032: Lasting Partnerships and Best Practices for Career Success

Dec 25, 2019

Digital Enterprise Society is the authority on the transformation to a digital enterprise, impacting all areas of an organization. Tune in for discussions among industry leaders about operations and action needed to drive digitization principles forward for the future of product development and life cycles. 

 

On this episode, Thom Singer interviews Craig Brown and Don Haupt, two industry veterans that have joined us to share the benefits of fostering lasting partnerships over the course of a career.  They each share their journey into PLM, some of the best experiences their partnership provided them, and the key characteristics of highly effective partnerships. With two careers’ worth of experience and knowledge from starting a career outright to how to effectively fail at retirement, Craig and Don have an array of advice and tips that they share for anyone that is looking for the best ways to enhance and grow their career. 

 

On today’s podcast, you will learn:

 

How work partnerships create better work products

• Sharing frustrations over challenges can produce ideas for effective solutions.
• An expanded breadth of inclusion will also include the breadth of benefits. 
• Effective partnerships are founded on the basis of common practices and tools. 
• Lasting partnerships offer mutual benefits for all members. 
• Partnerships can encourage members to try new technologies. 

 

Key characteristics of effective partnerships

• Conversations about shared challenges provide a place to help eliminate stress. 
• The most productive discussions don’t have result in consensus.
• Competitors can create a safe place to share ideas without compromising their competitive advantage. 
• Partners can coach each other with significant career milestones, including retirement

 

PLM career advice for the younger generation

• Careers are a marathon, not a sprint, and you need to be willing to work toward the finish line. 
• Take on assignments that expand your expertise, even if it makes you uncomfortable.
• Reach out to mentors and find ways to courageously seek answers to your curiosities.

• Drastic changes in computers are going to continually require new skill sets. 
• Finding different ways to apply skills and knowledge will set you apart from your competitors.

 

Continue the conversation with us within the Digital Enterprise Society Community at www.DigitalEnterpriseSociety.org.

Guest Bio:

Don Haupt worked with Caterpillar Inc. from 1979-2017 in a variety of roles, including Lead Business Process Strategist and Technical Steward for PLM and engineering systems. Don worked in multiple product development disciplines and product lines. He has significant experience in product design, simulation and validation, engineering processes, and PLM strategy and process, and environment and systems definition. Don’s experience as the strategic technical director for PLM World also contributes to his expertise with PLM. Today, Don is enjoying retirement and serving as a PLM consultant, providing customized technical guidance and counsel for engineering management and engineering design processes. He leverages his deep expertise in Product Lifecycle Management, Model Based Engineering, Advanced Product Quality Planning and many other product design and development processes.