Engineering Leadership Strategies from Pat Sweet

The following is a summary of Episode 64 of my podcast, The Engineering Career Coach (TECC) Podcast. I will summarize the main points in this post; however, you can also listen to the show through the website or by subscribing on iTunes. I offer a career-changing tip at the end of each podcast session.

In this session of The Engineering Career Coach (TECC) Podcast, I am going to take you inside the Engineering Career Summit which is the event that Chris and I threw in Washington DC in early May and will be throwing again in May 2016 in New Orleans, Louisiana. I am going to play for you an audio recording of one the Engineering Career Summit sessions entitled Engineering Leadership by Pat Sweet, P. Eng.

Pat Sweet is a Professional Engineer working in Ontario, Canada as a product manager in the rail industry. He’s also the author behind the Engineering and Leadership blog, where he shares his thoughts and experiences on leadership, productivity and career advice for engineers.

Listen to this session and learn what engineering leadership is and is not and the two models of leadership:

What engineering leadership is NOT:

• Leadership is not management
• Leadership is not charisma
• Leadership is not technical master
• Leadership is not something you’re born with
• Leadership is not meant for senior professionals

What engineering leadership IS:

• Leadership is important for engineers
• Leaders can change the world, make the organization stronger and have a better career
• Leadership can be developed, learned and perfected

Models of Engineering Leadership:

Transformational leadership – transforming the people around you and getting people to want to do what you want them to do

4 key components of transformational leadership:

• Idealized influence – be a role model
• Inspirational motivation – inspiring and motivating others to take action
• Individualized consideration – taking a genuine interest in people
• Intellectual stimulation – encouraging others to be innovative and creative

Servant leadership – desire to serve people first; the leader is at the bottom serving the needs of the organization, facilitating them to achieve the mission and vision

9 key attributes of servant leadership: Vision, Honesty, Integrity, Trust, Service, Modeling, Pioneering, Appreciation, Empowerment

Three elements of engineering leadership:

1. Be a role model – know who is your role model(s) that best fit the criteria of leaders and adapt their traits
2. Inspire others – establish your compelling vision and bring someone along
3. Be selfless – your needs and ambitions are oriented toward the service of others

Which leadership models presented in this episode can you apply in your engineering career and life?

Anthony Fasano, PE, author of Engineer Your Own Success, found success as an engineer at a very early age and now writes and podcasts to help other engineers do the same. Visit Anthony’s website at EngineeringCareerCoach.com to access all of the free engineering career resources he has created to help engineers succeed.