Chapter two: Self presentation Flashcards
Know it by heart
Introduction self presentation
Good morning X,Y,Z
My name is Julien WASIER and to introduce myself, I’d like you to first imagine a young boy going from one airshow to the next one with his father every summer.
At that time, after having watched Top Gun, I said to him : “ one day, I will be like Tom Cruise, …I will be a Jet fighter pilot”. Well, obviously, it didn’t happen, but I did try to enter to the academy. Not to worry I said, in that case, I will build them instead!
The first belief I’d like to share today is :” always follow your dreams! …and always reinvent yourself on the way for your own good !
Here is a Map ! It represents the core functions to build a product an industry, with a slight modification of mine: Let’s have a look !
After 2 internships, one in Dassault and the other at the Onera, the French aeronautics lab,
my very first professional experience was as well my first personal choice: moving abroad, far away from my relatives, family and friends.
Engineering
I started as an R&D engineer, in the US, California. I stepped into an international working environment, in a fast growing Start Up where I’ve seen the pioneering spirit to design and manufacture laser fixtures for the building industry.
Even if I was a junior with no experience, I already got an impact on the business: my boss sent me in HK & China to deploy the test bench I was developing in California.
As I deeply wanted to work in the aerospace industry since I was a kid, I decided to move back to France. I applied in Airbus, and joined 2 months later the FAL A330 as a project leader,
Project Management
I delivered there my first contribution, a digital solution called Aircraft Progress, still used by thousands of people nowadays.
I met fantastic people,experienced, touch, strong,… not happy with any change. I discover at that time that managing a change, introducing a new tool in an already running production system, changing WoW of everyone, is complicated and needs good communication skills and a lot of energy. Especially when you start as a young rookie against old-timers
Manufacturing Engineering
Then I decided to move to a more technical perimeter, to better understand how we build an airplane.
First as Ho Manufacturing Engineering for aerostructure. This was my first managerial position where I had the chance to develop my leadership skills and to deliver my first physical solution to the Industrial system: an upgrade of an assembly Line, After that, I asked for more challenge and they offered me that same position but in a much more exciting perimeter: The development of the brand new A350XWB.
Since the early days of the Program, I Iearnt how we design and build an aircraft and I delivered, together with my team of 70 technicians and engineers, a complete manufacturing system, up and running.
At that time, we participated to the first Engagement survey. One of the weakest result was “I know what Airbus is expecting from me”: 14th centile;That strong feedback revealed that things obvious for me, might not be perceived the same way by the team. Since then I always take the time to explain what we need to do and why we need to do it!
HR / Family
During that same period, I met a girl, found in love, got married and started building a home and a family. I grew up suddenly, from young adult to father and husband. Since I’m a father, I strongly believe in knowledge and values transmission: I’ ve decided to involve myself into 2 non-profit organisations, one taking care of youth coming from difficult environment & motivate them to pursue their studies. And another one who helps older job seekers to reposition themselves into the job market.
Production
Back to the A350. After 4 years of industrialisation, I asked to experience the result of out thoughts. I moved to production as Ho Production for Ground testing activities and have been in charge of:
• Creating a new manufacturing organization (station 30 & 18 organization)
• Finding and developing a new team up to 120 BC & their management,
• And even introducing a new management style, brought by the necessary use of Carbon fiber:
This was propably the most difficult period in my professional live: On the early days of the program, in an immature industrial system, we faced so many difficulties, thousands of hours of OSW, hundreds of missing parts, ground tests blocked, objectives not achievable. The team became very pessimistic, some even got sick. I was worried myself but i was fortunate to meet a psychologist during a conference on the positive leadership, Florence Servant Schreiber.It changed everything: Personally and professionally! I decided to apply some of her principles as I needed to bring back optimism, to reenergize the team with good vibrations and a slice of hope.
The situation was critical as well with Airlines as they complained about the quality of the aircraft. To recover a bit of credibility, our management requested that each Ho manufacturing unit lead the Head of Version Customer Inspections. I did it at station 30, starting from MSN 6 & Qatar Airways to MSN 59, when I left the position.
It made me realise what customer is expecting from us, and how much difficult was to match their demand with our current maturity. In order to capitalize that experience and expend my level of global understanding of the company, I decided to move to Quality in a more corporate environment as Technical Executive Assistant to the Airbus Ho Quality.
Quality
I discovered a new type of leadership: With no more managerial position, I had to develop more diplomacy and inclusion to manage my strategic dossiers. Focusing on Multi-functional team work and collaborative decision making. As an example, organizing a brief for the Airbus Executive Committee was long to align understanding and get a validation from the different stakeholders
Since that period, the corporate world is more familiar to me, and my assignment as senior ethics and compliance manager for Quality helped me to understand the social responsibility every one of us has, and the necessity to lead by example when you manage a team.
Procurement
Finally, since July last year, I joined the Procurement organisation. where I can bring my industrial background and people knowledge to feed a strategical vision of the company. Today I’m still discovering this perimeter and I’m really existed about it. Having about 20 Supply Chains engineers around Europe & Canada, managing them remotely, is a super challenge and I love that !
I’m now trying to inspire the same spirit I enjoyed in the US and; agile and benevolent.
Well, the map is not complete, right? What’s next?
From now, I’d like to stay in Procurement to develop my negotiation skills and deeper understand the Buy perimeter which represent 80% of the cost of an A/C.
Next / Conclusion
Then, to expend even further my portofolio of knowledge, I’m really much interested in the after sells market. Indeed my previous experiences told me that we must keep going in recovering customer trust, by better supporting them in operations.
For long term? Well, a position in a next coming program would be a good ooportunity encompass everything I have learnt and prepare the future of the company for the next generation of employees,
In any case, I will follow my dreams, and my appetite for aircraft. This Urban Mobility vision appeals me! It makes me dream! I rings my bell! It represents at the same time my taste for innovation and my desire to connect people; always staying authentic and positive!
Thank you for your attention
