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Lead
The engineer as leader Most engineering professionals share common personality traits that present formidable strengths, predictable challenges when seeking to transition into executive positions. O P I N I O N
I have had the privilege of spending the bulk of my professional career working with sci- ence, technology, and engineering companies. From aerospace to computer technology to engineering and construction, the key thing all of these organizations have in common is their reliance on the engineering discipline of their people to fuel the innovation, prod- uct/service design, and market growth for their respective firms.
Another thing these firms have in common is the challenge of identifying and developing the senior leadership talent required to carry the organization into the future. The question of whether engineers make good leaders is moot: Some of the best senior leaders – including many VPs, COOs, and CEOs – I’ve worked with were trained as engineers. Having said that, some of the worst also were engineers. What makes the difference? I believe there are some specific development challenges for engineering pro- fessionals/managers in making a successful transi- tion to senior leadership that should be a priority for firms wanting to grow world class leaders internally. THE ENGINEERING PERSONALITY. We’ve all heard the old joke, “How do you tell the difference between and introvert- ed and an extraverted engineer?The introvert looks at his own shoes when talking to you, and the extravert looks at your shoes when talking to you.” This may be exaggerated, but there are some common character- istics among people who choose engineering. At the risk of perpetuating stereotypes, we can draw some general observations about engineers: They’re smart. People who pursue physics, math, engineering, and computer science have been shown to score higher on standard measures of general intel- ligence. They’re analytical. People who pursue engineering and the physical sciences score at the top of most tests of academic aptitude (SAT, ACT, AGSC), especially in the spatial and analytical/math categories. They’re introverted thinkers. Based on the Myers- Briggs Type Inventory, introverts make up only 30 percent of the general population but 70 percent of the engineering population. Similarly, 70 percent of engi- neers prefer “thinking” over “feeling.” They prefer working with “data/things.” Engineers
predominate in the “investigative” and “realistic” ca- reer fields, according to the Holland Career Codes, representing a greater focus on working with “data and things” rather than with “people and relationships.” They score lower in emotional intelligence. In gen- eral, engineers score lower on measures of emotional intelligence – self awareness, self-regulation, empathy, social skills, etc. – than do people in other professional disciplines. There are, of course, many other personality traits that significantly impact leadership effectiveness that have little or nothing to do with occupational differences. Of greater relevance to the development of future leaders in the science, technology, and en- gineering fields are the ingrained skills and behaviors that people in these fields bring to their leadership roles. These skills and behavior patterns, for which people have spent the better part of their careers be- ing rewarded for, must be “unlearned” for people to move successfully into senior leadership roles. The leaders who can make this transition successfully will excel, and the ones who cannot will never reach their full potential as executives. The table at right summarizes some of the dominant skills that engineers bring to a leadership position. These skills pose both clear strengths and potential blind spots for emerging engineering leaders: TRANSITIONING FROM ENGINEER TO LEADER. Engineers bring tremendous strengths to a leadership role. Howev- er, strengths taken to an extreme can often become weaknesses. So, the challenge in developing future leaders lies not only in identifying emerging man- gers/professionals who demonstrate fundamental engineering management skills, but also identify- ing those who possess the motivation and potential to build on these strengths to become the strategic leaders of the future. This transition takes time and
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