METM Alumni Spotlight: Don Sweat

Don Sweat: Foreign.

Katie Metm's M: Welcome to Technical Leadership Talks, the podcast that brings you advice, insights, and knowledge from industry leaders and experts on how to navigate managing in a technical field. Technical Leadership Talks is brought to you by Texas, a new university's Master of Engineering Technical Management, an online graduate program that trains industry professionals for leadership positions. I'm Katie Metm's M. Digital marketer and your host for this episode. In this alumni spotlight, we sit down with Don Sweat, master Master of Engineering Technical Management alumnus. Don reflects on what motivated him to pursue metm, um, and the ways the program shaped his leadership style and approach to teamwork. He also shares valuable advice for professionals stepping into leadership roles and why he believes METM is a worthwhile investment for career growth.

Don Sweat: Okay, so who am I? I am Don Sweat. I'm a native out of Houston, Texas. Um, born and raised. Um, I graduated class of 23. And, um, I work for Shell. I've been with shell roughly over 15 years. Um, held multiple roles within Shell, but now currently I'm, um, the operational, um, engineer for one of our major flagship projects here, um, at Shell.

Katie Metm's M: What motivated you to pursue METM at the point in your career that you applied?

Don Sweat: So the motivation, I could just tell you flat out was a guy named Mr. Carlos Perez. Um, Carlos Perez went through the program, I think a year before, or two years, I think a year before. So I don't know the exact year that he graduated. But me and Carlos worked close within each other, um, within shell. We worked on the same project, we worked on the same team. And so the things that motivated me is that I hold his leadership skills at a high standard. This was back then, uh, working with him, and we used to always have our meetings and, you know, have these big town halls and he used to present, and the way that he articulated himself, the way that he carried himself, the way that he held meetings, the way he motivated um, and, you know, tried his best to lead, um, different people within our team. Um, at first I thought it was just like, you know, he's being extra. But then as I, you know, started working with him, I think we had, like two years of working with each other. I realized that this is the way that he is now. Um, this is the way that he operates. It's the way that he carries himself. Um, and then, so, you know, just asking him, finding out he graduated because he graduated within the same time that we was working together, and he mentioned the program to me, and then from him mentioning the program to me and looking at, you know, some of the curriculum and what it stood for. It showed how he was and what organization that, you know, he was part of that made him the way that he was. So I love the leadership qualities that he had within himself and then kind of looking into it. And he motivated me and gave me the pros and cons of being part of this program, and it was a sure fit for them.

Katie Metm's M: Yeah, that's great. So was there a moment or course during the program that really challenged your thinking?

Don Sweat: You know, Um, I think not. Sure. Two parts of it. Um, I kind of stick on the first part. I think the major thing that stuck out to me the most was, um, the elevator speech. Yeah, we had to do an elevator speech that I was not familiar with. Um, it was a way of interacting with a senior leader at last minute split second. And you only have a short period of time. Something I've never thought of in my career. I'm good at writing an email to somebody or, you know, setting up a meeting and having 30 minutes. But I never actually drill down to how to approach a, uh, senior leader. You know, not just, you know, your regular leader, but a senior leader for like 15 seconds. What would you say? Yeah, and I think that was the biggest decision that I had to make within myself to try to figure that out. And that actually happened in my career. I actually got on the elevator. Yeah. Yeah, I actually got on the elevator with one of our VPs. Yes, an actual elevator with one of our VPs. And I was able to fire off that elevator speech and leave that impact on that person. So I think that was a major thing that kind of stood out that helped me. Uh, it was challenging, but, you know, once I overcame that challenge and I think it helped me in my career.

Katie Metm's M: Yeah, that's awesome. So one question we get a lot from people who are thinking of, uh, becoming part of the program is how do you balance work, life, school, all that, uh, at the same time? So what advice would you give? What did you do? Did you learn anything?

Don Sweat: So the major part that I could kind of tell people that's coming into the program of how to balance that is that use your career and your education in parallels. And so it was easy for me because I was in a position on my job that I was in the project, I was on a project team, and I was pursuing leadership within that team. And so what made it easier to transition between work and school was that the lessons and things that I was learning in school, I was actually applying in my workload and vice versa. The things that I was doing in work from project management standpoint, I was actually applying that into school. And so I know everybody doesn't have that ability. You know, some people are, uh, different stages in their career. But try to find that, that, that gap assessment between work and school, or if it's work in your real life or whatever that may be you may be pursuing, try to find a gap where you can do those two things in parallel to support each other. And it makes the workload a lot easier. You know, if, um, I'm reading, reading contracts at work, it's easy for me to read contracts in the contract class. It's just, you know, it balances very easy. Also take time for yourself because no matter how busy you get, the work is gonna always be there, the school work is gonna always be there, and then your life is gonna always be there. So finding that work life balance is very important. And what's good about the program, the asynchronous program, is that you kind of understand and know your due dates.

Katie Metm's M: Yeah.

Don Sweat: So schedule appropriately if it's due here. You know, hey, I'm a, I'm a read this day. I'm um, gonna start this day. I'm gonna do my draft this day. I'm gonna write it this day. Then I'm gonna go back and edit it and submit it. Like have that timeline, that kind of Gantt chart, you know, kind of mapped out. And two years ago by so fast. I promise.

Katie Metm's M: You did met him change how you communicate or work with teams?

Don Sweat: Yes, it did. So, um, I had a great leader, um, guy named Mr. Mack that, that I worked under his, um, his, his umbrella for, for years. And I think he gave me the stepping stone, um, of what it is to be the, the I guess the visual of what a good leader is. So I think the, the, the course really kind of set apart. You see the worst leader that you had, or uh, you want to say a bad leader that you have worked with or seen, and you see a good leader that you have worked with. And it's. To me, it's like the qualities that the good leader has is how do I become that? You know, what things do I do to put myself in place to become a great leader? And I think at that point this program outlines that because, you know, from the beginning of the program, it teaches you to learn about yourself.

Katie Metm's M: Yeah.

Don Sweat: So if you don't learn about yourself, you can't lead other people. So I think that understanding yourself first, as far as we do the uh, assessment on yourself, the disassessment and understanding Those things about yourself, I think makes you a better leader. And so in that instance, you have to understand, like, I don't want this qualities of a bad leader. I want the qualities of a good leader. So let me, you know, portray those qualities or work towards those things.

Katie Metm's M: So you talked about using the elevator pitch, but were there any m. Any other unexpected doors or opportunities that met opened for you?

Don Sweat: Yes. So, uh, major ones was that, you know, being part of a program that the engineering management program and then coming from Texas A and M was major. Um, within Shell we have a lot of Texas A and M alumni. And so having those conversations that, hey, you know, I am in this program that really got me a chance to have a conversation with former alumni, people from Texas A, and tell me more about the program. I never heard of this program. So explaining that program to them and then understanding that it's a networking thing, it worked beautifully from a networking standpoint. And so networking is the number one thing that I could kind of, you know, the advice that I would give to, you know, students, former students or, you know, aspiring students is the networking is unbelievable. And then from there you understand, like I said, you understand coaching, you understand leadership, um, you understand how to start a project from start to finish, uh, you know, how to present, you know, how to carry yourself in a professional setting. And so a lot of those things helped me and groom me to be the leader that I am today, um, where I could, you know, step into a room with confidence and I could present with confidence. And I think the program has opened all of those doors, um, for me. And like I said, you know, one of these posts, year to date, I've had three promotions since I've graduated within the program. I had, I had two while I was in the program. And I think those leadership qualities show, you know, while I was in the program. And then once I graduated, it was like, oh, hey, you know, you know, this is a leader from the engineering standpoint already, so we could just give him his role that he's looking for.

Katie Metm's M: That's so great to hear. Yeah. So you kind of just talked about it a little bit, but do you want to expand any more on how you would describe your leadership style today?

Don Sweat: Oh yeah. So, huh. My leadership style today is a leader that I look at the leaders that I didn't want to become. But we talk about like transformational leader. You know, it's just like understanding yourself first and then understanding your team. And if you want to lead a high performing team, like understanding the things that you have to put in place for them to be successful. But what you also have to understand is that your team is made up of multiple personalities, multiple people. So understanding how to approach people, you know, you may have some people that's not morning people, some people, you know, that work slow, some people that's not organized, but they're still high performers. This was like understanding that you have to from a leadership standpoint, you have to be able to cater to each one of those things in order to bring a great team together. And so I think leading a high performance team, like in my instance, is understanding the different, you know, backgrounds of everybody understanding and everybody having the same common goal, but also understanding how do we get them to that common goal. Like I said, it's made up of totally different people from different backgrounds and different ways of working. But in order to lead a high performing team, you have to dig down into yourself and understand what type of leader you want to become, what type of person you are. And that's the only way you could be better for the people around you

Katie Metm's M: at the time that this is going to come out. We've just accepted our new fall cohort. And so they're like preparing to start in August. So what would you tell your past self if it was your first day of met?

Don Sweat: Um, trust the process. Um, when I came into the program, I sat down in a room full of strangers. And at one point I thought to myself, like, why am I here? I know, um, the first onboard And I think Dr. Zoe talked about a lot of emotional things and tapping into yourself. And it was like, I don't want to do this. But what I didn't understand is, you know, that next year the program is set up for you to learn about yourself. The program is set up for you to learn about other people, how to lead other people, how to become a better person. And then from there, how to lead a project from the beginning to the end, Whether it's project plan, contract, agreement, spreadsheets, for, like having presentations. You actually go through the whole life cycle of a leader learning yourself and handing over a perfect project. And I think trusting the process, you know, once you first walk into that room of strangers and we ask you about yourself, don't be close minded behind it. I went in that closed minded. But then, you know, I had a great and I want to one our personal leadership. I just kind of dove right in and say, you know what? I'm gonna give it all. And it was the best decision that

Katie Metm's M: I have made today for someone considering MetM who hasn't applied yet. But thinking about it, what would you say makes it worth the investment?

Don Sweat: So that's a good question. So I think, um, what makes it worth the investment is the type of person that you didn't know you could become, I think, uh, like I said, trusting the process and understanding. But if you have somebody that went through the program, go look at them. Go look at the way that they're changed from when you knew them prior to the program to the way that they operate now. You know, most friends don't realize, but I use some of my leadership qualities in, uh, the way that I handle my friends. Yeah. So, you know, it's just not on the business standpoint. It's literally on the personal aspect too. So, you know, you end up doing everything to make you a better person, from your family, friends, all the way to your career standpoint. So the investment is there, like I said, the relationships is there. You know, coming from a prestige program is there. And then, you know, working on yourself to become a better person is there. And overall that makes you a better leader.

Katie Metm's M: Thank you for listening in to today's episode. Tech Leadership Talks is brought to you by Texas A and M M University's Master of Engineering Technical Management. To learn more, visit Metm Tamu Eduardo.