Engineer versus manager

November 7, 2020

After reporting to Mr. Paul Pollock (Chief Engineer, Advanced Products) for almost four years as Principal Engineer and Senior Principal Engineer, Paul called me one day and told that a new position of ‘Lead CAE Specialist’ has been created keeping me in mind and I would have to move from Heavy Vehicle Technology Center in Kalamazoo, MI to Technical Resource Park, Ottawa Lake, MI. My new boss would be Mr. Jack Dawson, Director.

Paul said, “Prasad, it is time for you to report to someone else. I know Jack very well and we crafted this position so that you alone would fit. I have spoken to Jack about you and he wants to take you. Jack reports to Chuck (President Technology) and you need this exposure to grow. You have to understand organizational politics.”

Just a few months before this move, Paul promoted me from Principal Engineer to Senior Principal Engineer, making me the youngest in the department to hold such a position. He ensured this so that my move as “Lead CAE Specialist”, which was an upward move would become my - sort of - second promotion – all within a gap of a few months. Paul was not only kind but was a clever strategist as well – though extremely straightforward.

I started reporting to Jack. Paul would often check on me to see if I was doing alright. He was very paternalistic in his approach to me.

Many years later, as Paul and I were conversing over the phone (by this time, I had already moved back to India for good), the following conversation happened between me and Paul.

Me: “There was a difference between reporting to you versus Jack.”

Paul: “What was that?”

Me: “Well, for any problem, I could always approach you and you would guide me on how to go about. With Jack it was different. Whenever I approached him, he would look at me in the eyes, smile and say, “Go figure out and solve by yourself”. So much difference in leadership style. Why?”

Paul: “Well Prasad. You came to me as a young engineer. I treated you as one should treat an engineer. You went to Jack as a manager. He treated you as how one should treat a manager. Do you see the difference now? Had you come to me as a manager, I would have treated you the same way as Jack.”