Lilian Gilbreth, often known as the “Mother of Modern Management”, is an industrial engineer, a psychologist, an educator, and a mother of 12. Throughout her career, I always see the shine of humanity. And I also believe that’s the key to her success as an industrial engineer. Industrial engineers study complex systems and processes. And their goal is to improve the system by elevating productivity. So the first step is to completely understand how the system works. Lilian Gilbreth’s close engagement with the design process & human factors shows her thoughtfulness to the subject matter. Her willingness to an in-person experience helps her to create empathy, which leads to her deep understanding of the case.
In addition, she is a role model of a woman who is well-balanced between family and career. She shows to the world that, for women who want to pursue a career, there is never a “this or that” dilemma: we don’t have to compensate one to achieve another. I also truly believe that it’s her experience as a mother that strengthens her empathetic point of view, which contributes to the success in her career.
(this blog post only featured Lilian Gilbreth as I want to have a thorough analysis)
I completely agree that her experience as a mother influenced and improved her ability to empathize and design for others. I think it was great to include your experience as an industrial designer in your analysis!
I read lots of journal about her, most of them are about how she balanced her life and works. Truly a super woman.
Btw, there is some words that are in bold text, to me they are little bit distracted. Just an opinion.
It’s interesting to consider her work as a form of empathy, something I didn’t really notice before. Additionally, I feel that as women, the idea that our true life goal is get married and have kids is reinforced over and over again, so to see someone who was able to do that AND flourish in her career is inspiring.