Engineering an “Unfair Competitive Advantage”
Since 2022, Andrew Sudar (BS IE ’92) has been teaching students at the University of Pittsburgh Swanson School of Engineering how to shake hands. He’s not teaching them the most efficient grip or how to program a robot to shake hands or anything like that. He just teaches students the power of a good handshake, what it says and how it can set them apart.
Sudar teaches much more than that. During a series of eight 90-minute workshops called Business Essentials, he and guest speakers, many of whom are also Pitt alumni, impart valuable professional skills to students in a highly technical field. They prepare students to enter the workforce with a higher emotional intelligence, better equipped to market themselves, recognize body language, hold uncomfortable conversations, and of course shake hands.
The workshops help students, Sudar says, gain an “unfair competitive advantage.” Judging by the interest in the series, students are eager for this edge.
“This year, we’ve had more than 40 engineering students attend the eight sessions regularly. These students aren’t getting any credit for this, and some have attended two years in a row,” said Lisa Maillart, Professor and Department Chair of Industrial Engineering. “What sets this series apart is that it’s facilitated by executives. The message lands differently when delivered by industry alumni rather than academic faculty or staff.”
The idea to conduct the workshops originated six years ago, when Sudar was talking with Larry Shuman, Distinguished Service Professor of Industrial Engineering and then-interim department chair, about essential skills that were not offered in a modern engineering curriculum.
“Larry had the vision to launch these workshops to prepare Pitt engineering students—to upskill them,” said Sudar, Senior Director, Americas Consulting Sales & Business Development at SAS, a data and AI solutions provider.
As Sudar conceived the series, he asked himself, “What skills do I wish I had when I graduated? What would’ve helped me advance, personally and professionally?”
He turned to his own experience and the skills he’d acquired after graduating, from his time working as a production engineer for Quaker Oats or as an operations research analyst for Roadway Express, to his more than 25 years in the software industry, consulting with large global brands.
The result is Business Essentials, a unique opportunity for students to learn about sales, personal branding, body language, likeability quotients, the six pillars of persuasion, negotiation, difficult conversations, emotional intelligence, and much more. Each week for 90 minutes, students engage actively with Sudar and guest speakers, role playing, practicing, and networking.
Sudar loves teaching it. He loves to return to his alma mater and engage with engineering students. “What inspires me most is the energy I get from the students, the way they lean into participating and how they buy in so quickly. You can see how they crave what these workshops offer.”
For Hannah Reeve, a third-year industrial engineering major, the workshops have been so influential that she’s attended two years in a row.
“I remember last year, after I left the first workshop, I was in awe,” Reeve said. “It was unlike anything I’d done in a class. It already felt like I’d gained such an advantage when dealing with any social situation.”
This year, with the addition of new guest speakers, Reeve continues to learn more. “Getting to hear about their experiences and how they use the skills taught in the workshop has been amazing.”
As Henry Hoeg, a fourth-year industrial engineering student, said, “I didn’t know this workshop would be one of the most important classes I’ve taken at the Swanson School.”
In addition to gaining important skills that he needed to pursue a career in business, Hoeg found something else last year as he attended the workshops. “Andy has become a mentor,” Hoeg said. “He has helped me land two positions, and he recently came to talk at a consulting firm where I work.”
Hoeg regularly turns to Sudar for advice and feels grateful for the support and the opportunities it has helped create. As Hoeg remembered, “One of the first workshops, Andy asked me to sell him a pen. When I had my first interview for a sales job, I was asked to do the same thing. I was prepared, and I got the position.”
Hoeg already has an offer from global technology company, where he interned this past summer, and he credits Sudar with helping him land the position. “I understand why students would attend the workshop for two years in a row,” he said.
So does Lisa Maillart, who in 2022 immediately saw the value of Business Essentials and has helped expand and promote the series since becoming chair of the department.
“In the three years that Andy has taught these workshops, I’ve only missed one,” Maillart said. “I always get something new out of them. It’s like the handshake. You think you know how to shake hands, but when you break it down, you can see how you can go wrong and how you can improve it—and the advantage that that can give you.”