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Why engineers make great CEOs

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Re: Why engineers make great CEOs

#21

Post by weland »

derekjobst wrote: post #4

Perhaps this is not indicative of a rise of engineers who become interested in management, but individuals already interested in management (or are of that mindset) choosing to get a degree in engineering instead of Business. Given the tremendous value of an engineering degree, especially as a guaranteed high level of income, it makes sense practically minded managers would prefer such a safety net.

> Given the tremendous value of an engineering degree, especially as a guaranteed high level of income, it makes sense practically minded managers would prefer such a safety net.

Practical experience (of a practicing engineer) shows that the value of an engineering degree outweighs that of one's work only in the first couple of months, or even weeks, on a job. The skills of incompetent engineers are in significantly less demand than that of incompetent managers (sadly). Unlike an MBA, the engineering diploma isn't worth the paper it's written on the moment people realize you're clueless. It's not a very good safety net :-).

Re: Why engineers make great CEOs

#22

Post by awinder »

collyw wrote: post #10

"the life of an engineer, it seems, is not as rosy as originally anticipated". Ok this affects me at the moment. Why? Because I have two incompetent bosses. Basically I have junior / intermediate level programmers telling me what to do (and getting paid more than me for it). They took the promotion for the money. I do the "smart" work and make the technical decisions (when they make technical decisions they are often…

That sounds like maybe a failing for these particular managers? I guess every company is different, but it sounds like your managers may be failing to delegate properly, and you end up with a corporate structure where every step up the pyramid means doing what all the previous levels do, plus more. Often that has pretty detrimental effects from failure to properly delegate, but it doesn't have to be that way. That might be a trap that managers who were engineers have to work harder at to not fall into.

Re: Why engineers make great CEOs

#23

Post by Disruptive_Dave »

"They’re detail-oriented, analytical and trained in systematic problem-solving. Engineers’ basic qualities make them good candidates for the top."

There's a significant element missing in this line of thought and it involves emotions/people. By this reasoning, a robot might also make a damn good CEO.

Re: Why engineers make great CEOs

#24

Post by _xczx »

Disruptive_Dave wrote: post #23

"They’re detail-oriented, analytical and trained in systematic problem-solving. Engineers’ basic qualities make them good candidates for the top." There's a significant element missing in this line of thought and it involves emotions/people. By this reasoning, a robot might also make a damn good CEO.

If robots performed to the calibre of hyper-rational beings like Jeff Bezos, then you would be right - robots would make damn good CEOs!

Re: Why engineers make great CEOs

#25

Post by shubb »

Disruptive_Dave wrote: post #23

"They’re detail-oriented, analytical and trained in systematic problem-solving. Engineers’ basic qualities make them good candidates for the top." There's a significant element missing in this line of thought and it involves emotions/people. By this reasoning, a robot might also make a damn good CEO.

There is some truth here. In a large organisation, the people running it will not understand the problems they are solving as well as the people under them.

The Head of Sales (US) understands the US market better than the Director of Sales, who understands it better than the CEO. So, the CEO can make an impact by choosing people, understanding their motives, skills and the relationships between them, and giving them a chance to shine.

When a new president is elected, and imposes policies he came up with in opposition without access to treasury data and expert advice, something is wrong. Shame it happens every time. Big company CEOs are trying to make money, not get re-elected, so they should manage not do.

Re: Why engineers make great CEOs

#26

Post by sergiosgc »

bottled_poe wrote: post #17
derekjobst wrote: post #4

Perhaps this is not indicative of a rise of engineers who become interested in management, but individuals already interested in management (or are of that mindset) choosing to get a degree in engineering instead of Business. Given the tremendous value of an engineering degree, especially as a guaranteed high level of income, it makes sense practically minded managers would prefer such a safety net.

So, an engineer can perform managerial work with limited formal training... You seem to be implying that a business degree has little value.

As an engineer with an MBA, I can tell you that an engineer breezes through the hard sciences part of management. It's all about modelling, and that's the core training of an engineer. The social sciences aspect of management is not so easy, but if there is underlying aptitude/informal training present, the jump from engineering to management is not that hard.

Re: Why engineers make great CEOs

#27

Post by joncrocks »

Disruptive_Dave wrote: post #23

"They’re detail-oriented, analytical and trained in systematic problem-solving. Engineers’ basic qualities make them good candidates for the top." There's a significant element missing in this line of thought and it involves emotions/people. By this reasoning, a robot might also make a damn good CEO.

Robot CEOs! What a good idea!

Re: Why engineers make great CEOs

#28

Post by sergiosgc »

collyw wrote: post #10

"the life of an engineer, it seems, is not as rosy as originally anticipated". Ok this affects me at the moment. Why? Because I have two incompetent bosses. Basically I have junior / intermediate level programmers telling me what to do (and getting paid more than me for it). They took the promotion for the money. I do the "smart" work and make the technical decisions (when they make technical decisions they are often…

You've been the victim of the Dilbert Principle in action. It is quite common. Do not jump to management because of this. Jump companies. Some seem to avoid the Dilbert Principle, although I know none that escapes Peter's Principle.

Re: Why engineers make great CEOs

#29

Post by programminggeek »

A lot of engineers would make terrible CEOs because they don't understand the basic tenants of business. Most software engineers don't like charging appropriately or spending appropriately on things that make the company money. There is a huge aversion to sales, marketing, and advertising.

If the CEO doesn't make sure the company makes money, the company will fail. I see this a lot in smaller companies. Larger companies probably don't let engineers get to the higher ranks unless they can make the company serious amounts of money.

Ultimately a business is about making money, and the CEO has to make sure that happens. Otherwise, you aren't much of a CEO.

Re: Why engineers make great CEOs

#30

Post by rayiner »

derekjobst wrote: post #4

Perhaps this is not indicative of a rise of engineers who become interested in management, but individuals already interested in management (or are of that mindset) choosing to get a degree in engineering instead of Business. Given the tremendous value of an engineering degree, especially as a guaranteed high level of income, it makes sense practically minded managers would prefer such a safety net.

There's no "rise of engineers" becoming interested in management. FTA: "In fact, engineering long has ranked as the most common undergraduate degree among Fortune 500 CEOs."

Out of the top-20 MBA programs, STEM undergraduate degrees are about as common as business/economics undergraduate degrees: http://www.beatthegmat.com/mba/2009/11/20/which-undergrad-ma....

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