CAREER When it comes to career development, experience is a good teacher— but not the only one By Geoff Potter and photos by Bob Ferguson 50 BOEING FRONTIERS / NOVEMBER 2013 When Courtney Carr joined the Boeing P-8A Poseidon program three years ago in Tukwila, Wash., the Mercer University graduate was assigned a mentor—none other than the head of the P-8 program. But it wasn’t just she who benefited from the experience, according to Carr, then a young liaison engineer. Her new coach, Chuck Dabundo, learned quite a bit as well. “While Chuck helped me learn about the program and the process we follow to build P-8 aircraft, I helped him learn about communicating with the new generation entering the workforce,” Carr said. She urged him to consider spreading the word about important developments and soliciting ideas via tools today’s employees use constantly—such as text messaging and Boeing’s internal social-media tool, InSite. “He was open to learning from someone new to the team, someone younger than himself,” she said of the Boeing vice president and former P-8 program manager who was her early mentor. “His example taught me to be open to everyone’s ideas.” She is now mentoring other engineers who are new to the company. Like Boeing employees around the world, Carr is always looking for ways to further her career and said that mentors and coaches have helped her enhance her skills and gain crucial experience.
Frontiers November 2013 Issue
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