Early Career Leadership Development

Among new engineering graduates, there is a tendency to delay thinking about or pursuing leadership skills in the business world outside of academia. This, coupled with the high demands enforced by a rigorous academic curriculum as an undergraduate or graduate student results typically in missed opportunities to identify and grow essential leadership competencies for entrance into formal management roles. Consequently, many engineers with the interest in pursuing a managerial career path find themselves behind contemporaries from non-engineering disciplines. The National Academy of Engineering has recognized for some time the need for more engineers to pursue leadership roles not only within the technical arena, but also in the political domain where there is great need for engineering contributions to the development of public policy.

This forum will highlight practices that recent graduates can use to hone their leadership skills early in their careers. Topics include self-assessment, evaluation of motivation to lead, ways of identifying leadership competency gaps, and techniques for gaining the requisite practice of leadership tools both within and outside the workplace. Early preparation for leadership roles is essential for managerial candidates so that when the opportunities arise, the candidate has already fully demonstrated the ability to lead effectively. Strategies for moving from dependent through independent towards interdependent behaviors that are the hallmark of effective leaders will be presented. Key to any strategy is the development of a personalized leadership development plan based on SMART goals and crafted to gain the boss’s support. Effective planning for leadership roles relies on adequate preparation before the first day on the job. Some of the keys to early success will be discussed.