Complementing Each Other's Strengths:
Two Perspectives

Judith Nitsch and Lisa Brothers of Judith Nitsch Engineering

Judy’s Perspective: I’ve been Lisa’s mentor for 12 years now. I first met Lisa when I was a principal with another firm. Lisa joined the firm as a project engineer in 1987 and worked for me for a couple of years. Lisa had been a field engineer for a highway department and had a great construction background. My strength was in design and permitting. I would have Lisa review my work to be sure it could be built. I’d review Lisa’s work to see if it could be permitted. I was learning from her; she was learning from me. Our personal styles also complemented each other. When I decided to start my own firm, Lisa asked to go along. Even though she joined as an employee, she has always acted like an owner. She is now our vice president of operations and an equity partner.

Lisa’s Perspective: Judy and I hit if off right away. We have different management styles, but have similar values. We both focus on attention to detail and want to do the job right and service clients well. Judy taught me a lot about design. She has the ability to push people to their maximum capability—to do things that are good for them like public speaking. I believe I would have obtained this level of professional achievement even without mentoring, but it definitely would have taken longer. I now am mentoring my younger sister, a structural engineer. She works for a large firm with few senior women. Judy and I encouraged her to get her P.E. license, and she comes to us for advice. It’s important to have a mentor, but mentoring has to be the right relationship. If the chemistry isn’t there, it just doesn’t work.

Copyright © 1996 - 2000 ASCE. All rights reserved. Please send your comments or questions to mentoring@asce.org. In the case of technical issues, please send mail to the ASCE Webmaster. Last Updated: 21 April 2000