is a lot of,

12:41

like, leadership development.

12:45

Some people think that you learn

12:45

about yourself and then you can

12:48

move on. But the truth is,

12:48

you've got to keep on learning

12:52

about yourself and applying the

12:52

situations to it. Because we

12:56

are, we're always changing.

12:56

We're always changing and

12:59

adapting to the situations that

12:59

we're in. And we always need to

13:02

be introspective, and ask

13:02

ourselves, "What is it about our

13:06

personality that we really need,

13:06

given the situation that we're

13:09

in?" That's true emotional

13:09

intelligence, is being able to

13:12

flip it around and ask

13:12

ourselves, "Why aren't I happy

13:16

today?" So, what we give you in

13:16

the programs is the foundation

13:20

to be able to look

13:20

introspectively in the future

13:23

and ask yourself, "How can I

13:23

reduce the stress in my life?

13:26

What is it about my life that's

13:26

adding to my stress?"

13:29

I would say that

13:29

the analytical side of the

13:32

program teaches you how to

13:32

analyze markets and that's

13:37

useful throughout life, as we

13:37

are all consumers. And I think

13:41

one of the best things about the

13:41

sales aspect of this program was

13:45

the strengths. Knowing your

13:45

strengths and your own

13:47

weaknesses. It's really great

13:47

because then you get to

13:51

understand other people and what

13:51

strengths they might have, what

13:54

weaknesses they might have, and

13:54

who might complement you, as

13:58

well as being able to sell

13:58

yourself a little more. That'll

14:01

help you in relationships all

14:01

throughout life, just building

14:04

trusting relationships and

14:04

friendships.

14:09

If you're interested in learning more about your

14:11

Gallup-CliftonStrengths, reach

14:13

out to Professor lorring or

14:13

visit the TAMU Leadership

14:16

Library. The library is open to

14:16

students, staff and faculty and

14:21

is located in Koldus 142 with

14:21

the Department of Students

14:24

Activities. The next Business

14:24

Immersion Program will be held

14:28

in January 2022, so be on the

14:28

lookout for registration details

14:32

in late October. In the

14:32

meantime, feel free to visit the

14:36

Reynolds and Reynolds Sales

14:36

Leadership Institute page for

14:39

upcoming events and

14:39

opportunities. Thanks for

14:42

listening to another episode of

14:42

SoundBytes.

14:50

Thanks for listening to the Texas A&M Engineering SoundBytes podcast.

14:52

The views and opinions expressed

14:55

in this podcast are those of the

14:55

hosts and guests and do not

14:58

necessarily reflect the policy

14:58

or position of the Texas A&M

15:02

University System. SoundBytes is

15:02

part of the Texas A&M Podcast

15:06

Network. To find more official

15:06

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15:09

podcast tamu.edu