If networking as an engineering manager feels like a second job with no payoff, the size of your network isn't the problem. Who's in your boat is.
Which seats in your boat are sitting empty right now? Grab the Career Crew Map (at no cost)
Ready to build your whole promotion plan, not just the crew? Start here.
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I have over 1,600 contacts in my phone.
The number that turned my career around was one.
You've probably got plenty of people too. A boss who rates you well. A spouse who believes in you. And you're still doing the hardest parts of your career alone.
Picture your career as a life raft, rowing toward the land you want to reach. How fast you get there has less to do with how hard you paddle, and everything to do with who else is in the boat — and which way they're rowing.
Most engineering leaders are in one of four rafts:
Empty. You know lots of people. None are in your boat.
Riding. People who care about you, sitting there. Not rowing.
Resisting. People rowing you back out to sea, toward the complaining and the blaming.
Rowing. A crew pulling toward your land.
I lived the first three in my career.
Valedictorian, full ride to Purdue, leadership track at Whirlpool. The smartest guy in the room doesn't ask for help, so I didn't.
Then everyone said "network," so I filled the boat with coffee chats. More weight. Nobody rowing.
Then my marriage fell apart, and the people around me were saying the company doesn't care.
Coming out of my divorce, I hired my first coach. I emptied the boat and said, "You and me. Let's figure this out."
That's when the promotions started coming easily.
Your network cheers for you. Your crew rows.
In this episode:
— The four kinds of life raft engineering leaders get stuck in, and how to tell which one you're in
— Why a boat full of people who care about you can be harder to row than an empty one
— The five seats to fill in your raft: peers, breadth builders, mentors, sponsors and a coach
— The line between a mentor and a sponsor, and what a coach does that neither of them can
— Why being an introvert is an advantage here, not an excuse
— How a CEO client got a yes from the one former leader he was sure would say no
— The five-step Career Crew Map, and the one move to make this week
Also — childhood is a cruise ship. Lido deck, waterslides, someone else steering. Then you get kicked off into a life raft that, in my drawing, looks a lot like a donut.
The right crew keeps the boat moving even on the days your own oar is out of the water.
If you're new here, binge the channel.
If you just realized your boat is emptier than you thought, download the Career Crew Map.
If you want to reach director and beyond without doing all the heavy lifting yourself...
Watch the Director Promotion Plan here.
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Free download — The Career Crew Map
Use it the moment you think "yeah, I've got people." Real names in real seats show you who's rowing, who's riding, and which seats are empty.
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I'm Zach White, founder of Oasis of Courage.
Mechanical engineering degrees from Purdue and Michigan. Former engineering leader at Whirlpool. Since 2019 I've coached 300+ engineering leaders at 200+ companies — big tech to rust belt, and everything in between.
You shouldn't have to sacrifice your life to reach your potential at work.
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And if you want to see our Promotion Plan — how we help engineering leaders put the right people in the boat and grow into director-level scope, without handing over their nights and weekends to do it...