Meet Ben.
No, Ben is not a civil engineer businessman. Well not yet. Ben works as a civil engineer at for electricity generation company. After working in the firm a number of years he finds himself at work day dreaming a new project to work on.
He begins developing his idea in comfort of his own garden shed. He keeps quiet about his progress but finds his enthusiasm for the project growing.
Then one day a friend pays a surprise visit on a Sunday afternoon. Much to Ben’s dismay his wife has already told him about Ben’s project. Ben has been labouring away at a wind turbine designed for residential use. Ben’s friend is a retired ex-business owner. He encourages Ben to build a business around his idea.
What should Ben do?
He has no background in running a business and doesn’t know where to start.
Sound familiar?
Many engineers have debated taking their projects to market and quitting their jobs to start out on their own. It’s a risky ordeal. The unbeaten path offers excitement and rewards. But, it is also accompanied with fear. Fear of failure, fear of success and fear of the unknown. I know for me, anytime Ive looked at where I want to go, and then seen a unfamiliar path fear has clutched me by the throat. I’ve sometimes been paralysed by this fear and it has held me back from doing, what I know on a rational level, is the right thing to do.
But is this fear rational?
In some cases yes.
Should quit my job to start a basketball career when I practice once a week and am a total of 5ft 6″ tall?
Probably not.
So what about other civil engineers who might be considering leaving the safety of their employment to become an employer?
Well fear is really driven from uncertainty. The uncertainty of success, security, and commitment. This is common for all entrepreneurs. Handling this fear is what sets apart the leader from the pack. This ability is what makes an entrepreneur the oddball who is willing to go against the grain for what he believes. The rebel who challenges the status quo with game changing innovations. There can also be those examples of extreme risk takers that had the courage by the bucket load but neglected the knowledge, preparation, and execution required for the job. Success in business takes a high level of thinking and rationality. Rationality is the key factor that separates successful risk takers from reckless cowboys.
Rational thinking itself, is at the core of engineering philosophy.
So although this fear exists with all entrepreneurs and business leaders I’m going to explain how engineers are especially well equipped for the challenge of startup business. So the real question exists do civil engineers have the perquisites to be effective leaders in business?
Absolutely.
5 Traits of Civil Engineers that are Essential for Business Leadership
1) Working with a clarity of purpose – Engineers are used to working on projects that start with a brief. What is the outcome? If this project is to be completed to perfection what exactly will that look like? How can we go about achieving that? These are the straight shooting questions that engineers are used to using on a daily basis. This clarity is extremely useful in the business world where there is often soo much fluff that holds us back from achieving our goals.
2) Thinking in terms of systems alignment – business is a process of integrated different ideas, people and processes. An engineer has the rational problem solving solving skills that can work wonders for project management and process efficiency. Being able to think in terms of cause and effect for entire systems helps engineers stand out as great problem solvers.
3) Being detail orientated and analytical thinkers – a necessary ability in business is being able to make decisions between different projects and weighing up factors such as risk, cost and return. An engineers attention to detail and analytical thinking will have an advantage to making educated business decisions.
4) Ability to take calculated risks – Although engineers are known to be largely risk adverse, rationality drives decision making. So when an opportunity has unlimited upside while calculating a limited downside engineers are not afraid to take opportunities.
5) Approaching problems holistically (root cause thinkers) – Engineers joke about using tape and cable ties as their most common tools, but in all honesty engineers are holistic thinkers. They break down problems into their individual components and are masters at finding the root cause to problems. This is essential to build a business that can last the test of time, because quick fixes to build sustainable businesses.
So now that we can see that rationally civil engineers share traits with effective business leaders.
But why do we still fear the unknown?
What is it that still holds us back when we consider taking a calculated risk?
It’s all about comfort levels. Your brain is comfortable with what it knows and it fears change. This is because we can draw confidence from our own reservoir of personal experience. If you’ve never done something before you better bet there will be some resistance to try.
This is why serial entrepreneurs do not fear the risks of new business to the extent that first time entrepreneurs do. All you can do is learn to deal with that fear and make it you’re ally. When the fear comes up you know that you are extending your comfort zone and growing your sense of personal efficacy. So don’t let it stop you, doing anything that yields high rewards is going to take a great deal of courage and hard work. Now you can remember these 5 traits that are rational reasons why you can succeed in business if you are an engineer of scientist.
You have the capabilities, now leverage your strengths to take on the challenge and do not let fear stop you from creating the future you dream of!
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