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Perhaps some of you know about the book The Leadership Mystique – a User’s Manual for the Human Enterprise by Manfred K de Vries. I came across it recently and totally enjoying reading it. It was written in an amazingly attractive and funny way, and the author knew how best to communicate to his readers. This book is unlike any other materials I have read. In one chapter he began by asking: what does leadership imply? what does it consist of? what are the leaders supposed to do? As one answer he writes: He doesn’t do a thing, but all the other parrots call him chairman! Then the author turns to serious stuff and goes on to quoting Margaret Thatcher – the so-called Iron Lady who famously said: I don’t mind how much my ministers talk as long as they do what I say. Leaders do nothing yet they do everything – an organization is meaningless without a leader.

Engineering leadership is nowhere mentioned. Is there any such term that catches public attention? Most engineers work behind public eye; perhaps people see some here and there supervising some work with a hard hat on. Do political, economic and social leaders know whether or not engineering leadership matters? If they have an engineer in the board room, they may ask him or her: what the engineers think? Before even answers come out of the engineer’s mouth, they would perhaps turn to other topics. Perhaps they would think that the engineer will begin talking in a language they would not understand. Or perhaps that the engineers will be there when there is a problem and that their opinions do not matter because they would do whatever is told.

Yet engineers run their own organization. As the organization becomes large and large, the influence of engineers is overwhelmed by corporate lawyers, accountants and administrators. Or do they really overwhelm the engineer? One hears complains like: engineers have tunnel vision; they cannot communicate etc. Are these complains real? Where do business and technical leaderships stand in engineering? Are engineers well equipped with the various intricacies required for navigating through complicated social interactions? Or may they remain solely focused on perfecting details of technical pursuits?

Well I leave it at this and invite all to put forward thoughts.        

Perhaps some of you know about the book The Leadership Mystique – a User’s Manual for the Human Enterprise by Manfred K de Vries. I came across it recently and totally enjoying reading it. It was written in an amazingly attractive and funny way, and the author knew how best to communicate to his readers. This book is unlike any other materials I have read. In one chapter he began by asking: what does leadership imply? what does it consist of? what are the leaders supposed to do? As one answer he writes: He doesn’t do a thing, but all the other parrots call him chairman! Then the author turns to serious stuff and goes on to quoting Margaret Thatcher – the so-called Iron Lady who famously said: I don’t mind how much my ministers talk as long as they do what I say. Leaders do nothing yet they do everything – an organization is meaningless without a leader.

Engineering leadership is nowhere mentioned. Is there any such term that catches public attention? Most engineers work behind public eye; perhaps people see some here and there supervising some work with a hard hat on. Do political, economic and social leaders know whether or not engineering leadership matters? If they have an engineer in the board room, they may ask him or her: what the engineers think? Before even answers come out of the engineer’s mouth, they would perhaps turn to other topics. Perhaps they would think that the engineer will begin talking in a language they would not understand. Or perhaps that the engineers will be there when there is a problem and that their opinions do not matter because they would do whatever is told.

Yet engineers run their own organization. As the organization becomes large and large, the influence of engineers is overwhelmed by corporate lawyers, accountants and administrators. Or do they really overwhelm the engineer? One hears complains like: engineers have tunnel vision; they cannot communicate etc. Are these complains real? Where do business and technical leaderships stand in engineering? Are engineers well equipped with the various intricacies required for navigating through complicated social interactions? Or may they remain solely focused on perfecting details of technical pursuits?

Well I leave it at this and invite all to put forward thoughts.        

Perhaps some of you know about the book The Leadership Mystique – a User’s Manual for the Human Enterprise by Manfred K de Vries. I came across it recently and totally enjoying reading it. It was written in an amazingly attractive and funny way, and the author knew how best to communicate to his readers. This book is unlike any other materials I have read. In one chapter he began by asking: what does leadership imply? what does it consist of? what are the leaders supposed to do? As one answer he writes: He doesn’t do a thing, but all the other parrots call him chairman! Then the author turns to serious stuff and goes on to quoting Margaret Thatcher – the so-called Iron Lady who famously said: I don’t mind how much my ministers talk as long as they do what I say. Leaders do nothing yet they do everything – an organization is meaningless without a leader.

Engineering leadership is nowhere mentioned. Is there any such term that catches public attention? Most engineers work behind public eye; perhaps people see some here and there supervising some work with a hard hat on. Do political, economic and social leaders know whether or not engineering leadership matters? If they have an engineer in the board room, they may ask him or her: what the engineers think? Before even answers come out of the engineer’s mouth, they would perhaps turn to other topics. Perhaps they would think that the engineer will begin talking in a language they would not understand. Or perhaps that the engineers will be there when there is a problem and that their opinions do not matter because they would do whatever is told.

Yet engineers run their own organization. As the organization becomes large and large, the influence of engineers is overwhelmed by corporate lawyers, accountants and administrators. Or do they really overwhelm the engineer? One hears complains like: engineers have tunnel vision; they cannot communicate etc. Are these complains real? Where do business and technical leaderships stand in engineering? Are engineers well equipped with the various intricacies required for navigating through complicated social interactions? Or may they remain solely focused on perfecting details of technical pursuits?

Well I leave it at this and invite all to put forward thoughts.        

Perhaps some of you know about the book The Leadership Mystique – a User’s Manual for the Human Enterprise by Manfred K de Vries. I came across it recently and totally enjoying reading it. It was written in an amazingly attractive and funny way, and the author knew how best to communicate to his readers. This book is unlike any other materials I have read. In one chapter he began by asking: what does leadership imply? what does it consist of? what are the leaders supposed to do? As one answer he writes: He doesn’t do a thing, but all the other parrots call him chairman! Then the author turns to serious stuff and goes on to quoting Margaret Thatcher – the so-called Iron Lady who famously said: I don’t mind how much my ministers talk as long as they do what I say. Leaders do nothing yet they do everything – an organization is meaningless without a leader.

Engineering leadership is nowhere mentioned. Is there any such term that catches public attention? Most engineers work behind public eye; perhaps people see some here and there supervising some work with a hard hat on. Do political, economic and social leaders know whether or not engineering leadership matters? If they have an engineer in the board room, they may ask him or her: what the engineers think? Before even answers come out of the engineer’s mouth, they would perhaps turn to other topics. Perhaps they would think that the engineer will begin talking in a language they would not understand. Or perhaps that the engineers will be there when there is a problem and that their opinions do not matter because they would do whatever is told.

Yet engineers run their own organization. As the organization becomes large and large, the influence of engineers is overwhelmed by corporate lawyers, accountants and administrators. Or do they really overwhelm the engineer? One hears complains like: engineers have tunnel vision; they cannot communicate etc. Are these complains real? Where do business and technical leaderships stand in engineering? Are engineers well equipped with the various intricacies required for navigating through complicated social interactions? Or may they remain solely focused on perfecting details of technical pursuits?

Well I leave it at this and invite all to put forward thoughts.        

I have not read Leadership Mystique, but I will add it to my list! I think it is important for everyone, regardless of their field of work (but especially those in highly-technical fields that impact the public), to be able to communicate the details of their work in appropriate language to the respective audience. A doctor must be able to explain a patient's prognosis without the patient having been to Medical School; an airplane pilot will summarize the details of the upcoming flight to passengers on board; a civil servant must be able to interpret the processes and results of legislation that impacts their constituents, taking public opinion and scientific data into account when influencing policy decisions; and the list goes on. I've even been impressed by those in less 'glamorous' jobs who are able to describe what, how, and why they do what they do, from restaurant staff managers to septic maintenance truck operators.

The first fundamental canon of the ASCE Code of Ethics is that "Engineers shall hold paramount the safety, health, and welfare of the public and shall strive to comply with the principles of sustainable development in the performance of their professional duties." This doesn't just mean that the infrastructure we build should be built correctly & safely; to me, it also means that the public should be informed in the process of planning, funding, designing, and building things so that they can help hold us accountable for our work as engineers. I think we have a duty as engineers to take leadership roles within and outside of our organizations - we have the knowledge and expertise to make the world a better place (and, I'd like to think, the passion for it too!), so we shouldn't reserve it only for hammering out plans and technical details. There is certainly a stereotype that engineers like math and not writing, or that they don't communicate well, but I assure you I've met plenty of professionals in other fields that fit these stereotypes, and plenty of engineers that do not (guilty as charged!)

Perhaps some of you know about the book The Leadership Mystique – a User’s Manual for the Human Enterprise by Manfred K de Vries. I came across it recently and totally enjoying reading it. It was written in an amazingly attractive and funny way, and the author knew how best to communicate to his readers. This book is unlike any other materials I have read. In one chapter he began by asking: what does leadership imply? what does it consist of? what are the leaders supposed to do? As one answer he writes: He doesn’t do a thing, but all the other parrots call him chairman! Then the author turns to serious stuff and goes on to quoting Margaret Thatcher – the so-called Iron Lady who famously said: I don’t mind how much my ministers talk as long as they do what I say. Leaders do nothing yet they do everything – an organization is meaningless without a leader.

Engineering leadership is nowhere mentioned. Is there any such term that catches public attention? Most engineers work behind public eye; perhaps people see some here and there supervising some work with a hard hat on. Do political, economic and social leaders know whether or not engineering leadership matters? If they have an engineer in the board room, they may ask him or her: what the engineers think? Before even answers come out of the engineer’s mouth, they would perhaps turn to other topics. Perhaps they would think that the engineer will begin talking in a language they would not understand. Or perhaps that the engineers will be there when there is a problem and that their opinions do not matter because they would do whatever is told.

Yet engineers run their own organization. As the organization becomes large and large, the influence of engineers is overwhelmed by corporate lawyers, accountants and administrators. Or do they really overwhelm the engineer? One hears complains like: engineers have tunnel vision; they cannot communicate etc. Are these complains real? Where do business and technical leaderships stand in engineering? Are engineers well equipped with the various intricacies required for navigating through complicated social interactions? Or may they remain solely focused on perfecting details of technical pursuits?

Well I leave it at this and invite all to put forward thoughts.        

It is fascinating to read the comments of Allen and Carla – some thoughtful remarks. On Allen’s comment: there is no denying that lawyers, accountants and administrators are in supportive roles in many organizations including engineering – that are not one of their own. But by nature of their works in such organizations – in especially the large ones, they remain close to the power source enabling them to influence leadership decisions. The influencing role (not necessarily bad, to be clear!) may or may not reach the overwhelming level – the extent of such influences depends on the leadership personality and competence.

In a sense we are all leaders because we play such roles in family matters and in our professional responsibilities – if not always but certainly sometime. But on a greater context leaders are understood to be the persons who have the ability to lead and direct to make a difference to cause significant impact. One simple example – the example of three masons – is often cited: three