MEL #001 | Success Through Seizing Opportunities with Dr. Matthew Mench

In this episode, I speak with Dr. Matthew Mench, Dean of the Tickle College of Engineering at the University of Tennessee.   Dr. Mench shares how he went from building with Legos (and blowing them up with fireworks) to becoming the Dean through seizing opportunities that came his way and working hard to earn his way to the next opportunity. In our leadership segment, Matthew discusses the challenges he faced while advocating for establishing an independent biomedical engineering department.  He talks about how his perspectives on the initiative changed as he ascended leadership levels from a faculty member to department head to Dean.  He was ultimately successful, and his takeaway is the importance of strategic alignment within organizations, the value of benchmarking, and the right timing for implementing large strategic initiatives. Finally, Dean Mench provides a wealth of advice to aspiring leaders. One point we talked about in depth was the importance of prioritizing your time so that you can work on the highest-impact initiatives that only you, as the leader, can achieve. And he gave us insights into how he does it by protecting his calendar and delegating.    Dean Mench also provided us with six leadership books he recommends, and I summarized those in the show notes, so make sure you grab a copy. Resources, transcripts, and more in the shownotes at : https://drangeliqueadams.com/insights/