The author has a degree in chemical engineering but found it was not the right fit. They draw a comparison to a Sesame Street song where one shape, a square, stands out from the circles. In business school, the author felt like this odd square. However, chemical engineering taught the author to think of their business as a process by identifying the necessary elements, proportions, and timing to produce a desired result, just like in engineering. The author believes learning about processes could benefit all MBA students and help entrepreneurs turn their resources into something more useful through the right process. In the next article, the author will discuss how to design a process for business success.

1. Life’s Lessons as a Square: Applying Chemical Engineering to Business (Part One)
I have a degree in chemical engineering. I know, right? What was I thinking? No
offense to all you engineers out there, but I think even my professors knew
chemistry wasn’t ’it’ for me.
It was like that Sesame Street song about shapes. They show 4 shapes; 3 of which
are circles and one a lonesome square. It’s clear that the square doesn’t belong
there, but they rub it in by singing a little ditty ’’One of these things is not
like the others, one of these things just doesn’t belong’’ ’ and that pretty
much sums up me in engineer school. Don’t get me wrong, I wasn’t a complete
square ’ I had spiky hair, a pierced ear, and ripped jeans ’ but I did stick out
like a sore thumb.
But the fact that I was a unique individual in the University of Utah’s
engineering program isn’t the point to this story.
The point is, even though engineering was not my thing, it did teach me a very
valuable skill that has served me well in business: how to think in ’processes’.
In other words, what elements do you need to combine, in the right proportion
and at the right time, to produce a desired result?
Okay, so you may not want to start producing biofuel in your backyard, but hear
me out’
As an entrepreneur, don’t YOU need to know what resources you need, in what
proportions and at what exact time to produce the result you want? Are you with
me? It’s a process.
Personally, I think it should be mandatory for every MBA student to take a
course in chemical engineering, where students learn the processes that convert
raw materials or chemicals into something more useful. That’s interesting,
right? And if you boil it down, isn’t that what we’re (hopefully) doing in
business: taking our resources and running them through a process that converts
them into something more useful ’ something that’s going to make a difference?
Hopefully by now I’m beginning to make sense.
If you step back and put on your chemical engineer hat (it IS okay to not always
be fashionable) to look at your business like a process, things that seemed so
personal before don’t seem so personal anymore. All those reasons you have for
being stopped or stuck are bogus, and all you need to do is design a process
that turns your raw materials into gold. (Well, I know you can’t combine other
elements into gold. It’s just a metaphor.)
Now, how exactly do you design a process for success? I’ll dive into that in my
next article. Don’t forget to bring your safety glasses and your pocket
protector.
’
About the Author:
For 30 years, L. Drew Gerber has been inspiring those who want to change the
world. As the CEO of Wasabi Publicity, lauded by the likes of PR Week and Good
Morning America, he sparks ’aha’ conversations that lead to personal and
business success. His PR firm is known for landing clients on Dr. Phil, Oprah,
Anderson Cooper, the Wall Street Journal, Inc., Entrepreneur, and other top
media outlets. Wasabi Publicity lives to launch conversations that make a
difference and change the world. Contact Drew at AskDrew@PublicityResults.com or
visit his blog at www.DestinationAha.com.