Following is an interview published in Lexington Minuteman dated August 22, 2013
Author: stimsinstitute
Transformational Skills: What do you need after a degree from MIT?
K. Subramanian
Merely working harder in your job after getting your college degrees (along with lots of student loans) may not be enough for thriving in the 21st century economy. Instead everyone has to constantly seek ways to identify new high value added opportunities, develop them into new solutions and also implement them to be sure that the value is realized and in the end the work is rewarded as well. It is a lot more than simply doing the job you are asked to do. This combined set of skills to Discover, Develop and Deploy a stream of new solutions are the Transformational Skills.
Transformational skills go beyond mere academic education in science, engineering, or management. In fact, it requires a judicious blend of all these three pathways and not treating them as isolated silos. It requires diving deep into the problem or spanning wide as required. Workers with such skills are called as the “T-shaped thinkers”. It also requires a comprehensive view of the problem on hand – as a system – and not mere piece of a puzzle. It is imperative that workers at all levels learn the Transformational Skills and integrate them in their arsenal to frame their own jobs and careers.
Dr. K. (Subbu) Subramanian, President, WWW.STIMSInstitute.com, obtained his Ph.D. from MIT in 1977. Following his successful career than spans over 35 years working in the industry and across the globe, he has captured the lessons learned on Transformational Skills in a recent book co-authored by Prof. Srinivasa Rangan. https://www.asme.org/products/books/thriving-21st-century-economy-transformational
Full of insights and valuable information for ambitious professionals
5.0 out of 5 stars
September 5, 2013,
By S. McFarlane
This review is from: Thriving in the 21st Century Economy Transformational Skills for Technical Professionals (Technical Manager’s Survival Guides) (Paperback)
As a young, aspiring professional I found this book to be an enlightening and informative read. It outlines the changes our economy has seen as a result of globalization and information digitization and details the new challenges we face. The book goes on to describe ways to manage careers and how professionals must adapt to the new binary economy (read the book to learn what a binary economy is!). It encourages you to think of ways to take ownership of your career and strategize ways you can become a value-add to an organization. The book details the significance of developing a common language “between those who have a need and those capable of recognizing the need as an opportunity” and emphasizes the critical importance of developing transformational skills to establish New Solutions (again read the book to learn about New Solutions!). Thriving in the 21st Century Economy is not a light read. To take full advantage of what this book has to offer and develop a strategy to foster life long learning, it requires you to focus and really think about the concepts presented. If you give it your full attention I have no doubt you will walk away with ideas that will help you thrive throughout your career.
Aidan Harney from Engineers Ireland reviews the book
http://www.engineersjournal.ie/engineers-need-transformational-skills-to-survive-today/
Dear Aidan:
What a wonderful and well written review! Thanks a lot.
Few additional thoughts as noted below.
Best wishes
Dr. K. (Subbu) Subramanian
You have hit the nail on its head in paragraphs 2 and 3.
Regarding “Common Language”, it is more than exemplary communication. It starts with a precise – rational and scientific understanding of the key words used in each job, project, sector and domain and ensuring they truly reflect the intended meaning. As an example the word “product” means many things for the many people in a company! The word
” technology” is totally misused to mean “IT”, by almost every one – every pundit on TV, news, academia, …. Such misunderstanding or lack of understanding is a great source to discover new opportunities to fill the unmet needs!
Few other examples:
- Do we know what STEM really stands for?
- There are hundreds of millions of $ in research spent in the name of “nano – technology”, but what is the “technology” – the science, engineering and strategy – here?
This publication may make uncomfortable reading for many — This is a powerful and telling insight. We (the authors) did not want to make it explicit. But, since you have stated it, now every one should know :-)
This is also the crisis of the “middle” which we address in great detail in our book.
Nirmala at Lokvani interviews Dr. Subramanian
http://www.lokvani.com/lokvani/article.php?article_id=9233
1. How did you get the idea of writing this book?
2. Why is it relevant in today’s world? What ideas does it emphasize?
3. What is the salient concept of a the binary economy?
4. Why is it important for students to be aware of this?
5. How does the STIMS institute prepare students?
STIMS Institute has developed courses on Transformational Skills and System Approach for Knowledge Integration. We are implementing these courses in some colleges. We also teach/train mid-career professionals in companies. We offer one-on-one training/mentoring for students and professionals. We have written the book to promote the ideas on Binary Economy and the Transformational Skills for broader dissemination od these ideas.
6. The back cover says that this is more a self-help book? Can you explain that?
7. Finally where can readers find this book?
The book is available at Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Thriving-Transformational-Technical-Professionals-Managers/dp/0791860167/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1375275381&sr=1-1&keywords=transformational+skills+subramanian+asme+press
At Barnes and Noble: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/thriving-in-the-21st-century-economy-k-subramanian/1115191210?ean=9780791860168
And also at the publisher, ASME Press: https://www.asme.org/products/books/thriving-21st-century-economy-transformational
