How to Get on Track for Career Success
Future graduates who want to race to the top of their organization won’t be able to do it alone, says Ronda Beaman, who teaches the popular Leadership & Career Success class at the Orfalea College of Business.
Successful careers, she added, are built a lot like championship teams.
To illustrate that point with visuals, Beaman recently took her class to the Aero Hangar, where students from the Cal Poly Racing club design, manufacture and test race cars.
The club is mostly made up of engineering students, who create Formula One (F1) and Baja racing cars that they use to compete in annual competitions. But the club also includes a business team that has a variety of roles, including sponsor recruitment and marketing.
During the tour, both engineering and business students learned more about how many individual specialties can work together to build winners. At the conclusion, Beaman handed out miniature checkered flags.
“Lots of excitement about the possibilities were generated, and I think both the engineers and the OCOB students had a bigger and broader understanding of their careers,” she said.
We asked Beaman about the tour and her leadership class.
What gave you the idea of visiting the Cal Poly Racing team?
“F1” the movie (starring Brad Pitt) was a big hit, and I always try to take advantage of cultural touchstones to kick off my Leadership and Career Success course. Last year I used “Wicked!” I knew there were parallels in F1 racing and the drive students have to excel and win. So, in researching possible tie-in’s, a student on the Cal Poly F1 Team told me about what the club does, and my opening idea was born.
What other tours have you given these classes?
Most of our “tours” are thought pieces, aimed and reawakening their creativity and looking at their lives as more than being an accountant or investment banker: Placing a yellow brick road to get into the classroom and discovering their paths; dressing like Coach Deion Sanders as an example of high expectations; having international rock star drummer Mark Schulman (Foreigner, Pink, Cher) come in and discuss the rhythms of life and the beat of business. The students never know what to expect!
What happened during the Cal Poly Racing tour?
The business students were blown away by the cars, the dedication of the engineers and the metaphors, like picking the right pit crew for your career or how precision timing and preparation matter. But most wonderful was after the class, all the engineers asked if they could sign up for the class!
The Cal Poly Racing team mostly consists of engineering students. How do business students fit into this?
As we discussed with the engineers, what good is it to build the best widget and not be able to get anyone interested in it? Or run a company into the ground because you don’t understand management and finance? Here’s where business comes to the rescue and our students can help the engineers by providing this aspect of their interests.
What lessons did this provide for your students about how teams work together?
I think by the end, when I passed out the finish line flags and told the students, “How you finish is how you start,” everyone was excited about their career paths, their opportunities to work with other majors and ideas to build something extraordinary.
What is your impression of the Cal Poly Racing club?
The club is filled with creative, hardworking, smart students who know they need business savvy from OCOB!
Above: Ronda Beaman talks to students at the Aero Hangar, where the Cal Poly Racing team designs and manufactures race cars. Pictured behind her are, left to right, Lucas Courts, Ash Pickett, and Aiden Powers. (Photo: Jahan Ramezani)
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