Once or twice a week I start my day at a coffee shop with trade journals and publications such as Design News, MIT Tech Review, MD+DI and NASA Tech Briefs. It is one of the few times during the week when I have uninterrupted time to read about all the industries we serve.
Last week when I left my publications on the table to get another cup of coffee, a woman and her teenage son came and sat at my table. I went over and apologized for leaving my stuff and told them I was heading out soon. But, as I started to leave, the woman whose son had noticed the publications asked me what I did and where I worked. Her son was interested in science and technology and she had another older son, who was a senior in high school, interested in biomedical engineering. I told her about our company and our work in the medical device and aerospace engineering industries. Then she asked if we would be willing to take some time in the future to talk to her sons about the work we do in various industries.
It’s always exciting to see young people interested in the world of engineering, but it was equally as exciting to see a parent supportive enough to stop a random person in a coffee shop and ask them to invest time encouraging her sons in their pursuits.
The researchers, doctors, surgeons, engineers and technicians we work with change the world. Every day they are coming up with ideas for new techniques or products to make life better. Sometimes we change the world by saving or improving the quality of someone’s life. Sometimes we do it by spending an hour with two excited young people to encourage their interests. Sometimes changing the world starts in a lab or research facility. Other times it starts at a coffee shop reading some magazines. Never underestimate the value of the work you do every day. You never know when it’ll be an opportunity to change someone’s world.
