Does the idea of a nontraditional work schedule elicit fear for you? What about excitement? Either way, it’s time to broaden your perspective on what professional success can look like.

Even if you’re a ‘yes’ person, who struggles with the guilt of letting people down if you challenge the status quo, you can. It’s time to reframe your professional life and consider customizing a schedule that works best for all the parts of your life.

Using simple engineering principles and some psychology, you can:

• Get where you want to go using the 4-step EVALuation method

• Proactively manage your presence to build your personal brand

• Get what’s right for you when it comes to work/life balance

• Support flexibility in your organization

Above all, you will discover that by redefining your professional boundaries, you will be able to do your best work while simultaneously being the best version of yourself at home too.

Wendy Cocke

Wendy Cocke is the author of two best selling books (“Making Flex Work: Defining Success on Your 
Own Terms” and "Reimagine Your Work: Managing Your Career Like It's Your Business") and is the 
founder of Engineering Leadership Solutions LLC  where  she  works  with  high-achieving,  
technical  professionals  and organizations who think about work differently.

A chemical engineer by training, Wendy spent over 20 years leading technical teams in Fortune 500 
companies prior to opening her own consulting company and joining the faculty at her alma mater 
where she teaches engineering students how work works.

As a working mother, Wendy has redefined success for herself according to her values, balancing 
work and life so that she can drive results while still spending the quality time needed to raise 
her children and support her extended family. She believes that with her experience and her 
engineering mindset, she can help other people do the same.

About ten years into her career, when her oldest child was still an infant, Wendy pursued a flexible work arrangement that would allow her to balance all aspects of her life. She was told that, though the company supported her desire to pull back, her career would stall and she would never move up in the organization. Little did they know that the change to her work schedule and her successful negotiation of a flexible work arrangement would be the catalyst that would propel her career as she worked her way from engineer to project leader to manager and then director, serving in R&D, manufacturing operations & supply chain strategy.