The youngest vice president in the global aerospace industry, a graduate of MEPhI, HSE, Skoltech, and MIT, and the author of the book “Just Space” Katerina Lengold told us about “the right obstinacy”, shared her opinion on modern education and gave advice young professionals.
– Katerina, good afternoon! You said that if a person does not strive for work in the scientific field, then practice is no less important than education. And in the real world, the knowledge gained at the university is not always applicable.
– The world we live in and the approach to education are changing very quickly. And now, at least in Western companies, in Silicon Valley (where Katerina lives. – editor’s note), your diploma really means almost nothing. Your skills, experience, and specific implemented projects play a much greater role, and not the presence of any crusts.
In general, it seems to me that the role of universities will change dramatically in the coming decades. Now you can take courses from the world’s leading universities on Coursera or edX for free. And this is transforming the format of education. If earlier the university was a source of knowledge, now it is primarily a source of social interactions, the so-called social cocoon, as I speak of it. Therefore, universities must transform and look for new formats.
– More recently, you wrote on your Instagram that obstinacy is much more important than ability in achieving success. But how not to give up, but continue to move on towards your goal, when failures follow one after another? Well, let’s say this is the thirtieth interview in a month, and no one calls back. Although there is education, and the person is not stupid.
– Failure can be the result of two things: either you bang your head against a concrete wall, or you simply haven’t made enough effort to open a particular door. For me, the approach to finding the right obstinacy is as follows: when you tap a wall and look for a cavity in it, you try to do it with different tools and at different points. When you go to an interview with the same resume and do the same thing, I think it’s from the story of banging your head against a concrete wall. But if you change your approach, come with different resumes, behave differently every time, read books, get feedback after each interview, then you learn something new and identify what was done wrong and what needs to be changed … This is a completely different matter.
– You did not invest your money in the development of the project at the first stage, right? How did you manage to convince investors that your project is worth supporting?
– In my first projects, I invested some of my minimum money, but I invested a lot of time. At first, investors need to see who is behind the project. It will still change many times: the product, the market, and the business model. But the team is the constant, in which money is invested in the early stages. Therefore, I would highly recommend focusing on demonstrating team skills and flexibility.
– Your first book will be released at the end of October. What is it about? How can she help a young professional?
– The book is called “Just Space”, and in it I am talking about a balanced approach to goal setting, finding yourself and your goals, as well as about the sources from where you can take strength and energy to achieve these goals. I know firsthand what it feels like when you spin like a crazy hamster in a wheel, and in the end, you come to no one knows where. And you seem to be achieving the generally recognized success, but not getting pleasure from life. Much of this book is about the balance between getting results and still enjoying life.
– What would you say to a student or university graduate who is trying to understand what he wants to do?
– I would advise you to stop planning for a long time and build illusions, and focus on starting experiments with your career as early as possible. Try, make mistakes, understand what went wrong and try again. Don’t expect that you will have all the answers to your questions. Do not try to define your strategy for the future to every comma, but just start trying. Little by little, in small steps.