I looked at managing styles for my Engineering Ethics class last year and we looked at the “This is Water Commencement Speech by David Foster Wallace”

The overly simplified point of the fish story is that the most obvious things in life are often overlooked. However, by adjusting our perspective/mindset and understanding ourselves we can heighten our awareness and empathy in more than one dimension; therefore, facilitating personal and business efficiency and growth. David Wallace’s “This is Water” speech is easy to understand but the philosophy behind the words is a bit difficult to follow. In terms of the engineering industry, people of the administrative level can benefit more from this mindset; therefore make the workplace more efficient. For example, when looking at the manufacturing side of a company, the employer most likely to be in charge would be a Project Manager or someone with a similar title. Now if this person was a stereotypical TV sitcom boss (apathetic, non-compliant etc.), then most likely the people under her/him will not be as efficient as they can be. These types of leaders are like salmon who are trying to swim upstream, who only care about is self-growth and reward. They fail to understand the concept that if the entire team grows together it is a more effective, yet slower, process. Whereas if this same manager was more empathetic as shown in “This is Water”, and understood that the team is built up with other workers (engineers, designers, researchers, laborers), then the efficiency would be far greater than the latter example of a leader in the workplace. I believe that a strong manager is not an employer who just oversees and manages but rather, someone who works alongside his team members. The ability to be humble and listen can be harder when the person in charge has far more experience than those who are less experienced and trying to voice their opinions, but giving these novices the time can go a long way. However, a good manager is one that also is acumen business perspective, where they can bridge the gap between the business and the user’s needs, but also know when one is more important than the other. This philosophy can also be applied to lower-runged workers. Having just enough personal empathy for each other and the right amount of selfishness/drive can benefit the operation a lot more. Perspective is key in the workplace, and they both go hand in hand when it comes to the personal, professional, and intellectual development.