What if I don't want to be a leader? 13

[bradpa77]

Is that so bad? I like being an engineer. I like creating stuff and analyzing stuff and generally working on my own. I understand the need for team leaders but I honestly do not feel that my personality is fit for a leadership role. Quite frankly, I don't like to give direction and my people skills aren't my strong suit.

The problem is that as I progress in my career and gain seniority (10 years experience now), I feel more and more pressure to take on the role as a leader. Job postings in my pay range require me to "lead a team" of engineers and designers. My boss is consistently pushing me to develop my leadership skills. I'm asked to take the lead on new projects.

Everything I read online about leadership gives me the vibe that I am "supposed" to WANT leadership. It's apparently EVERYONE's goal in life to be in charge and run the show. Then I read stuff telling me to be true to myself and find the right career fit. So what do I do? Work hard to become leadership material even though it doesn't come naturally? Should I force the square peg in the round hole? Do I need to become a leader to make it as an engineer? Is a leadership role simply an inevitable step in an engineering career? If so, have I chose the wrong field? Will my career be stalled or even derailed if I avoid opportunities that include leadership?

wtf?

I've been wrestling with these questions for days now. Please tell me I'm not the only engineer that feels this way.

 

[bradpa77]

Many thanks to all of you! I got some great responses here. It's very much appreciated. I'm glad to see that I'm not the only one who worries about this stuff and I'm also glad to see that I can have a career in engineering where I don't have to be completely in charge.

 

[casseopeia]

For what it's worth, when you are ready to be a leader. This is something I keep above my computer where ever I work.

Boss vs Leader

A boss drives his men
A leader coaches them

A boss says "I"
A leader says "we"

A boss assigns tasks
A leader sets the pace

A boss says "Get here on time!"
A leader gets there ahead of time

A boss fixes blame for the breakdown
A leader fixes the breakdown

A boss knows how it's done
A leader shows how

A boss makes work a drudgery
A leader makes it a game

A boss says "Go!"
A leader says "Let's go!"

The world needs leaders
Nobody wants a boss

"Gorgeous hair is the best revenge." Ivana Trump

 

[KENAT]

Sounds like the kind of post it notes our VP has plastered around his office.

Lets just say he needs the reminders at times.

I'm inclined to think that anyone that needs constant reminders of that stuff doesn't need to be either a boss or a leader - reminds me of Barney's motivational posters from 'how I met your mother'.

However, I'll give Cass a pass (assuming she wants her manager to read it, and not that it applies to her) and buy her a Shirley Temple over in the pub in case I've caused offense.

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[mfgenggear]

a Boss~ micro manages
a leader directs

I have a memo written by General H. Norman Schwarzkopf
Please see attached.

I am too like the OP I too have a hard time leading a group.
I do like to help & teach new employees, but I hate the politics.

Mfgenggear

 

[mfgenggear]

Here is in PDF format

Mfgenggear

 

[pittguy12]

I think that it's a terrible shortfall of our industry that we promote great engineers to managers on the assumption that great enginners = great leaders. Another shortfall is that X years of experience means X times more likely to be a good manager/leader. Neither couldn't be further from the truth. Some engineers make great engineers but should never attempt to lead or manage a project. And some engineers are actually better suited to manage/lead than they are to be technical engineers!

I have always felt that the position of Chief Engineer is something which you don't see enough of anymore in our industry. My first job had someone in the position of Chief Engineer and was a well respected, well deserved position of honor for this individual. They were the technical experts of the company and had the CEO approaching them with technical related matters. They weren't expected to deal with contracts, estimating, or other PM type of tasks but were expected to know their stuff inside and out!

 

[mfgenggear]

The level of education, expertise, & experience, will dictate if a team or group of Engineers requires a Group Leader. If the level of bunch of young engineers out of college with minimal training & or experience, then there is a must for micro managing.

If the Team of engineers are season Engineers, then less micro managing & more of directing, giving estimated schedule requirements, budgets bla bla, & leading by example.
There fore morphs to more a managing position.

I like to work on my own, but it is very help full to have a group of Engineers that I can bounce issues with. That would normally be an other associate Engineer of equal or more experience. or just smarter person than I am.

Mfgenggear

 

[oldfieldguy]

You may well already BE a leader. That's what your peers, your co-workers decide for themselves, and it's much different than the title conferred by the boss. I've been the 'leader' in many places, sometimes to the disappointment of the boss and his chosen appointees.

Some leaders become managers, unfortunately not as often as I'd like to see, but somebody has to go to the meetings and get out of the way while the work is done. A good manager gets out of the way.

old field guy

 

[micalbrch]

Leaders or managers are no better humans and they do not live longer. So, there is not really an important reason to become a leader. Money can be a reason, the wish to change things can be another. But that are both things you must decide for yourself. Don't question yourself if money is not your main motivation. I work as a manager. Whether or not I'm a leader is something different. Being a manager does not make life easier and - as written above - I'm not a better human than the people who work for me.

 

[KENAT]

Something tp always keep in mind is if you don't take the management/leadership position in question who will, and are you OK with that?

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[jmw]

This is something I also mentioned

If you don't lead, who will? Someone less capable than you? And they will be influencing what you do?

and it is worth the repetition.

JMW

http://www.ViscoAnalyser.com

 

[KENAT]

(Sorry JMW, didn't mean to plagiarize - it's been a few days since I looked at this thread and I forgot you'd already brought it up.)

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[jmw]

No worries, like I said it is worth repeating.

(And since I knew it wasn't plagiarism it was obviously a case of great minds thinking alike).
I'd rather try my hand at leading and see where it leads than not try and never know.
Ducking challenges isn't a good trait. Some things you try may work out even if you are the one most surprised by it.

Take the task on the right terms and be sure you have a place to go back to if either you or management decide to give some one else a try.

The trouble is, if you duck and someone else tries and does OK, you've lost your chance to do as well or better.

But I'd rather be a bad leader than work for one.

At one company management told me they wanted me to work for a back stabbing brown noser.
There is often one lurking somewhere in most companies and you may not recognise them until some event or other tips you off. It is never good to find out only after you have been assigned to work under their direction. But I had already taken this guy's measure when he presented my work to management as his own.

So I went to HR and HR told me that if I didn't want to work for him to just say so.
So I said no to management's kind offer to work for Brown Noser and they accepted that.

I find it hard to judge the impact on me for refusing to work for him (not good), but I suspect it was way better than the alternative.

I think he had thought he would get by relying on people like me or maybe he actually believed his own hype and thought he was capable of doing the job.
Whatever.
I don't know, but maybe his underlings were not exactly playing the game. The description of him as a back stabbing brown noser is not original with me, it is a cleaned up version of how one of his "underlings" chose to describe him.
It wasn't long before he was asking for his old job back (no danger of management sending him packing).
But unless there is someone better (and if management want you they don't see it though they may not be best placed, so if you really think some one else is better say so), take your best shot.



JMW

http://www.ViscoAnalyser.com

 

[KENAT]

(And since I knew it wasn't plagiarism it was obviously a case of great minds thinking alike).

Or of course the corollary: fools seldom differ.

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[urgross]

The best leader is one that gets you where you need to be and then no one notices that you were there.

 

[jmw]

KENAT, I prefer not to think of us as fools.
We may be but I'd prefer to see us as great minds.

JMW

http://www.ViscoAnalyser.com

 

[lacajun]

Don't do anything out of fear or coercion. You'll kick yourself later.

Pamela K. Quillin, P.E.
Quillin Engineering, LLC

 

[Maui]

Many leaders are born with the right combination of personality and innate talent that naturally bring them to the forefront of the organization. The best ones are often humble, and have a very clear understanding of their own limitations. For example,

The best executive is the one who has sense enough to pick good men to do what he wants done, and self-restraint to keep from meddling with them while they do it. - Theodore Roosevelt

and

If I have seen farther than others, it is because I was standing on the shoulders of giants. - Isaac Newton

Maui

http://www.EngineeringMetallurgy.com

 

[graybeach]

Even if you work by yourself you still need to lead yourself, i.e. you need to plan the work and work the plan. You need to figure out what your end product will be, and you need to come up with an efficient way to get there. I sense that OP does this and does not just wait for someone else to say, "and now check bearing on shaft number three."

The natural progression to this is to start mentoring others and passing on to them what you know. The way to do this is to work them into your plan. You tell them to check this or that, and then you check their work. As they get more proficient, you help them decide what needs to be checked and the best methods to go about it. You can do this with larger and larger teams and, voila, you are a leader.

 

[moltenmetal]

The only thing worse than being a bad leader yourself is being "led" by one. That fact explains why many people reluctantly enter leadership or management positions. That, and greed, or more properly a desire to receive compensation in better proportion to the required effort and responsibility.

It's tough to provide good directions if you don't know the way. It's even tougher from the back seat. Hence it's tough for a person without technical training and experience to lead others with technical training and experience. Not impossible, but tough.

Every engineer manages something, even if it's merely the expectations of their boss or customers.