This is Part V of a six-part series about leadership for engineers preparing for their first professional leadership role.
Hi, I’m Chris and I’m a recovering perfectionist. It all started when, well, when I was a young child. Blame it on genetics, but I’m afflicted with the ‘perfectionist-gene’; the necessity for every action, every event, and every aspect to be just…perfect.
It’s come in handy in some cases, like developing a logistics plan with numerous stakeholders, target dates, and high stakes outcomes or putting on a 400-plus person multi-national event with a lot of senior leaders. Perfection, or a close facsimile of it, is necessary in some cases. However, it isn’t in most cases.
For those with a perfectionist streak running in them, entering the engineering profession simply reinforces their natural slant towards an error-free life. This was the case for me, and then I added a career in the military on top of it and my preference for perfection was locked
Unfortunately, while there’s a time and place for perfection it doesn’t apply to all situations and at all times. [Read more…] about 5 Tips To Move Beyond Being A Perfectionist In Your Engineering Career
