The Engineering Management Society Chapter in Victoria is actively planning future events. As a start, we are thinking of organising a talk on effective qualities of leadership and people management next month or so.

The following is not an outline of the talk but gives some examples of leadership in action! The speaker will give some more examples from his experience.

(Christopher Weyant in the New Yorker 2003-03-31)

The business process:

• Idea
• Evaluate
• Finance
• Develop
• Launch
• Market
• Cycle: produce, sell, support, commoditise, innovate

Innovation is a key to continuing success. But failure in any one of the above elements will result in failure of the enterprise. No matter how smart the idea and comprehensive the technology, success hinges on the continuing effectiveness of people. Hence Leadership!

My presentation will be a series of vignettes to illustrate key points in business and people management. Some successes and some failures.

Ideas

• Dying for lack of ideas or overwhelmed by too many?
• Processes for generating and prioritising.

Inspiration

• How do you ignite a team and maintain the fire?
• Differences for start-up and existing business?

Gearing up

• Big bang or progressive?
• Winning and keeping confidence.

Team

• Building and maintaining.

Organisation

• Structure for success.

Another illustration (courtesy Ross Babbage):

Alexander the Great (356-323BC) became king of Macedonia at age 20. By the time he died 12 years later his empire extended from the Nile to the Indus. It disintegrated rapidly after his death but its influences lasted for generations. He led from the front, engaged directly in battle himself and he was wounded badly several times.

In the Battle of Waterloo (1815) the Duke of Wellington chose the field of battle and decided the strategy and tactics. He rode back and forwards along the ridge in view of the battle at all times, exhorting and directing his troops eventually achieving victory and destroying Napoleon's empire. Wellington was close enough to the action to take a stray ball of shot in his horse's saddle.

In the US Civil War (1861-1865) Ulysses S. Grant rarely saw the enemy. The rifle had been invented by this time and its range and accuracy meant that battles were conducted at a distance and troops and leaders had to stay out of sight moving through scrub and forest. To be exposed crossing a river, for example, could mean huge losses. Battles were fought from trenches and behind earth ramparts. Communications and intelligence was poor. The human cost from the American war of rebellion was unprecedented. Leadership was not up to the new technology.

In 1944 when Hitler was losing confidence in his generals he started to lead the war himself. Even hundreds of miles from the action he had technology, communications and intelligence at his disposal but out of fear his staff fed him only what he wanted to hear. (Sound familiar?) He didn't trust anybody but himself. He became quite deluded and his decisions and directions were nonsensical in the extreme. Germany was doomed.

Of course, we can do some things better now. We can now build things more or less on time. Our quality control is much much better. Our business ethics are no better despite marshmallow mountains of law. And for all our technology we stand on the precipice of a global warming catastrophe which could set humanity back a thousand years. Still fiddling!

For politics, military and business the crucial cycle is: Intelligence, Assessment, Communications, Planning, Action.

About the speaker, Graham Shepherd:

Two periods in Telecom/Telstra, initially on graduation in 1971, as an engineer and engineering manager, and subsequently in 1995-2003 as a shopkeeper/bureaucrat. In between a succession of roles playing as a business manager with various telecommunications and defence vendors, namely, Granger, Andrew, Plessey, GPT and ADI. Some transitions OK but some rather graceless. No claim to fame but short black fingers. May be a curiosity.

Addendum:

During the talk the opportunity will be given for discussion, of course. But also your feedback will be sought on future themes for the IEEE Engineering Management Society.
Are there particular parts of the business process you would like to focus on?
What role does leadership play in the broader context of business relationships?
What are the top key elements of leadership?
What other leadership/management themes would you be interested in exploring?

In order for us to structure the seminar/event/workshop in the most optimal way such that all members will gain something beneficial out of it, we seek answers to the following questions.

1. Do you play any leadership role in your work today? (yes/no)

2. After the event, you may
2.1 Just be kept informed of further development via email?
2.2 Define a manageable scope of work to experiement with the techniques/tools/skills learned and then engage the speaker for initial advice?
2.3 Pursue further in-dept training in a more specialised area within the subject of leadership?n

3. Which of the above actions or otherwise are you likely to take?
3.1 Are you expecting the event to be immediately useful to your work? (yes/no)
3.2 Are you expecting to be introduced to the subject only? (yes/no)
3.3 Are you expecting to be able to relate what you have learned today to your boss/peers/subordinates ? (yes/no)
3.4 Are you expecting to learn some techniques/tools beyond just an introductory understanding of the subject? (yes/no)
3.5 Given the above, how long do you think the length of the event should be in order to achieve the above goals? (1 hr, 4 hrs, 8 hrs)
3.6 Are you willing to take an active participation in the event such as case studies, mini workshops etc?

4. What tools/techniques are you using today to perform your job as a leader?