The Foundation of a Great Management Career in Engineering
Whether project management or organizational management, the foundation of a great management career starts with exceptional technical/professional performance. Many engineering professionals start their careers with strong technical skills, honed through years of schooling, challenging work assignments, and delivering on project management expectations. Moving into a project or organizational management role takes a new set of […]
Why Engineers Make Great CEOs
Engineering is the most common undergraduate degree of the Fortune 500 Chief Executive Officers (CEOs). It has been for some time. Approximately one third of CEOs majored in engineering and only 11% graduated from business school. The Harvard Business Review has a list of the 100 best-performing CEOs on the planet. Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos topped […]
4 Opportunities to Grow Your Leadership Skills
Leadership skills are crucial for engineers looking to take on more responsibility, and move into management. If you’ve ever read this blog, or anything I’ve written on leadership in the past, you’ll already know that. What you might not know is how to develop your leadership skills. This is a constant struggle for engineers looking […]
4 Occupational Safety and Health Administration Tips for Engineers
Engineers are typically accustomed to hazardous conditions, but that doesn’t mean that OSHA (Occupational Safety and Health Administration) best practices should simply be swept under the rug as common knowledge. Electrical mishaps, fires, and deadly equipment accidents are just a few of the potential hazards that engineers of all fields are susceptible to, so […]
Delegating Effectively When Working with Engineers
There is a myriad of guides available online that will offer to teach you how to manage your team’s workloads and delegate tasks to your subordinates. Engineers are a slightly different group, though, and as such, there are a few differences in how you should handle delegation in the engineering world. While there are always […]
3 Actions That Help You Lead Your Engineering Team Despite Fear
Here’s a topic not often discussed in the offices of the majority of leaders: FEAR. We’ll talk about risk, or problem’s, or setbacks. But never fear. Why is that? Probably because the word “fear” comes with a lot of baggage. Fear isn’t something that’s talked about openly, ever. It’s a sign of weakness or lack […]
Why Delegating Will Make You A Better Engineer
This is Part III of a six-part series about leadership for engineers preparing for their first professional leadership role. You’re in your first professional leadership role and all eyes are on you to deliver the goods. After two months of 60+ hour weeks you’re running on fumes and the project’s only a fifth of the […]
Relying on Courage to Bridge the Experience Gap
This is Part II of a six-part series about leadership for engineers preparing for their first professional leadership role. It was the first day as project manager and Ed was sweating the moment he got into his car for the fifteen-minute drive to the office. This wasn’t just any sweat. It was the sweat that […]
How to Go from Managing to Leading a Team of Engineers
Effectively managing any group of employees can be a difficult proposition, but providing leadership for an engineering team or department typically entails a number of unique challenges. Simply managing the efforts of an engineering staff may not always be sufficient. Managers who are able to provide clear direction, ensure that their group is able to […]
Don’t Let Lack of Experience Keep You From Speaking With Authority as an Engineer
This is Part I of a six-part series on debunking misconceptions about leadership and speaking with authority for engineers preparing for their first professional leadership role. Starting out in any endeavor you lack experience. In business, in relationships, in your technical pursuits – doesn’t matter. You enter into everything you do for the first time without […]