Guest post by Dr. Marcus O. Durham & Rosemary Durham
[Looking at history and science influence on political and religious attitudes.]
Engineer. The word carries strong impressions. What words can you think of to associate or describe ‘engineer?’ I will throw out some. Smart, precocious, intelligent, socially awkward, nerd, math and science, knowledgeable, maker, affluent to wealthy, analyst, problem-solver. In my early career, it was intriguing to find that engineers made up a significant percentage of CEOs, executives, and top business leaders.
CEO Magazine titled a recent article “Why are most CEOs Engineers?” Statistics can be skewed and interpreted many ways, but the gist is engineers understand systems and can actually make excellent executives, because of their background, way of thinking, and determination.
I had lunch with a friend this week and he made a common comment about going to college and becoming an engineer. I submit a different scenario. By the age of 16, most who pursue the path are already an engineer. It is a mind-set, a way of thinking, a way of understanding how the world works. Then they go to college to get credentialed, to hone skills, and broaden their interest area. Some do not even finish and may have a related degree.
As a professor of electrical engineering, we had an observation. The lower group won’t let you help them, the middle group are the ones to which you can contribute the most, the upper group you cannot and try not to screw-up. By the time we saw the students, they had already determined and demonstrated where they were going. Because of the acceptance criteria of the University, we mostly had top-notch students, but the distribution still held.
It was awesome to watch the skills and abilities of these under twenty-two year old budding wunderkinds. They do not know what they cannot do. Much of the way out creativity of the field is from the under forty set. As everyone matures, we lapse into experience. That is a wonderful thing, but does not push the limits of the knowledge base.
The co-author asserts engineers are different. We actually burnish that image.
DOGE (Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency) has changed the world and government largely through the six young engineers and their understanding of systems. In a matter of hours they can ferret corruption from government systems. How? Follow the money. Money is just numbers to a computer. Over the last few months they have developed algorithms to track money flow, to see patterns, and to get inside systems that no mortal could ever understand without computer mapping. But to a whiz engineer it is just another energy flow problem.
As ‘contractors’ to the government, with the authorization of the top executive noted in the Constitution, they are unconstrained by tradition, relationships, or getting their piece of the pie. As I have seen so many times, their satisfaction comes from solving a problem that no one else has solved before. They are on the front end of a notable career, with their reputation already etched in the annals of history.
Their boss, Elon, is one of them. He was born an engineer. His dad was an engineer. His education is physics and economics. Yes, economics. Interestingly, he graduated from the University of Pennsylvania, the same Alma Materas the President. The University was founded by Dr. Benjamin Franklin. His revolutionary legacy continues.
Musk has proven his ability to solve huge problems no one has solved. His singular ability with Space X supersedes all of NASA and Boeing. Then he made a viable electric vehicle. He largely owns the satellite communications.
What else was left to do? Fix the government. That is his reward. But doing great things for many people brings great rewards and I know of no engineer who rejects the monetary return of his efforts.
Why has the President, a builder, and Elon the engineer been able to form such a symbiotic team? The showman and people-person meets the problem-solver with less interest in the people business. It is a classical relationship.
Engineer wants to fix things while the people-pleaser, on a mission from God, is the front man.
I recall having lunch with a client who was the executive of an oil and gas company and had been a leader in the state senate. He made a telling observation. “You would have difficulty in politics. Why? You want to fix things.”
Translate his observation. Politics is not about solving problems, but is for everyone to get a little of what they
promote. Primarily it is to leave with a sack full of money from a job that does not pay that way. Back to DOGE
investigations, follow the money.
When problem solvers, with the authorization to ‘fix-it’ meet embedded politics, there is necessarily a cataclysm. I have an engraved wooden plaque on my bookshelf. “Engineers don’t run the world – but they make it run.”
Thank you, Mr. President, for having a plan to ‘fix-it.’ Thank you, Elon, for having the skills to do it and assembling a team that can and will do it. Engineers fix stuff that others fear to tread.
Think about it. One leader with a mission. One leader with the skills. Six wunderkind engineers disrupt the wobbling political eco-system and upright the gyroscope of society. The story reminds one of the Founding Fathers. George Washington was an engineer. Dr. Ben Franklin was arguably one of the fathers of electrical engineering, and Thomas
Jefferson was an architectural engineer. Seems as DOGE is in good company.
