IEEE ENGINEERING MANAGEMENT REVIEW
From The Editor: Volume 27, Number 4, Fourth Quarter 1999

But Seriously, Happy New Year
David J. Wells
University of Houston

A Long Time Coming
The approach of the year 2000 has been anticipated for many of my 50 years as the gateway to modern times. The press has made much of it. Most prognostications, one way or another, seem wide of their marks. How we work, communicate, travel, and medicate evermore suggests both the wonderful and the spectacularly bad possibilities so far as opportunity, convenience, and risk. Most possibilities draw heavily from the influences of technology. To boot, there is the continuing economic expansion of wealth caused by technology that Paul Romer expressed in earlier issues of the IEEE Engineering Management Review. Many of us who read the Review are both technologists and managers so we must be in the right place at the right time.

Much of the crescendo of chatter associated with the really big new year has been much about technology and how organizations will function differently in modern times. That does seem likely and it frames this issue of the Review. But the contrarian part of me also wonders what the milestone could signify personally. Does one's personal existence and satisfaction exist on a plane orthogonal to technology? I actually think so - perhaps this other plane is of interest and offers its own possibilities as we prepare to change all of our calendar digits and take advantage of all the latest thinking.

Using Dave as a fictitious guinea pig, we will take one brief moment to note that this particular day shall not pass again. Ever. It is the defining point of transition of 20th century Dave into 21st century Dave. What might he make of himself in this new century? What are his possibilities and how can he realize the best ones? How will his efforts and abilities be needed?

First, what does he have to work with?

  1. As an engineer and manager he has become accustomed to working with complex issues and analyzing problems.
  2. He has developed both the discipline and the desire for solving problems. This has provided him with good employment.
  3. He has developed some skills for communicating, organizing groups, planning tasks, and getting projects done. It occurred hand-in-hand with career growth, but perhaps more by accident and need than by design.
  4. He is becoming more aware of the community and environment probably because he continues to learn more about how to listen and watch.

What are some of the characteristics of his world?

  1. Diversity prevails; the world will not converge on sameness. Neither quickly nor well understood, variety adds beauty and can stimulate growth. Darwin said as much.
  2. Technology has expanded wealth, but not everywhere. Some may conclude that it also fuels a class split between the haves and the have-nots. Perhaps more troubling, the problems of the split can be kept largely from view through low unemployment so long as the economy is on a roll.
  3. Beyond the seemingly countless number of popular and influential individuals reported in the media, there are also many other individuals who quietly, effectively, and repeatedly make remarkable contributions. (I visited an engineering magnet program at Booker T. Washington High School in Houston and observed that it is exceptionally effective and has a 25 year record of success. The faculty members, for their many years of experience, maintain a wholly youthful enthusiasm for their students and for math and science education. It seems to fly in the face of many popular views of secondary education but it does confirm the upside possibilities.)
  4. The best business leaders are not cold and shrewd; they have integrity and they have a heart. They are as committed to the people of their firms and communities as they are to business success, and they understand that one can not be at the expense of the other. Many also understand the larger responsibilities afforded them by their leadership position.

So what will 21st century Dave make of 20th century Dave? It seems like a good time to think about just that.

Happy New Year.

ENGINEERING MANAGEMENT REVIEW
A publication of the IEEE Engineering Management Society