I removed my school projects from this section because that was 5+ years ago.

Since June 2008, I've worked in the field of power system protection engineering. It's a departure from my industrial engineering coursework at Cal Poly and different than the mainstream electrical engineering curriculum I encountered at OSU. It is interesting and meaningful to protect systems that provide a daily staple of life: electrical power. I'm getting to know people who have worked in this field for 30 to 40 years, and they do not seem bored yet. At the same time, many principles of industrial engineering (the newer team-oriented flavor as opposed to bean counter) have not yet infiltrated the investor owned electric utility. Maybe some day.. [sigh]

Here are a few books that have influenced my thinking about living and leadership in recent years:
1. Life's Journeys According to Mister Rogers: Things to Remember Along the Way by Fred Rogers

2. Power: Why Some People Have It and Others Don't by Jeffrey Pfeffer

There are several books about the Toyota Way with solid ideas, but they seem limited to implementation from above (organizationally) as opposed to grass roots. From what I understand, the methods adopted by Toyota and its imitators have roots in the US Military's and Japanese civilian rebuilding of Japan after WWII. Mixing that approach with some traditional Eastern philosophies led to Lean. If someone reading this knows of a book with grass roots examples or can better inform me about Lean, please contact me. There are several derivative books by American Executives who pervert Lean with short-term thinking. Responsible corporate citizens and kind people should steer clear of such approaches that erode our infrastructure and harm people only so a few individuals can feather their own nest. Don't get me wrong, profit is good; I work so I can live.. But we need to get back to long-term thinking to provide quality products and value-added services.