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.

 

[jmw]

This seems to me a difference between managing and leading.
Leading, to me, has an implicit assumption that the leader can do all that is asked of those being lead.
Managing is where a different set of skills are brought to facilitate the work of the team (if the manager is good. If she/he is bad then the opposite is true.) It should not be expected that a manager has the specific engineering skills the team delivers. The leader may not know all the skills necessarily but would have a far more complete knowledge of the coal face than a manager.

My point about it being better to be a bad leader than lead by a bad leader, I think, a natural aspect of people's character.
But when untried, I would rather be the one to try and fail and revert to my old position or transfer to something else than not have the opportunity.
I suspect (with no real grounds; hope might be better) that a bad leader is more easily found out and replaced than has proven the case with a bad manager.

JMW

http://www.ViscoAnalyser.com

 

[ports394]

KENAT, I agree with you... you will do it?

As Bruce Willis said...

In Live Free or Die Hard: "Do you know what you get for being a hero? Nothing! You get shot at. Pat on the back, blah blah blah. That a boy! You get divorced... Your wife can't remember your last name, kids don't want to talk to you... You get to eat a lot of meals by yourself. Trust me kid, nobody wants to be that guy. [I do this] because there is nobody else to do it right now. Believe me if there was somebody else to do it, I would let them do it. There's not, so [I'm] doing it. That's what makes you that guy."

 

[ports394]

Bradpa, I'm an engineer now, and I'd like to shift to the management track as I move on with my career. To higher level work, and let others figure out the details. I'm at 5 years now, by the time I'm at 15, I don't want to be pulling out bulk density tables and doing those basic calculations.

If people are already looking to you for guidance...or at team meetings, the other engineers wait for you to agree with something, before they agree with your current leader/supervisor... that's a problem. A good manager will utilize you, and convince you of things first, so others will follow. An ordinary manager will be spiteful of your influence and sooner or later take it out on you.