Youth – and the Benefit of not Knowing what’s Possible

Article by Nigel Hirst

IChemE past-president Nigel Hirst says we need to harness the fearlessness of young engineers in order to tackle global challenges

MANY years ago, I was looking to expand my company into the US – the “land of opportunity”. The UK was missing out to the Republic of Ireland on large swathes of pharmaceutical investment due to unfavourable corporation tax rates, so where better to expand than North America?

I identified one possible takeover target, a family-owned company which was primarily construction-based but had recently set up a “life sciences” design group led by a senior manager they had recruited from a well-known expert company in this field. I arranged a visit and when talking to the new group I was surprised to find that there wasn’t a single engineer older than their mid-20s. When I questioned how they managed to win work without “grey-haired” staff, the manager said: “Simple. We offer the fastest project time. The benefit of young engineers is that they don’t know what’s not possible. So, if I ask then to do something in two weeks which should take three months they will try. It might take them a month, but older engineers won’t even try.”

It’s an interesting approach to project management (I didn’t go any further with the acquisition talks!).

Sometimes it works the other way, with construction clients manipulating their ignorance of what is not possible to their advantage. A recent example was the construction and opening of the new Co-op Live arena in Manchester. According to press reports, the contractor advised the client that it was going to be 35 weeks late only a month or so before the advertised opening date. It opened two weeks later than scheduled. Sure, the promised “1,000 food and drink outlets” were reduced to a few bars and hot dog stalls, but the venue opened. A case of the client demanding the impossible and very nearly achieving it.

When I started my career, my employer had a wonderful strategy for training new engineers. This was to give every young engineer total responsibility for a project (albeit a small one). In that way experience was (hard) won in every aspect. I was mentored at every stage by senior managers who had come through the same route. Commissioning one’s own “mistakes” in front of a process operator is a salutary experience.

Article by Nigel Hirst

Nigel has (mostly) enjoyed a 40-year career in operations and engineering design in the UK and Asia. From 1987 he ran a medium-sized consultancy and contracting company with clients in the chemical, pharmaceutical, and waste treatment and remediation industries. He was the 82nd president of the Institution and joint editor of “Containment Systems, a Design Guide”, published by IChemE

Recent Editions

Catch up on the latest news, views and jobs from The Chemical Engineer. Below are the four latest issues. View a wider selection of the archive from within the Magazine section of this site.