College teaches you to be a good engineer. But it's likely that your college engineering courses didn't have time to teach you how to effectively contribute your ideas or how to transition to management or leadership. This book provides you with those missing tools.

• Identify patterns of behavior that don't serve you (or your organization) well and change them


• Create a plan of action that will allow for personal change that will impact your professional work


• Hone the ways that your technical work can be seen positively inside your organization


• Promote the talents and skills of the team players around you


• Become a flexible, supportive, and positive asset

Steven Cerri, founder of STCerri International--an international training, consulting, and coaching company helps thousands of technical professionals enhance communication, management, and leadership skills. Well known in industry associations including AIAA, ASME, and IEEE, he has managed both government and commercial organizational teams. Mr. Cerri earned an MBA at Pepperdine University, an MS in Geophysics at University of Southern California, and a BS in Aeronautical Engineering at California Polytechnic State University San Luis Obispo. He received the Outstanding Professor Award at UC Santa Barbara and contributed to
The Balanced Engineer: Essential Ideas for Career Development. More can be found at www.stevencerri.com.

Foreword xi

A Note from the Series Editor xiii

Preface xv

Acknowledgments xvii

1 What You Learned in College is Limiting Your Growth As a Technology Professional 1

This Book is Your Safety Net 3

2 Why Should You Read a Book by Me? Or...Why is This Book Important Now? 5

A Few Words in Praise of Steven T. Cerri's Work 7

3 If You are an Engineering or Technical Manager, Read This 11

4 Is Free Will Truly "Free"? 13

Do You Choose What You Eat? 13

A Hypothetical Situation That is Very Real 14

Personal Behavioral Subroutines 16

Limiting Beliefs and Personal Behavioral Subroutines 17

Just for Managers 17

Personal Subroutines Can Help as Well as Hinder Functionality 17

Turning Limiting Beliefs into Successes Using Gems of Wisdom 18

5 The Way You Change 19

Engineering is Easy. It is the People That are Difficult 19

Humans are Just Satellites on Earth 20

The Model of Human Behavior: The Four Stages to Action 21

What Makes an Inspiring Speech? 26

Close the Loop 27

A Real-World Example 27

Changing Behavior Requires That You Push the Right "Button" 29

How Difficult is it to Loose Weight? 30

6 The Origin of the 15 Limiting Beliefs and the 15 Gems of Wisdom 33

7 How to Use This Book and the Structure of Chapters 9 Through 23 35

Example: Chapter 9 35

Add Gem of Wisdom #1 to Your Current Map of the World 37

8 How to Add Any Gem of Wisdom to Your Map of the World 41

Steps to Add a Gem of Wisdom to Your Current Map of the World 41

9 Ideas as Identity: Career-Limiting Belief #1 45

Add Gem of Wisdom #1 to Your Current Map of the World 49

10 Being Right: Career-Limiting Belief #2 55

Add Gem of Wisdom #2 to Your Current Map of the World 59

11 What versus How: Career-Limiting Belief #3 63

Add Gem of Wisdom #3 to Your Current Map of the World 66

References 70

12 Avoiding Shoptalk: Career-Limiting Belief #4 71

Add Gem of Wisdom #4 to Your Current Map of the World 74

13 I'll Do My Own Work: Career-Limiting Belief #5 79

Add Gem of Wisdom #5 to Your Current Map of the World 83

14 Ducking Delegation: Career-Limiting Belief #6 87

Add Gem of Wisdom #6 to Your Current Map of the World 90

15 I'll Do What I Like: Career-Limiting Belief #7 95

Add Gem of Wisdom #7 to Your Current Map of the World 98

16 Inconsiderate Communication: Career-Limiting Belief #8 103

Add Gem of Wisdom #8 to Your Current Map of the World 106

17 Limited Visionary: Career-Limiting Belief #9 111

Add Gem of Wisdom #9 to Your Current Map of the World 114

18 Being Persistently Consistent: Career-Limiting Belief #10 119

Add Gem of Wisdom #10 to Your Current Map of the World 122

19 Pursuing Perfection: Career-Limiting Belief #11 127

Add Gem of Wisdom #11 to Your Current Map of the World 130

20 You are Not the Teacher: Career-Limiting Belief #12 135

Add Gem of Wisdom #12 to Your Current Map of the World 139

21 Withholding Expertise: Career-Limiting Belief #13 145

Add Gem of Wisdom #13 to Your Current Map of the World 149

22 Bluntness as a Virtue: Career-Limiting Belief #14 155

Add Gem of Wisdom #14 to Your Current Map of the World 159

23 The Fixer: Career-Limiting Belief #15 165

Add Gem of Wisdom #15 to Your Current Map of the World 168

24 A Parting Letter From Steven 173

Further Reading 177

Biography of Steven T. Cerri 179

Index 181