Engineering And The TCU Horned Frogs

Texas Christian University in Fort Worth, Texas has a football program that is a fixture in the Top 25. Coach Gary Patterson accomplishes this with a private school with a male student body of 3,700. TCU has been able to win 11 games in four of the last six years - in a part of the country where recruiting competition places the program equal distance between the University of Oklahoma and the University of Texas.

How is this happening? Patterson is an excellent defensive coach - but more key to his schemes are the players he finds to build the program and organization around. The October 2, 2009 edition of Sports Illustrated outlines four themes that are important to Patterson and his approach. They are also relevant to engineering and management. His players tend to fit a certain mold. They are:

• "Fast. You can be short. But if you can't fly to the ball, TCU isn't interested." What is the engineering equivalent of fast and speed? It would be fast and quick engineers - they would be quick in their thinking, productive in their time management, responsive to the demands of an ever changing world, that understand and quickly grasp the questions and answers associated with a problem. They would be comfortable with speed as a source of competitive advantage for an organization or department.


• "From Texas - of the 21 players in TCU's 2009 recruiting class, 20 are from in-state - and acutely aware of having been overlooked by Texas - guys with a blue-collar work ethic and a chip on their shoulders." The equivalent characteristic for engineers is attitude. The "Death March" ones - will not give up on anything or on any project. They know how to fail, how to understand and deal with adversity, how to get better, how to channel their competitive energies for the benefit of a project team or organization. In a world of avalanches, negative cascades, and techonic shifts - their positive attitude , will power, and desire to show the world their abilities can transform an organization.


• "Low maintenance. Patterson seeks self-starters, guys who watch video during their lunch periods, who don't have be lassoed into the weight room. It doesn't matter how bad I want it if they don't, he says." The new buzz word for the entire engineering community - lifetime learning. How can I get better, show me something new, the ones that have a plan that goes until they are 75-years old. They not only want to learn and learn on their on with the goal of getting better - they want to teach and make everyone around them better.


• "Not overly attached to the position they played in high school. In 2006 five of the 11 players on the defensive line were former high school running backs." The hedgehog needs to know only one thing. The fox needs to know many. The engineering community needs to attract and encourage the foxes. These are the foxes - with their wide-ranging curiosity and willingness to embrace change. The multi-inter-disciplinary ones - the multi-taskers that help their organizations to rejigger their structures, approaches, and processes continually to grapple with ever shifting challenges and opportunities.