I've spent the last several years of my engineering career thinking very carefully about what engineers can and can't do. So far my conclusions are that engineers can have tremendous impact in areas that you might not expect - ending poverty, fighting injustice, creating jobs, saving lives. The engineering profession's scope is well beyond the boundaries of the purely technical.…
Engin Ed(ie): A Troubled Client As a one-on-one leadership coach to academic administrators, faculty, and others, I've learned that clients oftentimes struggle with various misalignments in their lives. That is, they say one thing and do another, or they think one thing and say something else, or put one thing in one thing in one compartment and something somewhere else,…
This week’s #BigBeacon Twitter Chat will focus on the ways in which engineering education listens to and collaborates with its stakeholders. Participants will be challenged to identify scenarios that can motivate, inspire, and initiate change, challenging the status quo and transforming engineering education. We will chat about who the stakeholders are for engineering education, how each listens to the other,…
I was giving a short workshop to PhD students at the National University of Singapore on Thursday, and the title was Mastering the Leadership, Organizational, and Emotional Challenges of a Career in Teaching or Research. This particular offering was two, three-hour sessions covering the noticing, listening, questioning (NLQ), and story reframing skills that are necessary for the PhD to augment…