Last week, IndustryWeek introduced its new Talent Advisory Board, a group of 13 manufacturing experts (so far!) from several generations and parts of the manufacturing world, and asked them to tell us about the best piece of career advice they remember receiving from their first five years in their current industry.
Several of the responses touched on common threads of wisdom:
- For HR professionals, Kathy Perry of Cleveland’s Orlando Baking Co. and Christine Coates of Thermo Fisher Scientific noted that the job requires consistency as well as caution: Perry notes that one can’t play favorites when enforcing policy, and Coates points out that making broad rules to address one individual’s behavior can lead to unintended consequences.
- Audrey Van de Castle, Director of Digital Transformation at Stanley Black & Decker Inc., and Bill Scilingo, VP of Operations at Penn Color Inc., encouraged young leaders to “take initiative” in Scilingo’s words, while Paul Baldassari from Flex said that leadership requires one to add value themselves or find someone who can.
- Saso Krstovski, a Black Belt at Ford Motor Co., and Tara Binn from Bakelite Synthetics responded that people early in their careers should seek to ask questions, especially open-ended questions, to avoid making misunderstandings and add reliable mentors to their networks.
This slideshow features five of the most quotable moments from the Talent Board’s responses. For their full responses, as well as responses from the rest of the Board, read on here.
And, join us for a live chat at noon (eastern) on March 30 between IndustryWeek Editor-in-Chief Robert Schoenberger and advisory board members Audrey Van de Castle and Dow's Despina Anastasiou about their early career experiences and how that influenced the directions their careers took. For those reading this after March 30, 2023, that link will take you to a recording of the livestream.
