Think Like An Engineer

Language, Thinking and the Brain

Mushtak Al-Atabi

Outline
Technopreneurship
CDIO
Entrepreneurial Thinking Habits
Entrepreneurial Language

Optimisation Test

Section B
Section A

xxx

xxx
x xX

Section D

Section C

xxx
xx

Entropreneurship
What?
Who?
Why?
When?

CDIO- A System Lifecycle Approach

Conceive

Design

An idea, thought,
emotion, desire,
urge in the mind

Add structure,
select options,
communicate

Implement

Operate

Make it, manufacture

Safely and
it, build it,
effectively operate,
programme it
maintain and retire
the system

language, thinking and feeling

It all starts in the brain
Old Brain- Survival Instinct
Middle Brain- Emotions and feelings,
decision making and meaning
New Brain- Language, high level thinking
The brain builds thinking templates to
make sense of the world
Emotions colour everything that goes
through the brain
Language can be used to rewire the brain
and build alternative thinking templates

Can We Learn Entrepreneurship?

Use you non dominant hand to write I love Taylors
How is the result?

Neurons

Neurons Network

Myelin Kid

Success Formula
Myelination is programming for success.
CDIO
Return on Failure

Technique
Interest
Self Awareness
Why do you exist?
Your inner calling

+
Coaching

Commitment
Practice
Self Management
Pushing the limit

Success
Mindset

CDIO: Technique and Coaching

A System Approach to Entrepreneurship
Myelinate it to programme your brain
Conceive
A thought, emotion, desire, urge in the mind

Design
Added structure, communicate to others

Implement
Make it, build it, programme it

Operate

Thinking Mental Model

When observing something, a baby will start by giving it a name or

Naming
finding
about its name
A
baby will then try to understand its meaning or classify it (good,
Classifying
bad, hot, cold)
Template
Then,
the baby willWiring
make a decision (cry, play, etc..)

Thinking Exercise
What is this?
What do you think of it?
What should we do with it?

Problems vs Opportunities and Challenges

The story of the Opportunity Fund
Solving Ps is a destination, realising opportunities is a journey

Thinking Exercise Again

Let us repeat the same exercise
without using any negative terms
What is this?
Blattella Asahinai

What do you think of it?

Flyer, resilient, brown, antenna, six legged, winged, protein

What can we do with it?

In a few weeks Alex Lewis went from being the owner of a

pub, to becoming critically ill and a quadruple amputee.
Yet he still describes the past year as the best he's ever
had.
BBC.com

Brain Rewiring
So now we know the brain thinks, let us see how can we rewire it
Rewiring your brain will enable you to create a state of mind that will
enable the change in the world
Our brains are built to respond to negative stimulus (danger, threats)
and we need to train them to behave otherwise to identify
opportunities
From now until the end of the semester, you will need to report and
share five things that you are grateful for
This will myelinate your brain

What are the Grand Challenges of this

Century?
Resources are running out
Environment is increasingly polluted
Security
Inequality is rampant
Both rich and poor nations are struggling with health issues
etc

21st Century Grand Challenges

1. Make solar energy economical
2. Provide energy from fusion
3. Develop carbon sequestration methods
4. Manage the nitrogen cycle
5. Provide access to clean water
6. Restore and improve urban infrastructure
7. Advance health informatics
8. Engineer better medicines
9. Reverse-engineer the brain
10.Prevent nuclear terror
11.Secure cyberspace
12.Enhance virtual reality
13.Advance personalized learning
14.Engineer the tools of scientific discovery

Challenges or Opportunities?
What kind of engineers can unlock the value in
these challenges?
Are we systematically developing these engineers?
Is reforming engineering education necessary?
Ingenious engineers
Technically sound
Entrepreneurial thinking
Emotionally intelligent

Technoepreneurship
Redefining Technopreneurship using
systematic thinking
Students are working in teams. Taylors
students lead teams from the online
community.
Teams are required to raise funds using
crowdfunding
Daily Brain Rewiring
MOOC Tools

Paul Koba- Tanzania

Brain Rewiring

Thank You!
Dream Big. Be Different. Have Fun!