Manny Hernandez SHPE President 2009/2011

This weekend the SHPE National Board of Directors met in Lexington, Kentucky.  We discussed some very exciting topics and made some important decisions that affect our membership and constituents. The purpose of this blog post is to communicate with you some of what transpired at the recent meeting, and going forward I’d like to continue sharing about what the SHPE board is working on, and to give you the opportunity to ask me questions and start this two-way dialog.

Some of the more exciting things we discussed were upcoming events, such as NILA (National Institute of Leadership Advancement) in Fort Worth, TX from August 5-8. the SHPE conference in Washington, DC, Oct. 28-Nov.1, 2009, and ELI, Executive Leadership Institute, May 10 - 15 2009 in Palo Alto, CA, sponsored by Hewlett Packard.  We are making very important enhancements to the professional agenda for these programs, something near and dear to my heart.

One of the changes is with the ELI conference. We are including a new module called Emotional Intelligence, or EI. Essentially it is a way to manage one’s emotions and redirect them, in a positive way, to create cooperation and collaboration with others. This is a effective Personal Development tool that enhances people’s leadership skills. The experts claim that EQ (Emotional Intelligen Quotient) is more important to leadership than IQ.

The board of the Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers is very excited to be working on these new projects, and I can’t wait to share more news of this nature with you.

Manny

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Why have I got a blog post title with two seemingly unrelated terms?  Very simple.  The Society for Hispanic Professional Engineers, or SHPE, has been innovating with new types of programs, like SHPE’s Executive Leadership Institute and other professional development programs as I outlined here in an earlier article. The problem is the word is not getting out to non-members.

SHPE members receive the newsletters and the updates.   Latino Engineers who are NOT SHPE members make up a much larger number of Latino Engineers than actual SHPE members.

How do we bridge the gap?

Social Media.

One of my goals as President of SHPE is to build on the grassroots efforts of many SHPE members who have started blogs and Facebook groups, and to implement a concerted, integrated effort for SHPE to reach out to non-members to get the word out about what SHPE can offer to enhance their careers.

This graphic, put out by Forrester, explains very well how the corporate demographic that we need to go after is already actively involved in Social Media:

Our target demographic already uses social media extensively.  Creators, or people who create blogs or Facebook groups, make up 43% of corporate America. Joiners, or people who join social networks such as LinkedIn or Facebook, make up 48%.  A whopping 91% are spectators, meaning they read blogs!!!

I believe the time is ripe for SHPE to actively engage in a conversation via the various social media tools out there, whether Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, blogs, and even our own social media applications as I mentioned earlier.  This effort would enable us to reach out to Latino engineering professionals who are not members and inform them about these innovative leadership programs.

Why do this?  Well the self-interested answer would be to gain new members.  The correct answer is to empower the larger Hispanic community, and our particular niche, Hispanic engineers. As our vision states:

SHPE is the leading social-technical organization whose primary function is to enhance and achieve the potential of Hispanics in engineering, math and science.

Social Media is also a very powerful way to receive feedback from the community.  The SHPE corporate website, a must-have, is a one-way conversation: the organization talking to the public.  Social Media enables a two way conversation.  It empowers independent thinking, as this blog, and other election blog represents.  It can also be a place to air grievances, something which SHPE should not shy away from, but should embrace as we move forward and change to provide more value to Latino engineering professionals.

What do you think?  How should SHPE get the word out to non-members about some of our valuable programs?  Should we launch headlong into Social Media? I welcome your thoughts.

Manny Hernandez

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My vision consists of a three point plan to assist our professionals advance and realize their full potential.  1.  Skills for Success, 2. Technology for Collaboration, and 3. the Power Net.

1. Skills for Success.  I will continue to promote PDS/MGT/ELI programs that I have championed these past six years. These programs have proven very effective and I will continue to update and renew them to maintain their relevance for the budding manager/executive.  I also have plans to enhance the Professional Development Series with an innovative curriculum focused on helping our members acquire the skills to effectively compete in today’s global economy.

2. Technology for Collaboration.  Our members can be a tremendous resource to each other in identifying opportunities, providing career advice, or even bringing job offers to one another. As president, I will provide the technology and infrastructure to be able to connect and collaborate using the power of the internet. I will open SHPE so that our talented members can create the collaboration tools they need to exploit the power of their networks.

3. The Power Net.  We, SHPE, need to increase our membership from the approximately 2100 we have today to 10,000 members by 2011. We will attract and retain more and higher level talent by offering improved services, such as job postings via OneSHPE links, podcasts, a nationwide network of professionals, and the opportunity to apply their ideas and make a difference, both to each other and in their community and to America.

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As candidate for SHPE President during the 2009 elections, I have been intrigued by issues facing Latino engineers already in the workforce.  What are the challenges facing Latino engineers?  Are we advancing to executive levels or staying stagnant?  Are we becoming founders of successful start-up companies?  Are there future Latino Bill Gates or Steve Jobs out there, or rather Guillermo Gaticas or Esteban Juarez?

One thing I know for a fact is that according to recent demographic data, children of the latest Hispanic immigrants will be the largest contributor to population growth in the U.S., and Latino household income is growing as well.

Increasing population growth and income levels.  This is a recognized trend.

There’s an old Chinese proverb (well maybe not a Chinese proverb, but a saying nonetheless), a rising tide raises all boats.  There is a wave that Hispanic engineers are riding and can ride, but our representation in the U.S. corporate world is still disproportionately small compared to our percentage of the U.S. population. That is especially so at the upper echelons of corporate America.

SHPE has done an awesome job, as you know, of encouraging our youth to take up engineering in college and enter the workforce, often making more money straight out of school than both our parents combined.  What I believe SHPE has NOT done a great job of is helping those professionals who have entered the workforce advance to even higher levels.

According to this recent Careerbuilder article, nearly one third of Hispanics have experienced some sort of discrimination in the workforce.

The good news is that means the majority of Hispanics have not experienced discrimination in the workplace.  The bad news is that almost 33% is way too high in this day and age.  Obviously corporations need to continue with sensitivity training and implement diversity strategies, but Latinos can’t rely exclusively on programs to influence the behaviors of others.

We need to take action ourselves to minimize the impact of discrimination, and advance in corporate America no matter what the barriers.

That’s where I believe SHPE can play an important  role.

As Hispanic Engineers, we possess the technical skills, certifications and qualifications to do our engineering jobs.  We also need to perfect the human skills that are so important to career advancement.

We need to learn more about EQ, or Emotional Intelligence, which is now being recognized as more important for success in life than IQ, or mere intellectual intelligence. We need sales, marketing and self-promotional skills, attributes which are often contrary to our traditional Latino humility and reluctance to draw attention to ourselves.

As candidate for SHPE President, and as your current Vice President, and not to mention as an engineer working at a real company, I have been thinking long and hard about these issues, and I feel these are areas we must focus on as we continue to grow.

We are becoming a “Majority Minority” nation, and natural demographic trends are definitely in our favor, but organizations like SHPE must change in order to help working professionals rise to ever  higher levels. With your help, I intend to lead that charge to jointly explore how Latino Engineers can continue to advance.

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Hi, I’m Manny Hernandez.  I’m running for President of SHPE.  I want to welcome you to my blog and invite you to post your comments, provide feedback, and to tell me what YOU think SHPE needs to become the most relevant organization for the working professional and latino students.

The way forward in  2009, especially during these turbulent times, is to utilize tools such as social media and blogs to connect the community, a two-way conversation.  I don’t have all the answers, no one does.  Change keeps coming fast  and change comes from the community, it comes from you.

The Latino community is the most vibrant community in the United States, and possibly in the world. I intend tap into that energy as President of SHPE, I need your ideas and creativity.

Let’s go connect and transform the world. Please drop me a line at:

mannyhdz@aol.com and tell me what you think.

Best regards,

Manny Hernandez

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