The Entrepreneurial Engineer -Personal, Interpersonal, and Organizational Skills for Engineers in a World of Opportunity

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

DAVID E. GOLDBERG is Jerry S. Dobrovolny Distinguished Professor in Entrepreneurial Engineering at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, where he also serves as the Director of the Illinois Genetic Algorithms Laboratory. He received his BSE, MSE, and PhD, all in civil engineering, from the University of Michigan. From 1976 to 1980 he held a number of positions at Stoner Associates of Carlisle, Pennsylvania, including project engineer and marketing manager.?In 2004, Dr. Goldberg cofounded Nextumi, Inc. (www.nextumi.com), a Web-infrastructure firm, and now serves as Nextumi's Chief Scientist.

1. The Entrepreneurial Engineer: Ready for the 21st Century. 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.

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About David E. Goldberg