The Entrepreneurial Engineer
1. Edition October 2006
224 Pages, Hardcover
Wiley & Sons Ltd
Short Description
A timely update of David E. Goldberg's highly popular book, The Entrepreneurial Engineer is a concise, thoroughly readable guide to life skills for engineers, an increasingly relevant topic in the world of engineering. This unique text is written in a lively manner with a distinctive combination of skills and principles presented in a memorable manner.
"Informative, provocative, and practical . . . developing the skills outlined in The Entrepreneurial Engineer is a necessity for a productive engineering career."
--Raymond L. Price, William H. Severns Professor of Human Behavior Director, Illinois Leadership Center, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
"I believe that The Entrepreneurial Engineer has the potential to change the landscape of what engineers learn and do."
--John R. Koza, former CEO and chairman, Scientific Games Inc. and Consulting Professor, Stanford University
"Dr. Goldberg provides the road map for engineers of the future to stay at the front of the wave by learning to think more like entrepreneurs. . . Consider this book your survival handbook for the rest of your life."
--From the Foreword by Tim Schigel, Director Blue Chip Venture Company
Entrepreneurial times call for The Entrepreneurial Engineer
In an age when technology and business are merging as never before, today's engineers need skills matched with the times. Today, career success as an engineer is determined as much by an ability to communicate with coworkers, sell ideas, and manage time as by talent at manipulating a Laplace transform, coding a Java object, or analyzing a statically indeterminate structure.
This book covers those nontechnical skills needed by today's entrepreneurial engineers who mix strong technical know-how, business and organizational prowess, and an alert eye for opportunity. Author David Goldberg unlocks the keys to ten core competencies at the heart of what entrepreneurial engineers need to master to be effective in a fast-moving world of deals, teams, startups, and innovating corporations. You'll discover how to:
* Feel the essence--and the joys--of engineering
* Examine personal motivation and set goals
* Master time management and organization
* Write fast and well under pressure
* Prepare and deliver effective presentations
* Understand and practice good human relations
* Act ethically in matters large, small, and engineering
* Assess technology opportunities
* Understand teams, leadership, culture, and the organization of organizations
1.1 21ST Century Engineers Moving at Internet Time.
1.2 Engineering Education, Common Sense & the Real World.
1.3 Ten Competencies for the Entrepreneurial Engineer.
1.4 Three Principles.
1.5 Three Cautions.
Exercises.
2. The Joy of Engineering.
2.1 A Joyous Confession.
2.2 Engineering as Liberal Education, Launch Pad & Lifelong Love.
2.3 The Fundamental Tug-of-War.
2.4 Science and its Little Secret.
2.5 Engineers: First Masters of Modern Enterprise.
2.6 Economy of Intellection: Separating Science from Engineering.
2.7 Four Tensions Facing the Entrepreneurial Engineer.
Summary.
Exercises.
3. Money, Work, and You.
3.1 Money, Moola, the Big Bucks.
3.2 The Roads to Wealth: 4 Dinner Table Platitudes.
3.3 Hidden Lesson #1: Engagement.
3.4 Hidden Lesson #2: Courage.
3.5 Tactical Lessons of Handling Money.
3.6 Get a Life .
3.7 Plotting Your Course: Values, Mission, and Goals.
Summary.
Exercises.
4. Getting Organized and Finding Time.
4.1 Time and Its Lack.
4.2 Effective Ways to Waste Time.
4.3 Seven Keys to Time Management .
Summary.
Exercises.
5. Write for Your Life.
5.1 Engineers, Root Canal, and Writing.
5.2 Why Many Engineers Don't Like to Write.
5.3 The Prime Directive of Writing: Just Write.
5.4 Getting the Content and Organization Right.
5.5 Edifying Editing .
5.6 Improving Your Writing.
Summary.
Exercises.
6. Present, Don't Speak.
6.1 Speeches versus Presentations.
6.2 Why Present?.
6.3 Preparation Makes the Presentation.
6.4 Delivery .
Summary.
Exercises.
7. The Human Side of Engineering.
7.1 The Human Challenges of Engineering.
7.2 Through the Eyes of Others.
7.3 Anatomy of a Disagreement.
7.4 We Are All Salesmen on this Bus.
7.5 The Role of Questions .
7.6 Praise .
7.7 Criticism.
7.8 Engineering is Sometimes Having to Say You're Sorry.
7.9 Wear a Little Passion.
Summary.
Exercises .
8. Ethics in Matters Small, Large, and Engineering.
8.1 Is Engineering Ethics Necessarily a Dreadful Bore?.
8.2 Ethics: The Systematic Study of Right and Wrong.
8.3 From Ethical Theory to Practice.
8.4 From Personal to Engineering Ethics.
Summary.
Exercises.
9. Pervasive Teamwork.
9.1 Our Love-Hate Relationship with Teams.
9.2 Working Together in Groups to Teams.
9.3 Understanding the Difficulties of Teamwork.
9.4 Why Cooperation Isn't Easy.
9.5 Meetings, Meetings, and More Meetings.
Summary.
Exercise.
10. Organizations and Leadership.
10.1 Organizations and Leadership Matter.
10.2 Understanding Human Behavior and Motivation.
10.3 Human Organizations and their Leaders.
10.4 Organizational Culture: The Gods of Management.
10.5 Why Form or Join Organizations?.
Summary.
Exercises.
11. Assessing Technology Opportunities.
11.1 Entrepreneurial Engineers Seek Opportunity.
11.2 What is an Opportunity?
11.3 Sustainable Competitive Advantage: The Making of a Good Opportunity.
11.4 What is Your Niche?.
11.5 Three Financial Mysteries of Opportunity Assessment.
11.6 Writing the Technology Opportunity Assessment.
Summary.
Exercises.
References.
"The author of the book... should be commended..." (The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, January 2007)
"...conversational and highly readable...a worthy read for anyone thinking of striking out on their own as an entrepreneurial engineer." (Electronic Design Online, September 11, 2006)
"...I recommend this book. There are many fine practical ideas on how to improve oneself." (Computing Reviews.com, February 16, 2006)