Suzanne F. Stevens is interviewed by Barb Stuhlemmer, of Bliz Business Success, for her multi-cultural class in Mechanical Engineering Technology. The course focuses on Ethics, Economics, and Entrepreneurship at Georgian College.
If you teach college or university students that are steading ethics, business, or sociology, reach out to Suzanne to be interviewed or speak. She interviews leaders, entrepreneurs, and social entrepreneurs internationally on how to contribute to the community consciously. Her positioning says it best: Make your contribution count for you, your company, your community.
She will share her learnings and perspective to add value to your classroom conversation. we@YouMeWe.ca. To learn more about Suzanne visit: https://youmewe.ca/suzanne-f-stevens-bio/
Engineering students share their key takeaways from the conversation.
The main thing that I learned from this interview was regarding ethics and social gaps. I always knew there are social gaps in wealth, but Suzanne helped me understand how wealth and ethics can go hand in hand as big corporations need to feel obligated to look after there workers in times like COVID as that’s the ethical thing to do. Big companies need to be paying proper wages and be more in touch with there staff to understand how they feel work is going, and if there is anything they think can be improved. By doing these things, the quality of work and happiness of the people around you will increase.
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There were a couple of things that Suzanne said in her interview that I found really interesting. First, she talked about “engaging the community in the solution so that you have them as an ally and collaborator in executing solutions.” It makes perfect sense that to find a solution for an issue that affects the community, it needs input from the community. Communities’ views need to be heard, to understand what is at the root of the issue. When you find the solution, you will also need the community to help move forward and enact the solution. Another piece of advice Suzanne gave that I found really thought-provoking was finding out the priorities of the organization you are working for and then aligning with those priorities you find ethical. I think this is great career advice as an employer loves an employee who shares the ethos of its organization and would likely make you generally happier in the work you are doing.
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I’ve learned from this interview that supporting education in underdeveloped countries brings forth positive economic changes. Providing education, such as leadership qualities to individual prospects, strengthens a person’s ability to become an ethical leader. Furthermore, increasing the people in a country can then progress forward and continue to grow.
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Having good leadership is something that any company or someone needs to be to be very successful. A group of people can be smart and be hardworking, but if this group doesn’t have leadership, they won’t be as successful as if they would have one.
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Listening to the interview with Suzanne Stevens, she expressed a powerful sentiment stating success is much more difficult when your morals do not align with the business you are in.
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I learned from this interview that it is important to have a purposeful meaning to your business.
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While watching the interview, many things were new information to me that I did not think about previously. Suzanne spoke about the different types of values that interact with ethics, and I never thought ethics had anything to do with religious values. That was something entirely new for me, and now, it makes a lot of sense. Religion is one of the things that we follow, and as a Muslim person, I can’t do certain things that other people could, and that could change my decision either in an ethical way or in a nonethical way. Knowing this information now, I can apply this knowledge to my future choices. I can look outside of my religious values to see what others value and what others need. This could be very beneficial to my group members and me in the future. One of the examples could be drinking alcohol. As a Muslim person, I am not allowed to drink alcohol; if I were to choose someone who drinks vs. someone who does not drink, I would most likely choose the person who does not drink because my mind would say that that person is a better fit. But now, I can step back and overlook the alcohol situation and look at the other benefits a person provides, and make a more ethical decision.
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One of the most important things I learned from Ms. Stevens’ interview is that entrepreneurs have a responsibility to serve society not just for personal profit and to lead with an ethical consciousness. It’s amazing how her journey shaped her decisions in focusing on empowering women through leadership. Being from a foreign country, the focus of international ethical challenges struck a key since, in my home country, Ecuador, we are currently undergoing a moral crisis. Corruption has marred our government and politics in such a way that it seems there is no solution. I’ve read articles about how women leaders are less likely to be swayed in the wrong direction when it comes to corruption. For women, investing in their own homes or on any other scale depending on the position, it’s usually for a broader benefit rather than only their own.
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What I took from this interview are, the fact that engineers can be unethical due to the nature of their jobs. And the fact that Suzanne said as an engineer one should always engage the community in their solutions and to improve their communication skills. I strongly believe in this because, as an engineer, we are liable to work in a team. For one to be able to develop in knowledge, I think being able to communicate and work with others is an important skill to have. I also believe being a true leader should always be ethical regardless of the situation and nature of the job. As Suzanne said, being ethical is a problem of the world; that what I learned from this video is that you can choose your moral values and your religious values, and your personal values choose you. In business, we need to consider the different values people use to make decisions. Many of these values are from their personal experiences.
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Engineers have to be good at technical knowledge and have to develop good marketing, social, and project management skills to be successful. Not all engineers pursue management courses after graduation; some have to build these skills while working in an organization. These skills not only help them to move up the ladder in the corporate world but also make them deserving candidates to be successful entrepreneurs in the future.
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There are many great things in terms of entrepreneurship that I learned from this interview. In many situations, there will be an opportunity for engineers to be unethical, but if we stick to ethics, then our surroundings may not like us at first, but eventually, people will come to us for their questions to be answered. Next is about values which are categorized into three things, 1) ethical, 2) religion that is chosen by you, and 3) personal values which choose you. If a situation is discomforting, it is likely because your personal values are being compromised. You know what the right thing is to do, we should listen to our personal values and act upon it. Lastly, engineers can grow in the corporation and income ladder by mastering the art of communication, collaboration, and project management.
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That was a great interview with Suzanne! She came with a broader view of how to be a successful entrepreneur. She was able to provide ideas about how to be ethical and the importance of it, and for this, she gives an example of women from Africa. Ethical values, religious values, and personal values were the three values she described. Among the three values, ethics and religion are chosen by us, whereas our personal values describe us. As we all know, with great powers comes great responsibility, it is hard always to stay ethical. There are many situations where an engineer can be unethical, but be yourself is much more important than anything else. To create a successful firm, we should develop an environment of belonging so employees will stick with us and be sincere. While running a business, we should take better care of every one of the employees. More importantly, we should also learn to contribute to society.
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The one thing that I learned from the interview is ethics in business and Connecting with customers and the local community to improve ourselves.
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I learned the role of ethics in business. Ethics helps in connecting people in a business that further helps in growing a business.
It is important to learn leadership qualities, presentation skills, and have a mentor in life.
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The interview session was a great experience for me to watch and listen as I learned a lot about social and Entrepreneurial values. Things like being ethical, having a point of view, giving to the community, and being an excellent communicator are the key elements to grow as a better Entrepreneur who can also contribute a lot socially and economically. The thing that I liked the most was being a good communicator. I think communication is a significant tool as one can solve an issue like world trade.
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I learned that even though a business could fill your pockets but something that fills your soul and gives back to our society is what we need to look for in what we do. Although money is an essential element in a business, it is not everything that we need to go after. Money might not drive you to keep doing what you are doing for a more extended time. I believe that a business you run needs to fill your soul; you need to find joy in what you do. Peace & a sense of satisfaction that you achieve through your abilities to use your business or the money for helping people and giving back to society is what keeps you driving for more. Everyone has something different that fills their soul, and we need to find that to excel in business.
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One of the many things that I learned from the interview was the importance of leadership. In the interview, there is a discussion about how Africa’s countries could become more prosperous if they were led better. I agree 100%. Leadership can be the root cause of why most companies and countries fail. Having inspiring and ethical leadership can bring many benefits not only to the owners but also to the employees.
