Issue link: https://iconnect007.uberflip.com/i/1538540
AUGUST 2025 I PCB007 MAGAZINE 15 stop and let the noise go down and see what sig- nals start popping up. With so many noises and distractions, it is about taking the time and space to get calm and expe- rience gratitude. That's when we are entirely acti- vated and triggered, and we discover what drives us forward in good directions. If you don't take time to shut off, or at least turn the volume way down, you won't ever see those little signals that pop up all by themselves. What other helpful skills have you learned? One I wish I'd had when I was 20 is the ability to assess something and build a simple model for it. Once I have that model, the challenge is easier to deal with. Do you find, though, that you can get locked into a model and miss something? Sure. Stay open-minded—whether it's modeling for an antenna, the propagation pads on a circuit board, or the characteristics of a semiconductor. All our models are just that. We cannot get them confused with the real McCoy; you have to realize it's a model, but the model is useful. What's something you believed early in your career that you no longer believe? I thought things would be simpler than they are. Maybe I was too naive. Whether it was a belief or a desire, you start to realize things are hard. Dave Whitehead, president of SEL, and I like to joke about this. When we'd start something new, we would say, "How hard can it be?" Of course, we'd always find out. You get into the project, and you get stumped, frustrated, and wishing you hadn't gone down that path. But you finally get through it, and then, it's easy. But you have to go through the hard. So, when you ask what's changed, I used to think progress and achievement would be a straight line. They're not, but I still enjoy the pursuit. Often, the problems you set about to solve aren't even the problems you will encounter. It turns out to be a whole different set of problems you encounter on the journey. That's right, and when you're on that journey and solving the problem, and you tell yourself, "I still want to pursue that goal," you find that the initial problem gets solved, and then the next, and the next. Then you say, "Now that we've figured out a computationally efficient way to do this or that, how else could we use it?" When it comes to changing paradigms, people don't trust simplicity. It's so easy to overcomplicate. Start with the sim- plest form, and as it proves itself out, then you can add in the mechanization, the automation. I'm a firm believer in TQM, and I'm sure Deming principles resonate here as well. Absolutely. Plan, do, check, act, and I like to add "celebrate." We have to celebrate even the small victories. That's a good idea. I changed plan, do, check, act to identify, measure, and improve. It's a different way of looking at the same thing. Yes, and then we focus on the critical 20%, where 80% of our results come from 20% of the activity. That works when you use it, and when you stop using it, you suffer. I like the idea of creating value. I like to say the purpose of a business is to make a customer happy. What principle have you defended most fiercely, even when it wasn't popular? Inventing the future. Is that a principle? It's certainly a mission. In sales, we believe in the principle of doing busi-