Name: Lisa Drake
Age: 38
Job Title: Chief Engineer at Lincoln Vehicles
College Major: Mechanical Engineerin; Minor: Biomedical Engineering
Website: Lincoln.com, Facebook.com/Lincoln
Her Campus: What does your current job entail? Is there such a thing as a typical day?
Lisa Drake: There is no such thing as a typical day for me at Lincoln. I spend quite a bit of time with my team earlier in the week ensuring that we have the right priorities set for the work that needs to get done. In the middle of the week, I have a myriad of reviews around a new Lincoln vehicle in development–what it looks like in the studio, the color and material selections, how we offer the features and content to the Lincoln customer, etc. Towards the end of the week, there are several executive reviews with vice presidents and presidents on the status of the vehicle development.
HC: What was your first entry-level job in your field and how did you get it?
LD: I was hired into Ford Motor Company right from my undergrad at Carnegie Mellon. I was accepted into a program called the Ford College Graduate (FCG) Program. This program was three years in length and allowed new hires from college to rotate through various positions in the company to get a good feeling for how the overall product development process worked (marketing, manufacturing, product development, planning). I flew to Dearborn to interview and knew that I wanted to work for the Ford Motor Company the minute I landed and saw all of the buildings with Ford logos. I soon realized this is a community—not just a company.
HC: What is one thing you wish you knew about your industry when you first started out that you know now?
LD: I probably would have tried to intern during a summer at a luxury automotive company such as Lincoln. I believe it would have been beneficial to have a previous automotive experience even though it wasn’t a prerequisite. I actually learned how to drive a manual transmission the first year I was working at Ford, as I had never driven one before.
HC: Who is one person who changed your professional life for the better?
LD: I would say a very early mentor in my career was Steve von Foerster. He was a chief engineer for the Ford Explorer and I worked for him in one of my early positions at Ford. Not only was he an advocate for my work and work ethic (which eventually led to my first promotion), but also phenomenal at balancing high stress situations with a positive attitude and the recognition that no matter what, we always need to put the customer who buy our cars first.
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HC: What words of wisdom do you find most valuable?
LD: The best advice I was given: “People come to work to do a great job. So if they aren’t doing a great job, it’s not because they don’t want to. Take the time to help them find solutions that allow them to work and to be their best. It’s the best time you’ll spend.”
HC: What is one mistake you made along the way and what did you learn from it?
LD: I would say that I have learned to “trust, but verify.” There are many intelligent and bright individuals who believe they are giving you the information that you need. Sometimes, due to lack of clarity on the question or just miscommunication, it’s not always exactly the “correct” information. So I have learned to trust their information, but to ask questions about it to verify that it’s robust, sound, and based appropriately on facts not judgment.
HC: What is the best part of your job?
LD: I love that no matter whom I talk to at Lincoln; somehow we can always get back around to a story about a car. Whether it’s their first car, the car their parents had, or a story about a great trip in a car, people always have a car story. Cars help make people’s lives grander–they take us to places we want to see, protect us from things at times, and allow us to express ourselves through the choices of car colors/sizes/styles/brands. I couldn’t image working for any other industry.
HC: What do you look for when considering hiring someone?
LD: I look for someone with a quiet confidence about him or her. Someone who is willing to put in the hard work to do the right thing for the customer, someone who is more concerned about that than what their next promotion or corporate move would be, and someone who is honest and willing to tell the tough story in an unemotional way.
HC: What advice would you give to a 20-something with similar aspirations?
LD: I would just remind everyone to stay true to you and be yourself. Whether it’s in an interview or once you’ve landed the job and are starting in your company. You’ll do and be your best if you don’t have to “check your personality” at the door when you come to work. Your personality, work ethic, and view on life and tackle of challenges have gotten you this far (high school, college, in the interview process). Don’t assume that you need to change your strategy to move on–just keep doing the great work and being a great person.