ChEnected Posts by Teresa Jurgens-Kowal

Teresa Jurgens-Kowal

Teresa Jurgens-Kowal is passionate about innovation. She is a writer, speaker, coach, and trainer. Teresa founded Global NP Solutions in 2009 to help individuals and organizations learn, adopt, transform, and sustain innovation. She enjoys helping people reach their highest levels of success with innovation. Teresa’s consulting clients include a full spectrum of large industry corporations to entrepreneurs seeking to launch new products and to improve innovation system effectiveness. She frequently presents keynotes and breakouts locally and nationally on her favorite topics of innovation, design thinking, and product development.

Teresa is the co-editor of the PDMA Body of Knowledge (2020) and is a certified Project Management Professional (PMP®), Certified Professional Engineering Manager (CPEM), and New Product Development Professional (NPDP). In 2021, she released The Innovation ANSWER Book 2nd edition, a comprehensive guide to building innovation leadership. The companion The Innovation QUESTION Book was published in 2022 and will soon be available in Spanish. Teresa has also published chapters on innovation with the Virtual Team Model (2018), Leveraging Constraints for Innovation and on Quality Management Systems in the Engineering Management Handbook (2022), among other publications.

Prior to founding Global NP Solutions, Teresa worked in process development and as an internal innovation expert at ExxonMobil Chemical Company. She has degrees in Chemical Engineering from the University of Washington (PhD) and University of Idaho (BS), and an MBA from West Texas A&M University. Teresa lives in Southeast Texas and enjoys bicycling and scrapbooking in her leisure time.

GLOBAL NP SOLUTIONS

Building Innovation Leaders

What Is the Goal?

May 14, 2013. By Teresa Jurgens-Kowal
When is the last time you read a novel that offered insights you could apply on the job as a process engineer? Check out the classic The Goal for a must-read drama that takes place inside a manufacturing plant.

Book Review: Jumping the S-Curve

April 30, 2012. By Teresa Jurgens-Kowal
Outside the realm of most technical literature that chemical engineers might typically encounter, “Jumping the S-Curve” offers insights into how high-performing companies function. Individuals working in technology fields will find this book important to help identify top performing companies for employment.

Book Review: The Innovator's DNA

March 21, 2012. By Teresa Jurgens-Kowal
Clayton Christensen is perhaps most famous for identifying the concept of a disruptive innovation – a new technology that introduces new markets and new ways that people interact with products. His latest offering, The Innovator’s DNA, co-authored by Jeff Dyer and Hal Gregersen, takes a look at what skills lead a person to innovation and creativity.

Talking to Your Bo$$: Cash Flow Statements

3/8 in the series Talking to Your Bo$$—The Economics of Engineering
November 23, 2010. By Teresa Jurgens-Kowal
In the last few posts, we’ve talked about various Financial Statements that companies are required by law to prepare and share with stockholders and government agencies. Your bo$$, of course, shows sensitivity to operating and production costs because he or she wants these Financial Statements to be favorable. In particular, in the last blog, we discussed Income Statements at length.

Do you think if a company shows a positive Net Income that they are free of all financial trouble?

A Cash Flow Statement, like the Income Statement, shows changes in money flow during a specific period of time: a month, quarter, or year, for example. (You’ll recall from an earlier post that the Balance Sheet is a snapshot in time, showing a “material balance” of Assets against Liabilities.) Cash Flow is easy to calculate.

Talking to Your Bo$$: Financial Statements (Income Statements)

6/8 in the series Talking to Your Bo$$—The Economics of Engineering
November 16, 2010. By Teresa Jurgens-Kowal
Income Statements are often presented in many different formats. Two popular methods are the Traditional Income Statement, which is required by U.S. law for reporting to governments and stockholders, and the Contribution Margin Income Statement, which is used internally to help guide management decisions. Also, you will want to analyze the Income Statement both horizontally and vertically.

Talking to Your Bo$$- Financial Statements (The Balance Sheet)

4/8 in the series Talking to Your Bo$$—The Economics of Engineering
November 02, 2010. By Teresa Jurgens-Kowal
The cornerstone of a public company’s financial success is the annual report. Wall Street investors, stockholders, executives, and employees are all interested in periodic reports that present a snapshot view of the financial health of the organization, as well as trends of growth or improvement over time. Since these periodic reports tend to drive stock prices up or down, and since your boss’ bonus is based on the value of the company’s stock, he or she is of course interested in how your project will contribute to the bottom line!

Talking to Your Bo$$ - The Basics of Economics Engineering [Introduction]

1/8 in the series Talking to Your Bo$$—The Economics of Engineering
October 19, 2010. By Teresa Jurgens-Kowal
Have you ever noticed that your boss uses a lot of phrases like the following?

* How much will it cost?
* What will our savings be?
* Show me the cost/benefit analysis.
* What is the budget for that project?

Yes, I know that your project has some really awesome technology and that you’ve got armloads of data sliced, diced, and statistically analyzed to the nth degree. You’ve sketched PFDs (Process Flow Diagrams) and created both kinetic AND thermodynamic models. But, there he sits across the desk, daring to ask seemingly trivial MONEY questions!