Citation (IEEE): C. Rottmann, R. Sacks, and D. Reeve, “Engineering Leadership: Grounding Leadership Theory in Engineers’ Professional Identities,” Leadership, vol. 11, no. 3, pp. 351–373, 2015. doi: 10.1177/1742715014543581.
What it argues
An interview study of practicing engineers asking what leadership means to them. The authors find that engineers recognize leadership in three orientations rooted in professional identity: technical mastery, collaborative optimization and organizational innovation. Each has its own scale of influence and its own benefits to the organization. They argue that leadership development for engineers should build on these identities rather than import generic management models.