Get Career Advice from Caterpillar VP Brian Edwards

Q: What are some key considerations in navigating a career path? How do you move forward?

A: When you think about working at Caterpillar, it’s a performance culture. Having many different roles and experiences means nothing if you don’t get results. The results are what dictate where you go next and create newer and broader opportunities. Performing well in your role gives leadership confidence that you are going to go do those bigger roles, and that you can accomplish new things or collaborate. When you think about the jobs themselves in your journey, the key is not being so fast to get promoted in certain spaces because you might miss an opportunity to learn core skills that bolster the company along the way. It is very important to get those skills because you need them later. They matter. I’m in meetings every day where things I learned 20 years ago help me. That piece is always going to be critical. Pay attention, don’t go too fast, pick up everything you can in each one of your roles to build- and make sure they are building blocks. The rest of it is time and place.

Q: What’s on your priority list in your new role as vice president?

A: Short term, we are building out the organization to prepare us for the growth we will work on over the next five years. We are focused on safety, delivery and quality. We’ll be looking at the expansion of product offerings, what space we need to move into as we move forward and some of the emerging technologies. Those are some of the things I’ve spent the beginning of my time here on.

Q: The product portfolio has grown in reman. What are the opportunities for customers to remanufacture a product or component?

A: We are nearing 8,000 total products. As we continue to develop and connect strongly with the verticals and go out together with dealer partners creating new solutions, that number will grow. Every day we are looking at ways to increase our influence and provide a better product stream and more answers. We are excited about that.

Q: What advice would you give to people trying to figure out what their career path should be?

A: Thinking about championship sports teams, I’m on a championship team at Caterpillar. You hear every person when they talk about a win say that they do the work for each other. If you come here every day without an agenda, it will work out for you. It’s about the overall win and sooner or later it will rise.

Are you ready to join the team that works together to build a better world? Search and apply today.