Leadership philosophy: Six pillars
The College of Engineering leadership philosophy encourages students to follow this principle:
In order to best fulfill my potential, and to hone my professional and personal development to truly serve others, I will seek out and nurture opportunities to heighten my capacity as a person and leader who is:
Source: College of Engineering
Visionary
A visionary leader:
- Develops the context for understanding societal needs and opportunities
- Is able to conceptualize the gap between current and desired state(s)
- Challenges the status quo with innovative and sustainable ideas
- Has a facility for translating the external environment to his/her team
- Is comfortable taking risks, with refined ability to calibrate net impact
- Recognizes the need for diverse perspectives for highest-level thinking
Ethical
An ethical leader:
- Has deep and abiding personal character, with consistent core values
- Demonstrates a commitment to professionalism in all circumstances
- Is reliable and unwavering, maintaining a steady influence on others
- Maintains high expectations for others, without compromise
- Is compassionate, forgiving, and deeply invested in the development of his/her team(mates)
- Is able to build, nurture and lead diverse teams, managing conflict constructively and without hesitation
Engaging
An engaging leader:
- Possesses the confidence and ego-strength to be a catalyst for others’ success
- Possesses exceptional formal and informal communication skills
- Recognizes that the development of human resources is the key to success
- Is able to inspire, to lead without condescension, and to build trust and mutual respect for and between diverse members of the team
- Is able to anticipate conflict, and to pro-actively build a team dynamic that creates high-functioning engagement and impact
- Is celebrative, building on success while remedying team shortcomings
I will seek out and nurture opportunities to heighten my capacity as a person and leader who is visionary, ethical, engaging, tactical, technical, and reflective.
College of Engineering leadership philosophy
Tactical
A tactical leader:
- Has the operational savvy to know what it takes to achieve the ultimate vision and the complex goals that undergird that vision
- Owns the responsibility to create the ideal environment for team and individual impact, consistent with sustainable success
- Takes personal initiative, as needed, while appropriately delegating to and nurturing others
- Facilitates deep analytics, systemic thinking, and the ability to distinguish between critical-path issues and manageable barriers to success
- Creates a climate for optimal risk-taking, while ensuring quality control
- Successfully calibrates the magnitude of the task(s) at hand, and the capital, human and other resources necessary for impact
Technical
A technical leader:
- Displays deep technical expertise in core realms of relevance
- Develops relevant sub-expertise in key adjacent areas critical to success
- Has the ego strength and intellect to identify, secure, and rely on the necessary expertise and competencies of others
- Is committed to continually developing the expertise of those within his/her team, embracing the near-term risk inherent in developing a strong and confident team
- While relying on current foundations of knowledge and industry best-practice, embraces opportunities to innovate and inspire in new frontiers
- Has the intellect and foresight to reasonable anticipate negative externalities and unintended consequences, and to manage for highest-order net impact
Reflective
A reflective leader:
- Sets clear metrics for group and individual success, as well as formal and informal processes for assessment and redirection
- Exhibits a personal commitment to continuous improvement, and to honest appraisal of and action to improve upon areas for growth
- Promotes similar self-reflection and self-development of others within the team, prizing the discovery of weakness as a pathway to strength
- Seeks feedback from and provides feedback to others, both team members and key stakeholders
- Is ever-mindful of long-term objectives and sustainable impact, prizing ultimate success over short-term gain
- Invests the time to reflect, to secure objective perspectives, to ponder innovative alternatives, and to redirect without hesitancy or intransigence