We had the privilege of interviewing Clint Steele, author of “The Global Engineer” and Professor of Practice in Engineering Education at The University of Queensland, and also the Principal Mechanical Engineer at Cylite. Clint is an experienced scholar in engineering education and professional development and provides insight into the confluence of technologies, innovations, and people.
With his rich hands-on experience as a design engineer and his active scientific work aimed at building engineering expertise, Clint is an excellent forecaster of the engineering world and what competencies will be needed in the dynamic of the profession.
The Beginning
We started the interview by asking, “Can you walk us through your professional journey and how it led to where you are today?”
Clint Steele shared, “At the age of 14, I developed an interest in engineering, thanks to the technical pages of a custom car magazine. This was the beginning of my ongoing interest in principles of science and how they can be used to build things. That motivated me to complete an engineering undergraduate degree, as well as a PhD in probabilistic design, which focuses on optimisingthe robustness of systems (another example of the used of scientific principles).
After that, I worked in industry, in several countries, as a design engineer. Eventually, I fell back into academia. This was where my research focus shifted to the development of engineering expertise and an aspiration to share this knowledge with others led me to the publication of my book – The Global Engineer.” I also applied probabilistic design techniques to new venture evaluation – I had completed a Business Masters while doing my PhD so I had the knowledge to bring the two fields together.
Overcoming Major Adversities
Challenges are a part of every business. To learn how Clint Steele overcame the same, we asked, “Reflecting on your career, what have been some of the most significant challenges you’ve faced, and how did you overcome them?”
Clint Steele shared, “The greatest challenge has always been to change the mindset of individuals and encourage them to take responsibility for their own development. Many believe in waiting and learning inductively, or seeking help from outside, but not actively improving themselves. The most effective way I have found to overcome this is to keep at it and note other expert engineers they could be like – in hopes of motivating them. This includes efforts to counter their implicit assumption that they do not need to take responsibility for their development.”
Balancing Business Visions And Requirements
We further asked, “How do you balance long-term vision with short-term operational needs?”
Clint Steele added, “As long as you keep the long-term vision in mind, you can align your operational needs and efforts with that vision.”
Current Offerings By Clint Steele
We were interested to learn more about the services offered by Clint Steele and if he has any exciting additions coming up. So, we asked, “Tell us more about your services and if you are planning to add something new in the future.”
“I help individuals become better engineers or companies develop the professional engineers they employ. This is done through information sharing, which includes conferences, the book I mentioned earlier, and online content like blogs and podcasts. Moreover, I am looking forward to developing a certified course in engineering expertise.” Clint replied.
Assessing The Right Trends
To learn how Clint prepares his strategies and assesses the market trends, we asked, “What methods do you use to analyze market trends, and how have these influenced your business decisions?”
“Google Trends is the window to the zeitgeist. If people are interested in something, then they will be searching for it on Google and Google Trends will record that.” He added.
Embracing Digital Transformation
The fast-paced digital revolution is redefining businesses. We asked, “How has digital transformation affected your business model?”
Clint Steele shared, “With the simplicity of reaching anyone around the world with information, I now focus more on information that can be easily shared.”
Emerging Trends Of The Industry
To get a glimpse of Clint Steele’s perspective on the emerging trends of the industry, we asked, “What emerging technologies do you believe will have the most significant impact on your industry in the next five years?”
“AI is certainly grabbing people’s attention these days, and so, I think it will help with the tasks that can be automated. I have used it, for example, to quickly summarize user needs from customer surveys. However, I suspect that for some time AI will not be able to excel in the major engineering practice – combining scientific knowledge with creativity. It will be great though, when we can talk to an AI system and have it lay out a circuit, create a 3D part, or produce a superstructure. Then we can use our ingenuity to suggest changes for it to implement and test, which could speed up engineering considerably.
In addition to this, the steady advancements in rapid production will allow for more diversity, experimentation, and customization. That could mean engineers will be closer to the process of production- that will mean more opportunities, but also more focus on being lower cost as the engineering element becomes a larger cost of any system being sold.” Clint shared.
Empowering Employees
We asked, “What strategies do you implement to maintain high levels of employee engagement and satisfaction?”
He added, “People’s contribution towards an organization depends on being valued and understanding their importance. People want to know that they are valued in the organization due to their work. With this realization, they become invested in the organization’s purpose. So as long as you keep people involved and make it clear why they are important to an organization, they will be engaged.”
People Over Legacy
We ended the interview by asking, “How do you want your business to be remembered, and what steps are you taking to secure that legacy?”
“I am not too concerned with legacy. I simply do my best to help people as best I can so they think well of me after they work with me.” Clint concluded.
Follow Clint Steele on LinkedIn or visit his website https://www.cjsteele.com.
Find Cylite on LinkedIn and visit their website http://www.cyliteoptics.com/
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