From engineer to manager, mastering the transition: leadership qualities

Young professionals and students in the engineering and technology disciplines are predominantly focused on developing their technical attributes in order to succeed in their careers. As their careers progress, they find themselves facing the daunting task of rapidly transitioning into a management role and realise that they need a set of skills which they haven´t developed sufficiently. In this article, we address six important qualities of great leaders as a way of increasing the awareness of two crucial topics for young professionals. Firstly, the necessity for early career engineers to identify and develop their own set of leadership qualities and skills. And secondly, to discuss the importance of being a good leader while facing management roles. Furthermore, we discuss whether great managers are also great leaders.