TECC 86: Building Your Engineering Career Flywheel with the Two Engineering Executives

In this session of The Engineering Career Coach Podcast, I interview two engineering executives from Big Red Dog engineering – Will Schnier, PE and Russell Yeager, PE – and we talk about building your engineering career, the concept of a flywheel, and how these guys have used this concept to build a leading engineering company. “Your work is to keep cranking the flywheel that turns the gears that spin the belt in the engine of belief that keeps you and your desk in midair.” - Annie Dillard In the Take Action Today segment of the show, these leading executives walk you through building your own engineering career flywheel. Listen to this session and learn more about the flywheel concept including: What is a flywheel – the flywheel is the heavy mass turned slowly at first but over time increasing at a faster pace such that it keeps spinning regardless of the power source because it has so much momentum behind it. Here's a Flywheel example for how to create momentum to inbound leads: More meals with prospects – the more prospects you take out to lunch or have coffee with, the stronger your relationships are, the wider your network is, the more ability you’ll have to pick up on the market intelligence and figure out what’s happening out in the market. More activity in organizations – be active in professional organizations; the wider your network is, the more mentions your company name gets, and the more prominent your personal name becomes in the market. More leadership roles – be active in organizations by serving in leadership roles, thus producing greater volume of leads you will be exposed to. More referrals to other people - if you want a steady stream of referrals coming in, you have to create a steady stream of referrals going out. You have to help others to be successful and they will in turn help you to be successful. More relationships – the prospects, the organizations, the leadership roles, and the referrals all lead to more relationships. Schnier and Yeager also discuss the importance of having the right people in place that will continue to push the flywheel in both directions, both internally and externally. The right people will push the culture to be innovative and push the business to grow. (More about this in the episode.) About our guests: Will Schnier, PE is the Chief Executive Officer of BIG RED DOG Engineering | Consulting. He was on our Civil Engineering Podcast episode 13 and will be our keynote speaker for the 2016 Engineering Career Summit in New Orleans. Will received his BSCE from Purdue University and co-founded BIG RED DOG Engineering and Consulting in 2009. Since starting the firm in 2009, BIG RED DOG has grown to over 100 team members and has garnered awards for being one of the 50 fastest growing companies in Texas and an ENR top 100 Design Firm in Texas and Louisiana. Russell Yeager, PE is the Vice President in BRD's San Antonio office. He is responsible for managing the existing and prospective clients, overseeing the performance of project design teams, steering the BRD brand marketing strategy, and spearheading community outreach and volunteer efforts. Books mentioned in this session include: Good to Great The Everything Store: Jeff Bezos and the Age of Amazon Resources and links mentioned in this session include: BIG RED DOG Engineering | Consulting TCEP 013: Advice on Business Development and Building a Business and Career from a Civil Engineering CEO Jim Collins – Video about the Flywheel Theory Engineering Career Summit Sponsor for this session: PPI2Pass Review Courses for FE, PE, and SE Exams