• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar

Engineering Management Institute

  • About
    • Meet Anthony Fasano, P.E.
    • EMI’s Mission, Vision & Values
    • Meet Team EMI
  • Content
    • Blog
    • Podcasts
      • The Engineering Career Coach Podcast
      • The Civil Engineering Podcast
        • Women in Civil Engineering
        • Civil Engineering Entrepreneurs
        • The Civil Engineering CEO Podcast
      • The Structural Engineering Channel
      • The Geotechnical Engineering Podcast
      • The Engineering Quality Control Podcast
      • The Engineering Project Management Podcast
      • AEC Engineering and Technology Podcast
      • Women in Engineering: Success Stories from STEM Professionals
      • This Week in Civil Engineering
    • TV
    • Videos
    • Books
    • Recommended Reading
    • Sponsors
  • Services
    • Training
    • Hiring Solutions
    • Webinars
  • FE-PE Exams
  • Clients
  • Contact
  • Training

  • About
    • Meet Anthony Fasano, P.E.
    • EMI’s Mission, Vision & Values
    • Meet Team EMI
  • Content
    • Blog
    • Podcasts
      • The Engineering Career Coach Podcast
      • The Civil Engineering Podcast
        • Women in Civil Engineering
        • Civil Engineering Entrepreneurs
        • The Civil Engineering CEO Podcast
      • The Structural Engineering Channel
      • The Geotechnical Engineering Podcast
      • The Engineering Quality Control Podcast
      • The Engineering Project Management Podcast
      • AEC Engineering and Technology Podcast
      • Women in Engineering: Success Stories from STEM Professionals
      • This Week in Civil Engineering
    • TV
    • Videos
    • Books
    • Recommended Reading
    • Sponsors
  • Services
    • Training
    • Hiring Solutions
    • Webinars
  • FE-PE Exams
  • Clients
  • Contact
  • Training

Engineering Econ 201 – Understanding Business

February 5, 2011 By EMI

Engineers by-and-large have a bad rap when it comes to understanding business.  That is, the art of using engineering skills to create value for others, and themselves.  If you’re like I am, your first introduction to “business management” was the engineering economics course you took during your undergraduate program.  In retrospect, that course did nothing to prepare me for (a) managing resources or (b) understanding business finances.   In fact, twenty-plus years later, I can’t really recall what I learned in that course (perhaps cost estimating?)  To overcome what I viewed as a gap in my understanding of the world of business, I gained an MBA.  This was useful for the mechanics and terminology of business, however, it prepared me to be a good mid-level manager.  It didn’t prepare me to be an entrepreneurial business owner, the next step in my evolution.

So, what’s the answer?  How does one prepare themselves to be an entrepreneurial-engineer business owner?  Both good questions and both questions which I’m answering as I go forward.  This said, here’s the what I’ve discovered:

Build a Mentoring Team.

This isn’t you and one other individual, but a group of subject matter experts with different strengths — law, accounting, marketing, etc.  In short, build a mind-trust.

Leverage the Skills You Have.

An engineer is inquisitive, creative, process oriented and good with numbers.  These are assets that can pay big dividends in entrepreneurial pursuits, so use them.

Read and Learn.

Professional engineers are constantly learning, so the mental processes of learning are already in place.  Expand beyond the engineer curriculum  to include business – magazines, books, trade journals, the Internet.  Build up your knowledge of simple business terms and processes.  Since our minds are organic, filling it with business terminology and concepts will eventually lead to those concepts spilling into our engineer work.  This is like becoming fluent in a foreign language.

Take Action.

With the information you glean, build an action plan, and then execute it yourself.  Engineers are good at creating in the mind (step 1) and then creating a blue print (step 2).  Most often, we then turn the blue prints over to someone else to create the final product.  If you’re serious about the business piece of the game, you need to create the final product yourself.  Or in concert with your team.  Simply put…take action.

As I stated, I’m new to entrepreneurial business…in fact, merely an infant.  However, my experience in leading people and managing resources all over the world leads me to believe that the combo of skills and knowledge I currently have, plus new knowledge and a mind-trust of all-star mentors, will create success.  Time, as always, shall tell.

  • If you enjoyed this post, please consider downloading our free list of 33 Productivity Routines of Top Engineering Executives. Click the button below to download.

    Download the Productivity Routines

Understanding Business

Onward,

Christian J. Knutson, P.E., PMP
Engineering Management Institute

Related Posts

  • TCEP 013: Advice on Business Development and Building a Business and Career from a Civil Engineering CEO – The Civil Engineering Podcast
  • TCEP 149: The Business of Engineering — Scaling an Engineering Firm
  • Redefining Business Development for Engineering Professionals
  • How to Start an Engineering Company: Owning and Managing an Engineering Business Through a Tough Economy
  • TECC 210: Business Development Skills for Engineering Professionals

Filed Under: Business/Entrepreneurship

Primary Sidebar

Subscribe To Our Newsletter

And Get Custom Content Delivered To You Weekly

PM Training

engineering management lessons

career readiness

Categories

  • AECT – AEC Engineering and Technology Podcast
  • Blog
    • Business Development
    • Business/Entrepreneurship
    • Career Goals and Challenges
    • Communication/Public Speaking
    • COVID19
    • Credentials
    • Enlightenment
    • Ethics & Integrity
    • Job Search/Salary/Relocation
    • Leadership/Management
    • Mentoring
    • Networking/Client Relations
    • News and Events
    • Organization/Productivity/Time Management
    • Personal Development and Professionalism
    • Program Management
    • Project Management
    • Travel
    • Work Life Balance
  • Civil Engineering
  • Engineering Career TV
  • Engineering Technology
  • TCEP-The Civil Engineering Podcast
    • Business Development
    • Business/Entrepreneurship
    • Career Goals and Challenges
    • Civil Engineering Entrepreneurs
    • Communication & Public Speaking
    • Credentials
    • Ethics/Integrity
    • Infrastructure
    • Job Search/Salary/Relocation
    • Leadership/Management
    • Mentoring
    • Project Management
    • Women in Engineering
  • TECC Podcast-The Engineering Career Coach Podcast
    • Business/Entrepreneurship
    • Career Game Changers
    • Career Goals and Challenges
    • Communication/Public Speaking
    • Credentials
    • Enlightenment
    • Job Search/Salary/Relocation
    • Leadership/Management
    • Mentoring
    • Networking/Client Relations
    • News and Events
    • Organization/Productivity/Time Management
    • Personal Development and Professionalism
    • Project Management
    • Work Life Balance
  • TEPM – The Engineering Project Management Podcast
  • TEQC – The Engineering Quality Control Podcast
  • TGEP – The Geotechnical Engineering Podcast
    • Tunneling Series
  • TSEC-The Structural Engineering Channel
  • TWiCE
  • Uncategorized
  • WIE Success Stories
  • Women in Engineering
  • Youtube

TECC Sidebar Featured Final

ENGINEERING MANAGEMENT INSTITUTE

We Can Help You:

  • Build solutions to attract talented professionals.
  • Develop your staff’s people skills.
  • Create career roadmaps for your staff.
  • Provide PM training for your professionals.
  • Build custom development programs.
  • Scale sustainably.

Location:

50 E. Ridgewood Avenue #129

Ridgewood NJ, 07450

800-920-4007

Copyright © 2023 • All Rights Reserved • Property of Engineering Management Institute • Terms of Service • Privacy Policy

SPECIAL DOWNLOAD

33 Productivity Routines of
Top Engineering Executives

x